Lost in Hawaii - Season Two
Yunjin Kim
After some time, Yunjim Kim (Sun Kwon) stopped to speak with us. Her personality was infectious, joking with everyone, having a wonderful time, and she was dressed in a radiant outfit that I'm sure the reporter from Life & Style Weekly could describe in much better detail, but from my own expert analysis, I can tell you it was black and ... uh ... "sparkly".
Photo courtesy of BVHE
Interviewer: What do you think of the baby you're carrying?
Yunjin: I think it adds a lot to my character. It would be interesting if it were an immaculate conception, like the island is the father. That would be weird, her giving labor to black smoke (laughs and adopts a masculine posture) ... black smoke coming out of the tent. That would be really dramatic (laughs)!
Interviewer: What would have liked to have seen happen last season that didn't?
Yunjin: Definitely more romance. That's sort of what drives drama: love. Definitely Libby and Hurley -– I would like to see it have some sort of closure in Season Three. We have some new cast members, and I'd love to see some conflict they'll bring.
Interviewer: Do you know what kind of role they'll be playing?
Yunjin: I don't know.
Interviewer: Last season a lot of time was spent introducing the characters. How much do you feel the writers have incorporated your personality into Sun's?
Yunjin: I know Season One, they asked me a lot of questions, especially me playing a Korean character. I was born in Korea, came over when I was 10, went back and lived in Korea for 7 years to work there. They ask a lot of typical questions, even the names of Sun and Jin. It's very rare to have one syllable names ... little details. I email them back and forth and try and find answers as far as translation goes. We do have a translator, but a lot of time we have to make it conversational, not a direct translation of English lines, but like a normal conversation would go. I feel like creatively, in little details, I put a lot of my own ideas into it.
Interviewer: The development of your character this season was very compelling. How much more do you think there is in terms of the backgrounds of these two characters that we need to see to understand them better in the present time?
Yunjin: In my mind, I'm sure Sun did something wrong. She is stranded on this island, and every character obviously has done something wrong in their past life and that's sort of the reason they're here. I don't think she went and killed someone, that's unlike Sun, but I know there has to be something underneath that had to happen for her to be there on the island, so hopefully we'll see a more dark side of Sun, because she's no nice and if you're that nice, you wouldn't be there.
Interviewer: The show has current story and flashbacks. Do you prefer one over the other when you're working, and in a larger sense, would you like to see the show go straight to what's happening on the island now and not deal with the flashbacks?
Yunjin: I think flashbacks are important. That's what I love about watching Lost is that every episode, you have your new favorite character. We take turns, and that's where we get to look a little different, show different sides to that character like peeling an onion. So I find flashbacks really useful, really crucial to the show. I don't think that should ever go away.
Interviewer: Who is your favorite character?
Yunjin: I have to say Locke. He's a weird one. The fact that he was crippled and the fact that he now can walk, he's had such a traumatic past life with his father, with his loved one, that he seems to have such an interesting essence that's very different from any other character I've seen on television, so I'd have to say it's Terry's character.
Photo courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Daniel Dae Kim
Fittingly, Yunjin was followed by her on-screen husband, Daniel Dae Kim (Jin Kwon). In my personal opinion, the relationship between these two characters is the strongest aspect of the series, the most fully developed and the most emotionally resonant, so speaking with them is always a treat, particularly since both are very thoughtful and introspective about their characters and their performances.
Interviewer: Your character was the most complete and developed last season. What do you think Season Three holds for you?
Kim: I never heard that about my storyline before, but it's something to ponder. But yes, there was some nice point of rest at the end of last season for Jin and Sun. They didn't end on a conflicting note, so I guess you could say there was some kind of plateau there. But they say "drama is conflict", so Season three probably has a lot more conflict in store for them. And, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing what direction their relationship goes in.
Interviewer: A lot of characters' flashbacks are based on guilt, and maybe that's why they're on this island. What do you think your character did to make him guilty?
Kim: In his history, he did some questionable things in the service of his father-in-law, so I'm sure there are some things to be guilty about, and I think he's looking for redemption as most of these characters are.
Interviewer: And do you think we'll see that in Season Three?
Kim: (Laughs) That's a good question and not for me to answer. I'm sure we'll get a glimpse of it, and I'm sure we'll see some things that will throw him off that redemption, so it's a mixed bag. (Grins) We'll see.
Interviewer: How much input have you tried to contribute in terms of feeling that maybe you know the character more or better than the writers do in the way he acts?
Kim: I think the writers are pretty responsive to who we are as people in our relationships on the island, as actors, and I think it works to everyone's advantage when they're sensitive to it. I also know that as actors, we have felt comfortable enough to go and talk to them about things that they enjoy and don't enjoy about the character, directions they'd like them to go, so I'd like to think that it's a nice two-way street.
Interviewer: Is there anything you want your character to do that he hasn't done yet?
Kim: I think it would be nice for Jin to see how he does when he tries to integrate himself into the group. He spent a lot of the first couple of seasons being an outsider to the group; he didn't learn the language, he was possessive of his wife and very suspicious of outsiders. So after all this time on the island now, he's starting to open up to people and I'm curious to see how his relationships blossom.
Interviewer: Do you have a preference in the flashback section or island section in terms of what part of the acting you enjoy more?
Kim: That's a good question. The interesting thing about Lost in the first season was that we learned a lot about these people in flashback by flashback, and by and large, we were surprised. But as we go into Season Three, it's harder to surprise people with the characters that have been on the island since Season One. I think our writers will do an excellent job of still doing that, but at the same time, now we know their background and can kind of guess how they'll respond and act on the island, so I'm looking forward to seeing how all the people on the island will get along, because now we know all of them.
Interviewer: Do you have a favorite character on the show ... besides Jin?
Kim: I really don't. Somebody asked me that earlier, but I don't. I look at all of us as parts of a whole of the show. Because it's so dense mythologically and thematically, there are so many things going on that it's hard to pull one person out and say this is what I like, because it's all part of the show as a whole.
Terry O'Quinn
Arguably the biggest star to emerge from the show and a favorite of fans and cast members alike, Terry O'Quinn (John Locke) approached the red carpet experience as one might expect Locke to do so. Thoughtful, measured, and soft-spoken, he was polite and responsive when answering our questions, and yet he carried a presence about him, a power and strength just beneath the surface that let you know he was in complete control and could ruin your day if you weren't careful.
Interviewer: What is the one thing you wish you could have found in the hatch besides the tires for your car?
O'Quinn: Obviously Locke wished he could have found the meaning of his life in the hatch. That's what he was looking for -– his job, his destiny, his task, his meaning, and it turned out to be pushing a button, and he found that very disappointing.
Interviewer: Have you ever been a button-pusher in real life?
O'Quinn: A button-pusher? No. Never. I've been doing this since I was in college, and before that I did nothing. The button pushing was a whole new experience for me, and I found it very dissatisfying, and I was unhappy for Locke. Locke was unhappy, and I was very sympathetic.
Interviewer: Do you think Locke was frustrated because of his isolation of just pressing a button all the time?
O'Quinn: I think he was frustrated because he thought getting into the hatch and finding [what was in it] was going to give him some definition and was going to maybe be the answer to his life's work. It was kind of like the old man and the mountain: if he got up there he was going to get the answer, and he was going to find some peace of mind and some meaning -– something that would drive him forward, but it didn't.
Interviewer: Do you think he does next season?
O'Quinn: I don't know if he finds it, but I think he continues to seek it. I think he has to. I think he's driven, and often to his detriment, to hurt himself and hurt others simply to find ‘why are we here?' only on a personal level. You know, he's asking that question: why am I here?
Interviewer: It seems everyone on the island is guilty of something, and maybe that's why they're there. What is Locke guilty of?
O'Quinn: I don't know. Of a specific crime, I don't know. He's guilty of being a sucker, being too easy and wearing his heart on his sleeve, of falling for anybody who comes along and anything. He's guilty of being too trusting, but on the other hand, it makes him innocent of everything because he wants to believe, he wants there to be magic, he wants things to be good.
Interviewer: Overall, how would you characterize your experience of working on Season Two compared to Season One?
O'Quinn: Season Two seemed to go by much more quickly in a way because the experience wasn't as varied. Season One was discovering this character and discovering all these little things. He knew so much, and he was willing to relate things to people. And Season Two, he went down this hole and started pushing this button, and the magic seemed to go away. So Season Two seems to me like one long episode. In Season One were very specific talks and talking with people; I remember scenes, I remember talking with Jack about his leadership, talking to Sawyer about my sister, talking to Charlie about the drugs. I remember all of that very clearly. Season Two was all about pushing the button, I'm frustrated, I'm mad at this and I'm mad at Jack, Henry Gale is twisting my arm. It was the hatch, basically.
Interviewer: How much do you feel you've had some influence or inspiration to the writers in terms in contributing some of your own personality or some of your frustrations with what you would interpret into playing that character?
O'Quinn: I think plenty. I think the writers respond to what they see in the cast big time, not necessarily in terms of story points but certainly in terms of performance points and where they take the character. If they're going from point A to point D, they might let the character decide what B and C are -- I mean the actor, to a certain extent -- but they know they're going to get to D. So I think that the writers are influenced a good bit by the actors.
Interviewer: How do you feel about being an action figure?
O'Quinn: Well, I haven't seen it. That was never one of dreams to be an action figure so I don't know. Somebody asked me if I hoped the action figure had props, and I said, "Yeah, a little gun to shoot himself." (laughs) Or if you get one, buy him and release him in the garden with a little knife where he can hunt mice.
Interviewer: We've asked everyone so far who their favorite character is on the show, and most of them have said "Locke". Who is your favorite character?
O'Quinn: Well, I'd have to agree with all of them (laughs). I bow down to their superior intelligence. My favorite character to look at is Kate. I mean, I love working with Sawyer, I love working with Dominic Monaghan, I love working with Matthew, I like working with Ian. It's a bunch of good actors. My favorite person to greet when I get to work that would have to be Evangeline. She's a great hugger.
