Don’t say Hollywood.com won’t go the distance for you.
Just because we know you’re dying to get the inside scoop on the best show on television–and it just got an Emmy to prove it–we jumped on a plane to Oahu and headed into the jungle to track down all of the stars of Lost to get the dish on what’s happening both behind the scenes and on the screen for the highly anticipated second season. OK, maybe we didn’t get to talk to all of the castaways–Josh “Sawyer” Holloway insisted on trading a kiss for an interview with him, but as pretty as he is, we just hadn’t been marooned that long.
The island may be full of mysteries, but after delving into our in-depth report you’ll be anything but “lost.”
Do you feel that your job on the show is pretty secure, or that, like Boone, Jack could be gone at any given moment?
Fox: “I think that everyone is at risk on this show, and I think that the minute even the audience starts suspecting that there are certain untouchable people and there are people that are not, we lose a certain element of the show that we need.”
What’s the most challenging aspect of playing Jack?
Fox: “Being a leader when everyone wants you to be and needs you to be, a leader and at the same time when you take that role they second guess everything that you’ve ever done – Any leader, anyone in any kind of leadership position will tell you that’s the most frustrating thing about being cast in that role. Everyone. The sheep need you to be the leader, and when you’re the leader then they start cutting out your legs from underneath you at all times. It’s a very difficult situation to be in.”
Do you think Jack will ever figure out that it would be safer for everyone if, as the physician of the group, he didn’t always jump into the middle of danger?
Fox: “You know, that’s a dilemma that I’ve thought about, obviously, and I think that there’s provably been part of the audience that’s gone, ‘What the hell is doing going out there and putting himself at risk when he’s the only one who knows how to fix anyone?’ But you are talking about a guy who’s really, really intense. He’s admittedly intense. In his flashback it shows why he is that guy and he’s certainly not perfect man. He’s making mistakes left and right, but he’s doing it with all good intentions.”
Can you give us the scoop on any of the new cast members?
Fox: “Michelle Rodriguez is coming in and she’s definitely going to shake things up. She’s got a really cool kind of street cred to her. She’s really fun. She’s very, very right up in your face honest and I think that she’s going to be a great addition to the show.”
On the Season One DVD, we see you auditioning for the role of Sawyer. How different would that have been if you’d gotten the part?
Fox: “It would’ve been really, really different. I would’ve enjoyed playing that too. It’s a sappy role, man. It’s a fun role and Josh does such a great job with it and we have a really good time playing those two characters and really messing with each other. We have days where we don’t talk to each other too much and then we hug each other and we move on.”
One of the cooler features on the DVD is the collection of your behind-the-scenes photography. What inspired you?
Fox: “I totally ripped off the idea from Jeff Bridges. I’m unashamed to admit that and I have a friend, Scott Wolf [Fox’s former Party of Five co-star], who worked on a movie called White Squall with Jeff Bridges and I remember seeing this book Scott had from that project. I was like, ‘Ah, that’s the coolest cast and crew gift that anyone could ever give.’ So when I came into doing the pilot I thought that I’d take a bunch of pictures and if they were good enough I thought that I’d give them as gifts. I did that. I have a friend who’s in the printing business and we had a really good time putting it all together and laying it all out and we made books and I gave them away as gifts. Then the DVD people approached me about having that as a certain section on the DVD, which I think turned out really cool.”
Have you developed any real survival skills since starting the show?
Fox: “I grew up in Wyoming backpacking into the wind rivers up to twelve, thirteen thousand feet all the time and surviving off of trout that I caught myself. So the stuff that I’m dealing with on Lost is small-time.”
Do you think the writers will figure out a way to link your own tattoos into the storyline?
Fox: “Oh, they’ve already got that figured out. I guarantee you they already know what that is.”
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How has being on a hit TV series like Lost changed your life?
Lilly: “Lost has changed my life in way too many ways to count. I still have a family that adores me. I still have friends that I count on back home. And I still have brown hair. Other than that…[laughs]”
How did you choose this career?
Lilly: “It kind of chose me. I have to say that I was fortunate enough to be one of those stories where I was actually scouted on the street by somebody and actually refused to go and visit their agency, and then was approached on different occasions and finally kind of caved and said ‘Okay, I’ll try it. I’ll try it and see what happens.’ And then after a month and a half after my first audition, I won the role of Kate on Lost.”
Do you think each character is equally crucial to the story being told?
Lilly: “I think that we all are pretty important to the show, and everyone’s stories contribute to the show equally. I think that the beauty of these writers is that they’re not about making movie stars. They’re about telling a story. So whoever’s story is most pertinent to what’s going on on the island is the story that gets told.”
As a native Albertan, how are you dealing with living in Hawaii?
Lilly: “I have always froze my ass off as a Canadian. I couldn’t stand the cold as a Canadian, and being somewhere tropical has actually been really great. It’s been a treat. That said, I’ve had to really alter my lifestyle. For the first time in my life, I’ve started having cold showers–totally new phenomenon for me! A cold shower at home is torture. You just do not do that. Not even in the summer do you have a cold shower. I’ve had to learn to go into the ocean as much as I can, and learn to drink a lot more water, but it’s wonderful.”
What is the best part about working in Hawaii nine months out of the year, and is there any downside?
Lilly: “The best part of working in Hawaii is being able to go and bathe in seawater every day. I think there are just so many amazing healing qualities in the ocean. And being able to go and spend time in the ocean, pretty much daily, year-round, is incredible. It’s also amazing to be able to shoot outside and not be in sound studios all the time. I would go nuts if I had to film in a sound studio every day! But there are negative sides to it as well. I get island fever pretty bad! I used to wandering a lot, and I’m used to moving from place to place fairly frequently, I’m used to living in the vast, vast country of Canada where you get in your car and you drive and you’re in the middle of nowhere. Here you get in your car and you drive in any direction, you’re going to hit a military base or the ocean. So there is a sense of being a little bit trapped.”
Do you miss Canada?
Lilly: “I really miss Canada. I have to be honest and say I miss the people. I miss the culture. I miss the certain feeling of being at home anywhere. Anywhere you go in Canada you feel at home. You just know how things work You just know where you are and what you’re doing. Here, it’s totally different. It’s still North America, but it’s a different world, a different culture and it makes me miss home.”
Is there a deeper meaning behind the show’s title?
Lilly: “I just think that Lost is just all a very big metaphor for every single character’s mental state of being, and psychological and emotional state of being, and we’re meant to be on this island to be mentally, psychologically and emotionally found. And that we were all chosen specifically because we will facilitate that for one another.”
Have you picked up any survival skills while working on the show?
Lilly: “Well, I’ve learned how to collect bugs to feed chameleons in the wilderness. No, I’m an actress so the unfortunate thing is true: that I get pampered and I get taken care of. I have always loved nature, I have always loved climbing trees and getting dirty and rolling in the mud and playing with bugs, so none of that’s new to me. And as far as surviving’s concerned, I think my air conditioned trailer does me petty good.”
Have you ever been literally lost?
Lilly: “I have. I’ve been lost all the time in my car, as in I’m trying to find somewhere and I can’t find it for the life of me. But actually lost in the way that you’re panicked and you really don’t know where you are and I’m in trouble? No.”
So have you’ve tackled any other projects besides Lost?
Lilly: “Nothing, sir. I’ve done nothing with my life but wallow in my own fame and money! [laughs]”
Are you now recognized more for playing Charlie on Lost than your Hobbit-y turn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy?
Monaghan: “You know, I kind of get Dominic a bit now. Less Charlie. Less Merry. More like, ‘Hey, there’s Dominic.’ Which is cool. I mean, it’s good. I can go about my day with my hat pulled down and not really get recognized and then other days I get recognized all the time. This show is a beast and so it’s kind of everywhere.”
Like Matthew Fox, you auditioned for the role of Sawyer. Ever wish you’d gotten it?
Monaghan: “I would’ve just done a much better performance than Josh Holloway. No–I’m really joking. You know, I didn’t really audition for Sawyer. What happened was that there wasn’t really a part for me. So I went in with these pages that were just for someone generic and it just happened to be Sawyer, but I was never going to read for Sawyer. The guy said to me, ‘No. You can’t do Sawyer.’ So he’s a completely different guy. He’s kind of a cowboy. He’s kind of a Southern guy.”
How did you get Charlie?
Monaghan: “I was looking for a part, and that’s one that I could do, and Charlie’s contemporary, and Charlie is messed up, and Charlie is a drug addict. And I just felt like I could bring something to that medium. It was important to me to play somebody like that.”
What can you tease for the new season?
Monaghan: “We are gonna be heading further down the rabbit hole, we’re gonna find out what’s in the hatch, episode one. There’s a whole bunch of heroin on the island, so Charlie’s obviously gonna have to come to terms with that at some point, and the baby’s gonna be a huge factor in the second season.”
Any place you’d like to take Charlie, a dream storyline?
Monaghan: “Kind of a hologram version of Angelina Jolie.
On that island, anything’s possible.
Monaghan: “You never know. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
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Being isolated in Hawaii, when did you first realize the enormous popularity of the show?
Andrews: “I think that it was the first time that I came back to L.A. when all the posters went up, just before we opened in America. That’s when I began to be aware of the scope of it and the size of it. It’s not been overwhelming. It’s been very pleasant and I’m just very pleased that people seem to like the show, that people are watching. I think that it’s very rare when something is critically acclaimed and yet people still like it. To get both is really, really good.”
Are you addicted to the show yourself?
Andrews: “I have to be very frank with you and tell you that I don’t actually watch the show. I obviously read the script, but I don’t watch it. Maybe I should. Maybe I should. There’s always a sense of dread I think in opening up a script because you literally don’t know what’s going to happen with your character and you’re always slightly worried in case a big monster comes and makes a meal of you.”
Do the producers keep you in the dark or do you have an idea where your character is going?
Andrews: “For me personally I’m pretty much in the dark. If I have an episode that features the Sayid character then I will know something about what’s going to happen, but generally no. I don’t really know what’s coming around the corner. I’m very pleased with the work that we did last year. It seemed to have some kind of real resonance and with that character, with Sayid in particular, I’m pleased. There seems to be a real human being there and I just feel that we only touched the tip of the iceberg. The kind of character that he is there’s so much more that he has to reveal.”
What’s been the most rewarding part of playing Sayid?
Andrews: “Discovering that he has a real romantic side to him which was not immediately apparent with someone who’d been involved with torturing people and brutalizing them. He is capable of great tenderness which you don’t see that much in this show. I remember seeing it with Daniel Dae Kim and Joon-Yin Kim towards the end of last season, but the tension between him and Shannon, I thought that it’s good to see that on TV and especially in the midst of such panic.”
You’ve also emerged as a bit of a sex symbol.
Andrews: “Well, it’s flattering that the character is perceived in that way, but that’s what it is. It’s a character. I’m an actor. I play a role and that’s not me. What I’m doing is a character.”
Have the producers allowed you to have any input into your character’s development?
Andrews: “They have. Last season I remember that being the case. Yes. There’s a certain amount of leeway that we have, but it’s usually to do with certain lines, certain situations that maybe aren’t right that maybe you want changed. But there is feedback and communication which is great.”
Has working away from the traditional Hollywood scene allowed you to become closer that most casts and crews?
Andrews: “Yeah. It’s a family and like with any family some days you don’t get on with your sister or your brother or your dad or your mum. But at the same we’re very supportive of each other. We realized at that beginning that we’re stuck together for better or for worse for a while.”
How are you enjoying living and working in Hawaii?
Andrews: “I love it. I mean, look at this. It’s just a great gig for any actor to get and I think that what most actors respond to really is the writing. The fact that they set it here in Hawaii rather than, I don’t know, Burbank is a huge boon.”
Have the producers given you the sense that they really have a big picture for where the show is ultimately going?
Andrews: “Yes. Indeed. At first it can feel completely random and like, ‘What the f**k is going on?’ But that’s a bit like life really. There is some higher purpose, but we don’t know what it is.”
What’s coming up with Sayid?
Andrews: “His relationship with Shannon will be followed through to its ultimate conclusion. Men and women on the island, they have needs! I’d like to see him go into a spiritual direction of some kind. I’d like to see the whole show go into that area, and just become more trippy, you know?
What do you do on the set when you have some down time?
Andrews: “Well, Terry [O’Quinn] sometimes brings his guitar and I’ll bring mine and Josh [Holloway] brings his and we’ll play and sing usually if there’s time.”
So we might see a track on a Lost CD from you guys?
Andrews: “Why not? We’ve got to make some money and cash in. I mean, it’s a corporate world these days.”
What do you think has made Lost such a huge hit?
Garcia: “I think that we came up with a pretty unique story as far as when the show first came on. I think that it was also the way that the cast was put together. Essentially they chose actors that they wanted to work with and didn’t worry about whether they fit into whatever shape that they had characters in already, having certain characters created just because they wanted to work with people. I thought that was a great way to cast a show.”
Your guest spot on Curb Your Enthusiasm aired just when the Lost producers were looking for actors. Did it feel like synchronicity?
Garcia: “That definitely felt like there was a bit of magic there because I shot that episode like the first week of May and didn’t air until like February. So it was almost like a whole year after we did it, and the fact that it was at the time that they were looking for people to be on Lost, Becker had just ended and everything kind of fell into place quite nicely.”
Along with Matthew Fox and Dominic Monaghan, you auditioned for the role of Sawyer. How different would that have been?
Garcia: “I don’t know if I would have sold as many TV Guide covers as Josh [Holloway].”
How much of your own personality is reflected in Hurley?
Garcia: “I think a lot of it. They wrote the part for me and so they definitely talked to me and got to know me a bit in the meeting when they started writing it. They were pretty good at getting my general vibe down. I’m just not as haunted as Hurley is with the whole number situation. But definitely I think that we’re cut from the same cloth.”
Was there any one moment when you realized the show was going to be huge?
Garcia: “I don’t know what that moment was. But I know one thing. I went to London before we started playing there and had just assumed that it’d be pretty low-key and quiet there. Then the fact that people from France go to London, and Scandinavians–I mean, screaming Scandinavian teenagers at the Tower of London, which is a little tourist area–that was definitely a sign.”
What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to do for the show?
Garcia: “Hmm. Probably the fact of how much they made Hurley run last year. I mean, the whole thing where I had to run up an escalator. Man, that was hard. That was actually in an earlier episode. We shot that for an earlier episode and it didn’t make the cut and so they saved it and brought it out later because the episode when they kill the marshal, there’s a moment where they’re burning the fuselage and Jack is just staring out at the ocean and I just pop up out of nowhere and suddenly show up next to him. He’s like, ‘I didn’t even see you coming.’ I go, ‘I’m spry.’ So the fact that it didn’t make the cut of the show…we loved that line. It was our favorite line too, and the fact that they resurrected it somewhere else I thought was cool.”
Do you enjoy a nice, leisurely round of golf, like Hurley?
Garcia: “I don’t golf that much, but I figure that’s one of the things to take up while in Hawaii because there’s a lot of golf here.”
Stay tuned for Part II of our Lost interviews with Terry O’Quinn, Harold Perrineau, Emilie de Ravin, Maggie Grace, Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim
