EW interview with Terry O'quinn and Michael Emerson !

Over the course of pop culture history, there have been many terrific two-man teams. Abbott and Costello. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Beavis and Butthead. To that illustrious list, may we submit for your consideration: Benjamin Linus and John Locke. Together, the prickly pair have driven much of the Lost saga — and the on-screen chemistry between Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn has been a key source of entertainment, dramatic and comedic. (Emerson and O’Quinn are the only two actors to date who have won Emmys on the show, most recently with Emerson snagging the trophy for best supporting actor in the fall.) Look back no further than last season, which brought us “Dead is Dead,” the episode that featured a tense and humorous jousting match between the two rivals and, of course, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” which yielded one of the great moments in Lost history: Ben talks Locke out of hanging himself…before strangling him to death!

Last fall, while visiting the Lost production in Hawaii, we wanted to experience the Ben and Locke Show live, so we corralled Emerson and O’Quinn for a wide-ranging interview. You will be reading — and seeing — more of our adventures over the next few months at EW.com and in the magazine. In fact, this week’s issue of EW contains an informative Q&A with Emerson and O’Quinn. Although we can’t give you any season 6 teasers (yet), you’ll receive a peek into their working relationship and genuine friendship. In the meantime, enjoy a few bonus quotes from the mad men of Lost. —Jeff Jensen and Dan Snierson

On O’Quinn realizing last season that he wasn’t really playing John Locke anymore:
O’QUINN: There was a sort of gradual awareness, and then [with the season finale], a sort of a sad acceptance of the fact that John Locke was dead. I thought, “Well, wow, I guess I’m not playing the same person anymore. That role on Lost is over.”

On whether the new Locke is good or evil:
O’QUINN: Boy, they sure are loading it up to look as if John Locke is the devil. And then that makes me suspicious. Right? Apparently I’m playing somebody who can look like John Locke. It was easier playing this same person last year when I didn’t know who it was. Now it’s hard to not load things up and become arch, be heavy.

On playing comedic moments:
EMERSON: I began to feel last season that I was in my own little private comedy. He was very sarcastic all the time. There aren’t a lot of characters you can just bounce jokes off of — Jack’s not a big knee-slapper — but there’s a special kind of Lost humor, where we talk glibly about very grave matters.
O’QUINN: When somebody’s pointing a gun at you every episode, eventually it’s like, “Whatever. You’re not gonna shoot me. Or if you do, I’ll live.”
EMERSON: [to O’Quinn] Was it you that said, “On Lost, you can’t ask somebody to pass the salt without pulling a gun”?
O’QUINN: I don’t think so. Maybe it was you.
EMERSON: I want it to be you.

On shooting the pivotal scene in which Ben strangles Locke:
EMERSON: It was long, slow work that day…. It was very quiet on the set. The crew was gripped by the scene and fully supported the work in front of the camera.
O’QUINN: I remember prepping with you for the sequence. We were sitting in our chairs, going over the dialogue, but Michael has a hard time just sitting in his chair. So, pretty soon, I’m still sitting in my chair, and he’s on his knees in front of me, doing that moment where Ben begs Locke not to kill himself, and the whole time, the crew is just walking by us, not looking at us or saying a word.

On whether they’ll miss working together:
O’QUINN: I haven’t told Michael this yet, but I think about it a lot. A working relationship that is this smooth, it’s as unusual as a relationship with a loved one. At least for me. After Lost is over, I’m going to get a hold of somebody and say, “Write something for us.” I just want to keep doing this.
EMERSON: I don’t think it’s the last time we’ll be playing opposite each other.

On how much they worry about meeting fan expectations:
O’QUINN: Not as much as it worries [exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse] and those guys, I’m sure. What worries me is what I have control over. And that’s my performance. And if in fact the whole thing is a big laugh and it turns out badly and everything, I don’t anticipate feeling terrible about it. Because every day to me is work. And it’s given a lot already.
EMERSON: I’m also getting easier with the idea of secrets, of walking away with things unanswered, with mysteries left open. That’s all right, too.

Source : EW

Tibits of Chicatribune interview with Damon and Carlton !

Last Friday, I talked to "Lost" executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for more than an hour, and I'll publish a complete transcript of our conversation in a few weeks. I especially can't wait for you to read the part about the Ewoks.

here the tibits we got :

From Lindelof and Cuse:

• "Lost" executive producer and frequent director Jack Bender will direct the series finale. "He’s definitely directing it. He’s been such a humungous part of the show and he’s our third partner in Hawaii. You know there wouldn’t be anybody else to do it besides him," Cuse said.
• As expected, Cuse and Lindelof will write the show's 2-hour series finale. Cuse on the final season and the unveiling of the ending: "We kind of concocted the mythology of the show a long time ago, and it’s like having a Christmas present and you kept it on the shelf a long time and people are finally going to get to open it and see it. So we’re finally getting to deploy the ending of the show and that is exciting to us. It is a story and I think as storytellers, that’s always what’s delicious -- you set up the audience and then you basically finish the story. There’s a payoff and we’re actually going to finally give the audience our payoff."
• Cuse said that "Lost" will unveil a "narrative technique" that is "different" this season. He didn't elaborate on what the new technique would be, but he compared the deployment of this Season 6 element to the show's use of time travel in Season 5: "Last year, we committed to this concept of time travel with a certain expectation that some people really might not respond to it. I think the most pleasant surprise was how much people embraced it, because it was difficult and it was much more overtly science fiction, and yet people really seemed to like the season," Cuse said. "But we have the same anxiety about what we’re doing this season. We kind of feel like the fundamental tenet that we’ve tried to follow as storytellers is 'Be bold.' But in being bold sometimes you fall on your face. So, we committed to a narrative approach this season which we feel is bold and it’s different than what we’ve done before. And if it works, it’ll be exciting, but it might not be everybody’s cup of tea either."

• Lindelof on whether constructing the final seasons and finale have put more pressure on them and on the show: "Despite what people think or say, so much of it has been talked about and planned for years now that you’re just kind of executing the plan to the best of your ability and changing the plan when it’s not working, but otherwise, you’re kind of married to the inevitable -- the stuff that we want to do."
• Both Cuse and Lindelof sounded adamant about not wanting the show to continue in future TV or film projects (so presumably we won't see "Lost Babies" show up on ABC Family). They also said they aren't thinking about writing a "making of" book. Lindelof: "The one promise that we are making is that what we’re not going to do is leave the show hanging so we can pick up the ball and run with it two years from now in some other television project or movie. I think that we owe ourselves and the story and the audience a sense of finality. ... You can’t break up with somebody and say, 'Let’s not go out anymore, but I still want to sleep together, I still want to live in the same house, and we should still go on dates all the time.' No. If it’s over, it’s over."
• Cuse said the duo is going "off the grid" after the finale airs in order to avoid "having to interpret the ending." More from Cuse on this topic: "We’ve always felt that one of the compelling elements of 'Lost' is its intentional ambiguity. The fact is, it’s open for interpretation and discussion and we feel like we would be doing a disservice to the fans and the viewers to say, 'No, you must only look at this in one way.' We don’t think that is really good for the show or for people’s ability to read into the show what they want…. We really feel we are very committed to this notion of not sort of stripping the show of its essential mystery. I mean, mystery exists in life and we kind of always go back to the midi-chlorians example [in the 'Star Wars' prequels]. Your understanding the Force was not aided by knowing that there were little particles swimming around in the bloodstreams of Jedi. There are sort of fundamental elements of mystery and magic to the show that are unexplainable, and any attempt to explain them would actually harm the show, and in our opinion, the legacy of the show. So we’re trying to find that kind of right blend of answering questions, but also leaving the things that should be mysterious, mysterious."
• Cuse on their approach to the final season and the finale: "All we can do is trust our guts, which is kind of where we’ve been from the beginning. We started the show sitting in my office every morning, having breakfast, talking about what we thought was cool and whatever we both would get excited about would go into the show. That’s how we’ve approached it [all along] and that’s how we approached it at the end. So, our barometer can only be: Does this ending feel satisfying to us and to the other writers? And if we can achieve that, we feel like we will have done what we can do and what we should do."
• Will 18 hours be enough for the last season? (By the way, Season 6 will consist of a two-hour season premiere, 13 episodes and three-hour series finale that will air over two weeks -- but as Cuse joked, "I’m sure the network will sell it as a six-part finale if they can.") Cuse: "For us, [18 hours] is just about right. I mean, we aren’t sitting here feeling like, 'Oh my God, we need a ton more hours to tell the rest of our story.' It feels like it’s going to work out just fine. It will have been the right length."

Below are ABC's promotional photos of the Season 6 "Lost" cast. Don't look if you don't want to know who will be getting a fair amount of screen time in Season 6.

I don't consider the bits of information that come before the photos spoilery. In fact, I don't think of them as spoilers but rather as Informational Tidbits. But on the off chance that you don't want to know these Season 6 Informational Tidbits, here's your chance to jump out now.

Last bits:

• Time-wise, Season 6 begins exactly where Season 5 left off. Cuse: "There’s an eight-month gap [between seasons], but when you actually buy the DVDs, you’ll put the finale in for Season 5 and then you’re put the first disc in for Season 6 and it will feel like a very continuous experience."
• I jokingly suggested that this season we'd see either the much-discussed Zombie Season or at the very least a "Lost" musical. Unfortunately it was a no on both counts, but Cuse did say that in Season 6, we will see "a character singing."
• Via his Twitter account, Cuse confirmed the return of a "Lost" guest actor here and the identity of a new-to-"Lost" guest actor here.

source : chicagotribune.com

From Kristin

Spotted! Evangeline Lilly and Emilie De Ravin Shooting Lost in Los Angeles






















Well, this just makes us all tingly.

In case you Lost fans need confirmation that Emilie de Ravin will most certainly be a part of the final season, we can tell you there's no doubt about it!

Lookie-loos over at ABC Studios in Burbank tell me Evangeline Lilly and Emilie were shooting a scene for Lost just this very morning.

So does this mean Claire and Kate meet up again? And what's this about a baby bump?!

Here's the scoop...

Evangeline and Emilie were reshooting a scene for the season premiere episode of Lost, which will air Feb. 2.

The scene was originally taped in Hawaii but had to be reshot, and because Evangeline, Emilie and director Jack Bender all happened to be in Los Angeles (the cast is on hiatus), they decided to shoot it at ABC Studios.

According to a source on set, the scene involved a gun, a cab driver and a...wait for it, certain female actress sporting a baby bump.

Gaaah!

So is Kate gonna have a bun in the oven? Perhaps a little Sawyer or Jack? Will Claire reappear pregnant? Or is it a flashback to when Claire was with child (Aaron)? Maybe Kate and Claire met before?

As usual, on this series, anything is possible, so it's probably none of the options above. And we have to wait until Feb. 2 to get some answers. Anyone else counting the minutes?






source: Kristin

Regarding Henry…

As most of you have noticed, Henry Ian Cusick is not listed as a regular in the press release for LOST season 6. I was a bit surprised by the reaction to this. I’m a big time Desmond fan, however… am I the only one not surprised that Henry isn’t going to be a regular?

Season 6 has a lot of story threads to bring together and let’s face it, the writers would have to invent things for Desmond to do at this point in order to keep him on the roster of regular – appearing in every episode - characters. Desmond had a tremendous role through seasons 2,3, and 4, but in season 5 it was very clear that his story was over.

I’d go as far as to say the ‘tapering off’ of Desmond’s story was in season 5. His major purpose was as someone who “the rules” did not apply to, who could carry a message from the past to the… err… present(?). (Not to mention taking a bullet from Ben.)

Please hold your Libby comparisons, no-one has said Henry won’t be appearing – just that he is not a regular. Hopefully we will get the answer to why the rules don’t apply to him (marinating in the Island ’s magical magnetism would be my guess), but the fact is he has not been involved in the overarching plot of the 815r’s since he provided safe passage to the Oceanic 6.


source: DocArtz

Small Filming Snippets - HPU - 21st November

I received this email this morning from my Hawaii Pacific University email account

Hello, HPU Community:

This is a notice that LOST will be filming a scene on Saturday, Nov. 21 from 10 a.m. to early afternoon in the alley behind the FS and MP buildings.

The moped parking area will still be available near Fort Street Mall, but will be not be available closer to the alley. There will be signs posted to that effect.

This is a chase scene involving a female actress who is “running away from the cops.” Fake police cars will also be involved in the scene, on Bethel St. and Beretania St.

Any faculty, staff and students who are at the Downtown campus this Saturday not to be alarmed by a (possibly shrieking) woman running in the alley, or other strange noises, as it is only Hollywood. Thank you!


source: DarkUfo

Filming today at Bowfin Submarine Memorial

#LOST Alert! Filming today at Bowfin Submarine Memorial in Pearl Harbor! Starts in about one hour!


source: Twitter

Emerson calls Season 6 “dark, bloody, opaque”

In an interview with the Honolulu Star Bulletin, actor Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus) discusses his experiences at the Emmy Awards, and describes what he’s filmed for Season 6 so far — as vaguely as possible, of course. The key excerpt:


Emerson returned to Hawaii in August to shoot the sixth and final season of Lost. Though he confirms that completed episodes are “very dark and bloody,” he’s able to offer little about where the plot is going.

“I thought I would be able to see the ending that was coming, but I can’t,” he says of the series finale. “It’s still so opaque.”

Nor does he have any idea how the character will evolve, though he can guarantee Ben will never veer toward monotony. “I’ve had some vintage Ben stuff already, in the great tradition of Ben Linus manipulating a turnaround or surprising the audience. And there’s lots of that this season.”


source: Approaching Lost

Ausiello

Question: According to IMDB, Alexis Bledel will appear in an episode of Lost this season. Is that true? –Anita

Ausiello: No it sure ain’t!


source: Ausiello

Exclusive: 'Lost' retains 'L.A. Law' alum Sheila Kelley

Actress-turned-erotic exercise pioneer Sheila Kelley has found a plum role on the final season of Lost, sources confirm to me exclusively.

Kelley — best known acting-wise for her three-year stint as secretary Gwen Taylor on L.A. Law — will play the recurring role of Kendall, an intellectual beauty with a sharp edge to her wit who is caught committing corporate espionage and has to lie her way out.

At least that’s the info Team Sneakmeister Darlton circulated around town when they were casting the role. For all I know Kelley is replacing an AWOL Mira Furlan as Rousseau.


source: Ausiello

From Kristin

Marshall in Texas: Is it true that on Lost the bomb did go off and the show will "reset" with Oceanic Flight 815 landing safely?

From what I understand only one of those things is true. But it's complicated!



source: Kristin

Lost - Set Photos of Dharmaville - 21st Oct

Thanks to DarkUFO reader lostforeever for sending over the following.
Here are some pix I got of Dharmaville on October 21..the houses used for LOST were intentilonally dirtyted up from the other dorms as they are very clean, (the rec room was newly painted) and as you can see the swing set has been practically demolished, not something that would happen naturally since they used it last year in Season 5's Kate and Roger scene; so deliberate or what?
Source: lostforeever@DarkUFO

source: DarkUfo

“LOST” in Familiar Territory

SPOILER ALERT: The first “LOST” location shoots of the month were staged in familiar territory. Today’s reports are brief, but hopefully worth sharing on this rainy Monday. Also: Photos!

This morning, “LOST” was spotted at Hawaii Medical Center East on Liliha St., otherwise known as St. Sebastian Hospital. The scene took place in the emergency room, and thus beyond prying eyes. But a group of nurses were a titter, having spotted Jack (Matthew Fox), Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and “his girlfriend” — presumably Nadia (Andrea Gabriel). As we’re beginning to see, even in a universe where Oceanic Flight 815 arrives safely in Los Angeles, our friends are inexplicably crossing paths.

And this afternoon, visiting fan “Daisy from Hazzard County” was among several visitors (including a group on a “LOST” tour) who happened upon a “LOST” shoot at Papailoa Beach (a.k.a. Police Beach), the main beach camp of several seasons past. Rain bursts made for a tricky shoot, but the crew persevered.

In the scene were Ben (Michael Emerson), Frank (Jeff Fahey), Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson), Miles (Ken Leung), and Sun (Yunjin Kim). In one scene, Frank was gathering wood and working in the sand, and in another, he was toting a gun. Then, it was Ben’s turns to dig around in the sand. Finally, Ilana had Ben at gunpoint, and marched him down the beach.

Here are some photos from the set, courtesy another visiting fan:

source: Ryan

“LOST” in Late October

October 30th, 2009

SPOILER ALERT: Leading into Halloween, it’s been relatively quiet for “LOST” production. Most of the work took place behind closed doors at the Hawaii Film Studio. But a couple of visiting fans stumbled across the crew at work at location shoots that bookend the week, and passed along brief reports.

From Brooke, a California fan who already sent in a report from a Kahala shoot covered in the last “Transmission” podcast, found “LOST” at work on Monday at the First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu at the Ko’olau Golf Club in Waimanalo. There wasn’t too much to see, as the filming was taking place inside the church kitchen. But the cast trailers, and some friendly crewmembers, confirmed that it was a scene focused on Naveen Andrews (Sayid). Perhaps we’ll see him again demonstrating his culinary expertise. And he was interacting with both new and surprisingly familar faces.

Spotted on the set, John Hawkes, who’s playing a new character named Lennon. Lennon’s casting call described the character thusly: “Scruffy, edgy, charismatic, and slightly stir-crazy, Lennon can be deferential when it’s called for. He’s the spokesperson/translator for the president of a foreign corporation. He’s a wily negotiator, and far more powerful than his lowly position would seem to indicate.”

But that’s not all. The scene apparently also included Omar (presumably played by Anthony Azizi) and Keamy (Kevin Durand). Now, when we last saw these two gentlemen in the Season 4 finale, “There’s No Place Like Home,” Omar was blown up by a grenade kicked his way by Keamy, and Keamy was stabbed to death in The Orchid by Ben. Perhaps they, too, will get a second chance.

Today, “LOST” was spotted back at Waipahu High School. And, like last time, Michael Emerson (Ben) loomed large. But it’s the other stars that were spotted that make the school shoot so tantalizing. According to Pati from New York, mixed amongst many backpack and book toting students was none other than Tania Raymonde, Ben’s deeply mourned daughter Alex. She also saw, to my great glee, ninth grade science teacher Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck).

Most of the buzz on the set seemed to surround an actor in a trailer labeled “Van Peebles.” Pati described him as having “a cop, principal, gruff, hard ass kind of look.” After spending over an hour on the Internet Movie Database, she says she’s confident it was William Atherton. Atherton — known to many as Templeton Peck in “Ghostbusters” or the annoying reporter in “Die Hard” — was cast for “LOST” only a few days ago, as confirmed by showrunner Carlton Cuse on Twitter.

My money’s on him being the Ed Rooney-esque principal at Alex’s school.

source: Ryan

Lost Boss Answers You: So Is There Any Freaking Romance in Season Six or What?!

After five years of Lost being the craziest, most compelling show on TV, when season six premieres this January, we'll learn everything we ever wanted to know about the Island, the Lostaways and the mysteries of the show.

Right?

Well, that's what we're all hoping for anyway. We just caught up with Lost show runner Damon Lindelof at Golden Apple Comics here in L.A. and pestered him about whether or not the final season is really going to deliver the answers fans want. D.L. was on hand to promote his Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk comic compilation, and he graciously took questions from the audience and gave each attendee a little exclusive one-on-one time while signing the books.

We took advantage of the situation to ask about the love situation on Lost and to snag you answers about the hieroglyphics and "4 8 15 16 23 42."

Read on to see what the Lost boss shared about love, the numbers and the mysterious question posited by the secret poster code...

For those fans of Lost who are invested in the romance on the show, will there be anything for them this year, or is this primarily a mythology season?

That's an excellent question. Our focus remains where it's always been: on the characters. And there are significant and emotional bonds, from both the friendship and the romantic angle, that we would be remiss in not exploring; we probably won't be exploring them in the way that you think. That's my official answer.

All right, last night you tweeted about this event, and you said that you would address the numbers question.

Oh, well that was just to get people here. [Laughs.]

Are we going to get an answer on the numbers this season?

When someone asks what the numbers mean or are you going to answer the mystery of the numbers, it's a very interesting phrasing of a question, because I would pose it back to them: Well, what does an answer to "what do the numbers mean" look like? The answer that I'm giving now, my political answer, is that we've made a lot of the numbers in this show, so the idea that in the final season of the show we are telling everybody that we're in answer mode and you're never going to see the numbers again, or you won't understand a lot more about the numbers than you do now, would be a cop-out. You would legitimately tar and feather us. But the one question that I can't answer is what someone's own level of personal satisfaction is going to be when all is said and done. We've gotten a sense from some people that there's no such thing as a definitive answer to a question, you know? You say that this is the definitive answer and sometimes fans do like, "No, it's not, I still think that there's more there." So all we can do is basically tell the story that we want to tell and answer the questions that are relevant to that story and hope that the audience leaves with some degree of satisfaction. But Lost wouldn't be Lost if there wasn't an ongoing debate as to whether or not questions were answered satisfyingly or not.

OK, this might be a little esoteric, but who is the leader, and why does it matter?

That is very esoteric. I don't know, you look like a Jennifer—I think what Jennifer is referring to is in some of our Lost season-six promotional materials there are some hieroglyphics. Various hieroglyphic experts—who are those guys, by the way?—have taken a crack at interpreting what these hieroglyphics translate to, and one of the popular theories that is now emerging is that they translate to this question, "Who is the leader?" So if that's what he thinks it means, you'd have to ask him. I don't know why we would make people work so hard just to enjoy a poster!

Really? There's nothing about Locke versus Sawyer versus Jack versus Sayid versus Ben?

Nope, nothing. Who cares about leadership?


You've done a number of events like this. You've received a lot of questions from fans. Has there ever been a question where you guys are like, "Wow. That reminds us. We haven't played with that story yet" or that has helped you guys frame a storyline based on some feedback?

I think there are questions that percolate up that if I were a fan of the show I would be asking the question. I think that most of the writers on the show think like fanboys, whether they are boys or girls. The fact of the matter is no question is ever asked of us that we're not asking ourselves. So by the time someone asks me if Libby's ever coming back to the show for the 14th time, I'm like, "Trust me. I wish we could figure out a way to make that work." Like, I wish I could talk to the actress and get down on my hands and knees and beg her to come back, but the reality is, you know, there are certain questions that every time you're asked it's a pain for you because you're basically like, "I know man. You're absolutely right."


Marvel Publishing Inc. 1. You should go buy the Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk premium hardcover compilation, in stores now. Without knowing a darn thing about Hulks, Wolverines or ultimate universes (our book inscription said "Let's be honest, you don't care about Hulk and Wolverine—but you WILL! Hugs, [scribbly Damon Lindelof signature]"), we can tell you that it's worth it just for the fistfight with the panda.

2. Do you expect season six to be ecstatically satisfying or dizzyingly disappointing? What do you demand to know before you're a fully satisfied Lost customer? Tell us in the comments!

source: Kristin

Cuse Confirms William Atheron Will Make a Guest Appearance

Thanks to everyone for sending the heads up about Carlton Cuse's recent tweets about a clue for an actor that would appear in Season 6 in a guest role.It seems several fans guessed right and Cuse confirmed that William Atherton would appear.Here is a link to the Tweet from Cuse and an IMDB link for Atherton:http://twitter.com/CarltonCuse/status/5222559154http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040472/

Posted By: The ODI

source: DarkUfo

Snippets from Damon

The countdown to Lost's final season is underway.

Are you excited? Depressed? Terrified of what awaits our beloved castaways after that insane Season 5 finale?

Last week you sent me loads of questions for executive producer Damon Lindelof, and he was happy to answer them when we met up at the Austin Film Festival. Read on for Lindelof's thoughts on the last episode, returning characters, "the numbers" and so much more.

If Sawyer doesn't make it to the final episode, there's gonna be a brawl.

CAPTION

ABC

Me: At what point are you in creating the final episodes?

Lindelof: We're actually writing the eighth episode right now and breaking the story for the ninth episode. We're filming the sixth episode. The blueprint for the entire season is done, but we only write the episodes one at a time, because the actual genesis of the scene-by-scene work is the fun part. So we're almost exactly halfway through.

There's been so much analysis of the this year's promotional poster. Do you have a big part in creating that?

Yeah. Everything in the design of that poster is intentional. We oversaw it -- now we know the audience looks at that stuff so closely, so we don't want there to be anything that we don't approve, especially at this point in the game.

Why is neither Walt nor Vincent in the Season 6 promo picture? -- Holly

Well, I'm not going to explain why anything is what it is, other than that everything is by design. You'll just have to watch the final season and decide for yourself. It's a little bit like, "Why is Paul McCartney holding a cigarette with his right hand when he's a lefty on the Abbey Road cover?"

Is the ending you envisioned when you first created the show still in place? -- adanzis

That's a great question. Yes, the actual ending ending is exactly the same as we'd always planned on it being, except we didn't know if we were going to get there after two seasons, four seasons or after six seasons, so the road to the ending has had to change significantly. But the ending itself? Whether people like it or not, that's the ending we've had.

Will Walt will have any major role in the upcoming season? He was important for a while because of his "gift," but that story has never been realized. -- mrhymes01

I think a lot of people are justifiably frustrated about the Walt of it all. We said he has this special ability, and the Others obviously grabbed him and studied him for awhile, then they got freaked out by him and decided to let him go.

I think that there are certain stories on the show that feel like dangling participles based on external factors. For us, we were incredibly limited by the fact that Malcolm David Kelley was growing at an exponentially faster rate than the show was progressing. So, you know, when we showed him in Season 5 and Locke is trying to recruit members of the Oceanic Six, the only way that it worked was to see him three years older. But hopefully, why Walt was special and the role he played on the show will have a new significance when all is said and done. And I'm not sure we really need the character of Walt to explain the significance.

Executive producer Damon Lindelof is busy creating the final eps of 'Lost.'

CAPTION

ABC

Will we ever get more on the backstory on Libby ... or at least find out her last name? -- P-D Cougar

Libby is someone we get asked about a lot, and she's another one of those cases where it's more of an issue of our relationship with the actor than it is our desire to tell the story. It's our hope that Cynthia Watros will come back one more time and finish that story, but that's up to her. We asked her last year, she wasn't interested in doing it. Hopefully she'll change her mind.

One actor definitely won't be returning for the final season, right? Can you tell me more about that?

We did ask an actor who's played a significant role on the show to come back and do some work on Season 6, and they said no. But I'm not going to confirm who that is. All I'll say is that person was never a series regular.

Damon, I have a question about my second-favorite character on the show, Frank Lapidus. Ever since he appeared on the Season 6 promotional poster, there has been a lot of speculation on message boards. So, anyway, my question is: Will Frank be promoted to main character status next season, and if so, will he be getting a -centric episode? Because that would be basically the most awesome thing ever. -- Bish-Fiscuit

Yeah. Lapidus is definitely a series regular this season. Jeff Fahey was just a recurring character up through last year. Now, whether or not Lapidus makes it until the end of the season is anyone's guess, but he's definitely one of the A-team this year.

How many people do make it to the end of the season?

You really think I'm going to answer that question? Not all of them, that's for sure.

Are we going to return to the numbers? They obviously played a huge role in the beginning. Then we got away from them and started focusing more on the characters. Will we ever come back to them? -- Tommy F.

I like Tommy's question a lot better than the way I usually hear that question, which is, "What do the numbers mean?" I can say one of the things we're really focused on doing this year is trying to make the entire season as satisfying as possible. We know if we wait until the very last episode of the show to give answers or revelations there's no way it'll be satisfying, so we're trying to give out that stuff as we go along. And all I would say is, this is the final season of Lost. We would be enormously remiss if we were to not evaluate the numbers and their significance.

Will we find out what Ben and Kate talked about on the beach when he had her join him for breakfast wearing that dress? It has been driving me crazy for so long! -- sarbarmar

This is one of those things that, no matter what we say, it doesn't matter how many times we say it. I don't know what it is about that scene where people think this really significant piece of information transferred between the two of them on the beach ... Kate is actually working undercover for Ben or something like that.

Nothing happened. That's the real answer. We never intended it to feel that way, and when we say nothing happened, they think we're lying or we originally had a plan and abandoned the plan. All I can say is, hand to God, nothing happened.

At the end of Lost's final season, will we have an ironclad, nothing-else-to-say conclusion, or will we be left with the possibility of spinoffs and feature films? -- mveedubs

I think it is our intention to end the story of Lost in the final episode of the television series. We have no desire whatsoever to make a movie or leave any threads hanging. That being said, some people will think it's enormously satisfying. Other people will think it's not satisfying enough. It all depends on the way that you watch the show. But the worst thing we could ever do is just answer some things and then say we'll answer other things in the Lost movie in theaters two years from now.

The television show is our version of Lost, and once it ends, that's the end. J.K. Rowling said she was going to write seven Harry Potter books, and she was true to her word. There are six seasons of Lost, and that's it.

It's clear that you and Carlton Cuse have formed a creative friendship on the show and will be forever linked in Lost fans' minds. Are there any plans for the two of you to use your collective genius on projects post-Lost (with or without the polar bear)? -- GoolayGirl

I love collaborating with different people. J.J. (Abrams) and I created the show together, and Carlton and I run the show together. And writing the (Star Trek) movie with Bob (Orci) and Alex (Kurtzman) ... I love finding new creative partnerships but then continuing the partnerships I'm already in. So I don't know if it will be soon or later, but I hope Carlton and I work together again on something entirely different than Lost.

I am actually curious as to the status of Damon's involvement with the Dark Tower series. Is there hope for us Stephen King fans that this project is in the works? -- Lorrie Q.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a huger fan of The Dark Tower than me, but that's probably the reason that I shouldn't be the one to adapt it. After working six years on Lost, the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I'm such a massive Stephen King fan that I'm terrified of screwing it up.

I'd do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they're so incredible. But not by me.

In today's film and television industries it seems like there are far fewer writers willing to take risks for originality's sake. What advice do you have for aspiring writers who are passionate about a particular story, even if it risks not being given a chance by today's audiences? -- Josh G.

As cliched as it sounds, if you have an original voice and an original idea, then no matter what anybody says, you have to find a way to tell that story. My only advice would be you have to exercise patience. I think the freshman mistake is you feel such passion for something that you need to tell it now, as opposed to saying, "Let me establish myself, and five years from now when I'm a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit more experienced, maybe that's the time to tell that story."

Sometimes you get a present for somebody a month before their birthday and you just want to give it to them immediately. But timing is everything. So I would say it might feel like your idea is a hard sell now, but maybe in a couple years the timing will be right. Whatever you do, don't give up.

Is there any chance that once this season ends there will be a continuation of Lost through a movie, books, or website? Will you be doing anything to keep the fans alive after Lost is over? -- Shannon K.

I think the fans themselves will probably generate a lot of material like fanfic and that kind of stuff. But I feel like our story's over. We don't own Lost -- ABC and Disney do. So if they decide to generate some of that stuff, they might very well do so, but it's not going to be with our participation. As much as I want the fans to have new material, I feel like at the end of the day they'd want to kill us for it, because the whole purpose of announcing an end date is to end.

Are you sad it's ending?

I'm not sad it's ending. I'm really happy it's ending. I'm sad about the fact that we're not going to be writing it anymore -- like, the process of writing it and working on it is such an incredible thing. I don't feel sadness that the show is ending, because I feel like it's exactly the right thing to do. I can't imagine that we ever would've gotten this far if we hadn't announced an end date. It would've just gotten absurd and boring and stalling and ... it would've sucked. I'm so glad that's not the legacy of the show. The legacy of the show is going to be this instead.

Do you think more series should follow the Lost model and announce end dates?

For me as a viewer, I like knowing where I am in the book. Certainly for Battlestar, it was great to know where you were in the story. I think viewers sometimes want to know that, and it also helps them get over frustrating patches of stuff they don't like. But it all depends on the show.

Some shows sustain themselves forever. There's no reason that Grey's Anatomy ever needs to end. I remember when Heroes first came on the scene, people were asking Tim (Minear) that same question. He said, "Heroes can go on forever. There's no reason it ever needs to end, because there will always be characters with these abilities, and there will be interesting stories to tell." Heroes has a different design than Lost does. But I look at a show like FlashForward and I go, yeah, it would probably help that show for them to say it's a three-season or four-season show and then it ends, so that the audience at least gets a sense of where they are in the story.

Lost has inspired me to learn more about literature, philosophy, history, time travel and so many other subjects. What is the coolest thing you have learned about that you didn't know prior to creating the show? -- GoolayGirl

Good question. Well, we started doing research on time travel back in Season 2. ... Way back in Season 2, we found out about this thing, CERN. It's this gigantic particle accelerator that they're going to turn on, this multi-billion dollar project. 60 Minutes actually did a story on it. It's fascinating: They're trying to create anti-matter, quarks and all sorts of crazy things in there, but it keeps breaking. They keep pushing back the date they're going to turn it on. So I've become sort of obsessed with this project and the guy on the team that's behind it. Normally, that science stuff goes right over my head, but I'm fascinated.

I would love to know what song Damon thinks would best match the mood of Season 6. -- dmachado13

Wow. I'd say Visions of Johanna by Bob Dylan.

Why?

I have that song on my iPod, and when I hear it I think about the show. There are certain lyrical phrases in that song that are very well-suited to Lost.

Has the Lost team been documenting the process of creating the show since the very beginning? As a fan who loves the way the show is constructed, I hope once the show is over, we may see some sort of documentary-style feature or a book that will tell fans how the show was conceived and the creative process that occurred as the show moved through the years. -- Bryan in Cincinnati

I think there's going to be a Lost encyclopedia where we talk a lot about that stuff, but it's not like we've been bringing camera crews into the writers' room so they can see how we do what we do. A lot of the creation of the show is like a magic trick, and I think it would be like David Copperfield explaining how he made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

Although I acknowledge that people are really interested in the creative process of Lost, mostly it pertains to ... it all goes back to the idea of, "Are we making it up as we go along?" That's the question that people really want to know the answer to, and they want some proof. They want us to document the fact that we weren't making it up as we went along. And, in the spirit of the show, we just have to say, "If you choose to believe us, then that's what faith is all about." If you choose to disbelieve it, then we don't blame you. At the end of the day, all that matters is the story itself. If you feel satisfied by it, it shouldn't matter whether we had it planned from Day 1 or whether we made it up as we went along.

In some places we did have to make it up as we went along, because Adewale (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) wanted to leave the show, or the Nikki and Paolo idea didn't work, or we didn't have an end date so we had to tap dance, or we went over-budget so we had to put them in cages for four episodes in a row. There are certain things where we had to adapt to whatever real-world scenario was happening with the show. But creatively speaking in general, there had to be a plan.

What is your least favorite episode of Lost?

Oh, my god. (Pauses) I think my least favorite episode is this episode that we did the first season called "Homecoming." It's when Claire comes back from having been in the jungle for a couple days after she was abducted by the Others, and Ethan comes after her. The backstory is Charlie is trying to go straight and he's selling copiers. At the end of the episdoe, he shoots Ethan. I wrote that episode, and it's my least favorite episode of the show ever.

I'm surprised by that answer. It's not an episode fans usually name as their least favorite.

The episode fans bring up most often is "Stranger in a Strange Land," which is the epiosde with Bai Ling and Jack and his tattoos. And basically, I feel like it's unfair to bag on that episode. Am I a huge fan of it? No. But at the same time, there were so many different circumstances that led to that episode that needed to be written and so many ideas that didn't work. The fact that it all coalesced ... There was a bad casting decision made. There was a bad premise decision made. There was a bad flashback story. Just everything that could go wrong did, but I don't think it was because the script was terrible. "Homecoming," I think, was flawed on almost every single level that an episode of Lost could be.

So do you think you've become a better writer since Lost began?

I hope so. I feel like I've become a better listener, and if that's led to better writing, I don't know. I'm still incredibly proud of the pilot, having written the pilot, but I'm equally proud of the Season 3 finale. But writing is like being a really good baseball player: Even really good baseball players strike out all the time. So I just have to allow myself to say, "Sometimes I write better than other times." I think I know more now than I knew at the beginning, but I don't know if I'm any better of a writer.

They said this past Comic-Con was the last Lost panel ever. That's not true, is it? You've gotta come back one last time after it's all wrapped up. Because we all know you won't answer ever single question on TV! -- Rafael J.

I think the idea of appearing on the Comic-Con panel to answer the questions the show didn't answer would be almost as bad. If we don't answer it in the show, it's because we didn't want to answer it. Would we go to Comic-Con and do some kind of retrospective at some point where we get everybody back together to talk about the show? Yeah, I think that would be cool five, 10 years from now. But certainly not next year, a month after the finale has aired.

I have lots of questions but Damon won't answer them (and I wouldn't want to spoil anything anyway). Can he at least tell us when the season premiere will be? Joshua H.

Honest to God, they haven't given us a date yet. I don't even know what night it's going to be on. We've been on Wednesday at 9 for awhile, but now ABC's comedies are actually working. And I actually like Modern Family and Cougar Town, so I'm not sure that they'll move them.

I don't know what it means for us, but all I've ever heard is mid-to-late January. We're doing 18 hours -- two-hour premiere, two-hour finale -- so if we end in mid-May, we can't premiere any later than late January.

source: USA TODAY

Filming Update and Photos - 22nd October

Thanks to AlaskaDave one of the Lostpedia SysOps for sending this excellent set report and photos all through to us.

1) MANOA VALLEY/JUNGLE:
Right near where they filmed Claire's Log (iconic log where Claire gave birth,and where drugged up Claire and Ethan hung out), we stumbled across a somewhat large lean-to built entirely of wood and old tarp. There was a pelt (animal skin) hanging on one side of the lean-to.
As luck would have it, and as I was sneakily taking pictures of the lean-to, a yellow Penske truck pulled up the valley (LOST Crew!) and began to unload tons of old looking crap - old pots, pans, an old bicycle, old metal boxes.
Some of these old metal boxes had some Dharma logos on them. I wasn't able to get a clear pic of the Dharma logo stuff, obviously, as I was sneaking the pics.We stayed to watch them dress the set by tossing tons of old shit all around the lean-to, and inside it. Are we to assume this is the lean-to that Claire brings Jin to? Ironic they were filming right next to the Claire log, eh? :)

2) BEACH CAMP:
Wow, Beach Camp is all a flutter with activity! In the main part of Beach Camp, there are lots of smaller little lean-tos, made of sticks and airplane wreckage. However, there are a few larger structures, made with larger sticks and tarps.
Just a few hundred yards down from main Beach Camp, they've rebuilt Eko's church, still just made out of sticks, exactly how we saw it last in S2. HOWEVER, the coolest thing is that, right next to the church, they have built a grave! Presumably, this is the gravesite from the Sun-spoiler.
) OTHERVILLE/CAMP ERDMAN
Some pretty major stuff here, including a great find left behind by some forgetful crew member :p Otherville was dressed up to look WAY run down. Almost like... its hard to say, but they made it up to be quite broken down and all torn up apart. The playground set had been taped off and looked like something major happened to it.
They still have the old lights set up around the entire set, and there are broken malibu lights along all of the walkways in Otherville.
Here's the cool thing: When we were poking around the playground set, we stumbled across a box left by a crew member that said "2007 Otherville: Broken Malibu Lights" - which places the Otherville set in a timeframe, and verifies that the set is supposed to look all broken up and run down (not that we thought any differently of course :p). Inside were the same lights we had been seeing all over the main Otherville set.
4) THE FLAME:
Well, they've slapped a new coat of paint on The Flame, and have rebuilt the interior! Previously, the flame had no interior walls (as can be seen in Enter 77, when Mikhail is patching up Sayid). However, as of very recently, they've patched up the walls, and have updated the paint.
They've also updated the Dharma logo on the outside of the structure.
5) HAWAI'I FILM STUDIO
Well, we were escorted off property (read: kicked the fuck out), but not before securing a pic of the back of the Temple.
One of the cooler sights was the John Locke well (that he fell down into before meeting Christian in the FDW chamber), which they seemed to be prepping for filming. Same with the Anthony Cooper Pillar. I cant find my pics of that, Im sorry. I know I suck :p

6) PALA FERRY DOCK:
This isn't a huge thing, but the interesting thing is, normally there's this little structure at the end of the Pala Ferry Dock, but this week, the structure has been made to look all torn up and taken down. Again, may not be anything huge, but is kind of a neat little find.
Source: AlaskaDave via DarkUFO

To see all the locations pics,click on the source.

source: DarkUfo

Casting News

It looks like Maggie Grace is headed to Oahu in November to shoot top-secret Lost scenes as Shannon Rutherford, who was buried on the island back in ’05. Producers had invited Maggie back earlier, but the busy actress had to wait for shooting to conclude on a string of three film projects, including the role she just wrapped as Cameron Diaz’s kid sister in “Knight & Day,” also starring Tom Cruise. I’m hearing Shannon may be cut into an episode shot earlier this fall with brother Boone, played by Ian Somerhalder

Source: TV Guide Magazine


source: DarkUfo

When/If We Will See “Man In Black” Again

Titus Welliver has been spotted in Boston filming a new movie. The actor was gracious enough to let the world know when/if he would be appearing on LOST.
“There’s craft service and he’s got a massage table,” joked Welliver, who is headed back to La-La in a couple of weeks to film episodes of “Lost,” “Sons of Anarchy” and “The Good Wife.”

The quote comes from the BostonHerald website. Does this mean M.i.b will be abandoning his Locke meat-suit, or that a Jacob/M.i.b flashback episode is on the way?

Thanks to KevinB for the tip


source: DocArtz

Detailed Set and Filming Report

Here is another report from my good and "colourful" friend on the island "Le Point d'Exclamation".

Yo dark!Got more scoop stuff for ya.Was able to catch some filming
dude. You already have some pap snaps of the shoot earlier with Hugo
and Fox but here is what I saw a little.Rememeber dont use my bloody
name as those crazed lost peeps will nab me and take me to smokey or
some shit.

ok you will need to watch super careful when this episode is on the
air and will need a tivo or some shit to get a screencap as hugo who
actually seems to have gained weight
has some very detailed notes and shit on his arm from when he met that
Jacob dude in the that "shiney" area as one of your other crazed
sources called it!

I saw Jacob, hurley and this samuari dude lol called dogen or whatever
all together in the temple. You have some photos whatever already of
this set.

Jin gets rescued from the "pirate" looking dudes by would you believe
Claire of all people. She has gone all chuck norris on them and looks
f**king terrible!

She is all serious and unkempt and not the little hottie that we all
remember her for! (dont tell me wife I said that!)
She kinda resembals that crazy french chick in season 1. Jin then
wakes up in one of her makeshift shelter thing-a-me-bobs.
She has also taken one of the pirate dudes hostage or something.
little hard to make it all out as some big fat dude who was watching
it with me would not STFU.

Both jin and the pirate hostage dude are bleeding. Claire definately
knows how to work a weapon now.

Cant wait to find out wtf happened to her to make her so different.
I could not see more because those damn security blobs spotted us and
started to approach us but being so heavy we quickly out paced them.

also got some stuff on sawyer and kate coming up soon will shoot you
an email very soon once i have checked some stuff out but i heard
something about a wedding/engagement ring. its not going to be pretty
in your bloggy comments when those crazies shipper types read it ha
good luck with that

ill try to get some more stuff later in the week as my mate might gets
some intel on the new filming locations and scripts

over and out!

Source: Le Point d'Exclamation@DarkUFO

source:: DarkUfo