Lost in Hawaii - Season Two
Evangeline Lilly
Beautiful and charming, Evangeline Lilly (Kate Austen) arrived with her bubbly personality and subtle Canadian accent. During an interview, she lights up with enthusiasm and brings a smile to even the most jaded journalist's face.
Photo courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Interviewer: How did you get ready for tonight?
Lilly: Today was like any other day really. I had to get my car fixed, went to a doctor's appointment and then got ready. Well, I actually did my own self-tanning. (giggles) I have to be careful because I'm in the sun a lot here, so my tan is a fake tan, and I did it myself. See -- no orange hands, though. I'm getting pretty good at it; I do it all the time. And I'm wearing flat sandals, because last week I hit my foot on some coral when I was surfing. I cut it on a coral reef while I was surfing. Then I proceeded to go out in the surf the very next day and the same spot and cut the same foot on the same coral. I went to the doctor because coral is really a live thing and can infect to the degree that would actually cause you to have to amputate because the infection could get that bad. I wasn't supposed to go back in the water after the first time, but I did and I'm so stupid; this time I'm keeping it wrapped. I won't be going surfing for a while again. I know this isn't very glamorous, this bandage, but I'm wearing it to keep it clean.
Interviewer: How has living in Hawaii changed your style?
Lilly: It really has changed me. I can't wear scarves, boots, and coats anymore. I miss it like crazy. I'm a good Canadian girl, and I miss all that stuff. I miss the snow, tobogganing, snowboarding, but I've also learned to surf, and I've become a water baby. I used to be terrified of the water. I kayak all the time now, and I run year-round on the beach, which you cannot do in Canada.
Interviewer: No spray-on tans –- you get the real deal?
Lilly: No, this is spray-on. I've got to protect my skin. I don't want to look old before my time. This is actually from a bottle that I applied myself. It's a $7.00 bottle.
Interviewer: Lost is about evil and goodness. Do you think every character really has no pure evil or no pure goodness?
Lilly: That's what I love about Lost, and I think we can all agree that that's true of reality. I think we know within ourselves that there is good and evil, and within every person we know, there's a possibility of being a hero and a possibility of being a villain. Lost is one of those few shows that tries really desperately to embrace the fact that everyone is diverse and you cannot put everyone into a box and pigeonhole because of race, gender, or economics. It's a really groundbreaking show in that way.
Interviewer: Have you been affected by the new flying rules?
Lilly: It drives me crazy that I can't bring my needle and thread on a plane, because I love to sew. Nail files, scissors, all that stuff I'm denied access.
Interviewer: How was your trip to Europe this summer?
Lilly: My whole summer was wonderful. I went up to Canada and went to Europe for a while. I tried desperately to relax and stay away from the media -- no offense -- as much as possible and pretend that I was this anonymous schoolgirl again.
Interviewer: Kate really gets involved. Do you like that action, or do you want more emotional scenes?
Lilly: No, my best days on the set are when I'm doing my own stunts. Emotionally you become so wildly drained, and I will go home so much more exhausted from an emotional scene than from a physical scene. A physical scene invigorates me, gives me energy, and I go home really puffed up and feeling great. An emotional scene takes me three days to recover. I love that Kate is an action woman and that she breaks the stereotype of women sitting by the campfire when men go off on these heroic expeditions.
Interviewer: What have you learned about surviving on the island?
Lilly: I learned to be the first person to get to the food; we have really good food on the set. We don't actually live in the wilderness. I don't have to find fruit for my survival like Kate, but I do have a mango tree in my back yard that I pull mangoes off.
Interviewer: What do you do in your downtime in Hawaii?
Lilly: Well, one night recently I had 5 friends over for dinner. Another night, we –- the cast -– went bowling. After a while most people left, and it was me, Matthew, Jorge, and Dominic. I go surfing a lot, and when we're filming, we hang out in each others' trailers a lot. This summer I actually took some Evangeline time for reading, writing, and relaxing. It was the first time since I got the role that I could do this.
Interviewer: What did you do over your summer vacation?
Lilly: As I said, I went to Canada, back home and visited with people there. Then I went on a week European trip, Spain, and it was great. I like going because I'm not so recognized there and I feel freer. I saw a lot of the sites there.
Interviewer: You're a self-confessed tomboy. How much of Kate's stunts do you do?
Lilly: I've done everything that you see but the actual car crash. The producers didn't want me to get hurt. I did the driving, but on impact they had a stuntwoman. I do love all the kicking, fighting, punching, and shooting I get to do. It's challenging and I like that. Sometimes Hawaii can get really laid back.
Interviewer: Compared to Season One, how would you characterize or differentiate your experience working on Season Two of Lost?
Lilly: Season Two was less stressful, because I had a little experience and I had something to draw from. It was also less stressful because we had other people to share the load with us. Bringing in the tailies, in my opinion, was such a great relief for us because it meant that other people were there to carry the load a little bit for us. I think that Season One was kind of special in that it was the inception, and it was my first baby steps into the industry, and it was a trial by fire. But definitely, I think Season Two was easier, and I'm hoping Season Three gets even easier.
Josh Holloway
The man, the myth, the legend. Running late and hounded by throngs of cameras and adoring fans, we didn't get to talk with Josh save for the following quote addressing the differences in his experience between the two seasons.
Holloway: It was completely different. The first year, I was a lot more nervous to start with. I was trying to understand the character and figure out a way to find his humanity while keeping him hard, but really working that line the first year. The second year I really felt comfortable in his skin, and then it became a challenge of I'd never been in the position of slowly deteriorating health, so that was a large part of last year. I had a bullet, and I had to slowly go down, down, down, but I felt completely comfortable as Sawyer, so I didn't spend as much time on the script with it. I went with it. It was a lot more instinctual work in the second year.
By this time, everyone was ready for a party, and so we all moved to Ola, a beautiful yet "Hawaii casual" restaurant perched right on the beach within walking distance of the water. With minimal use of ironwood support posts and a slightly tinted Plexiglas roof, it was the ultimate open-air experience. To accommodate the party, wooden tables and chairs were also placed on the sand just outside the restaurant, so guests could get close to and enjoy the gentle waves of the evening surf. The whole setup was very relaxing and enjoyable. Placed creatively on each of the tables was a small pile of sand that supported a Virgin Mary statue just like Charlie's friends. No one had the courage to bust one open.
Although we were asked not to record or photograph during the event, I did get a chance to talk with many from the cast and crew, and it was an incredibly positive experience. I bumped into Daniel Dae Kim at one of the hors d'oeuvre tables, he introduced himself to me, and I had a brief fan moment where I told him flat-out that he is my favorite character on the show. He was predictably humble but appreciative. Josh Holloway and I had a good time reminiscing about Georgia, he more so than I, since I was boarding a plane home in a few days, yet he might not get back for some time. The cast members on this show are becoming pretty big stars, so you just never know what you're going to face when the cameras are off, but the guests at the party -- from cast members to producers to BVHE staff to other journalists -- could not have been more friendly, and I think everyone had a really nice time celebrating the DVD release and the upcoming 3rd season.
The true highlight of the event, though, was an in-depth conversation I had with Bad Robot VP Bryan Burk. It's one thing to recognize intellectually that in order to create a show like Lost, one has to have a lot of positive things going on upstairs, but it's another to stand and talk with someone who really "gets" it, and it was a delight. The man knows his television, he knows his film scores, and he has a clear understanding for what makes a quality series. Moreover, he was passionate about it, and it was apparent he really wanted to make the best television show he possibly could. We talked about a variety of topics all over the creative map for what must have been hours, and I came away with a new respect for the production of Lost and an unexpected faith in the positive potential for certain future Bad Robot enterprises outside the scope of this report.
Concluding Thoughts
One of the great things about Lost is that the producers of the show and the producers of the DVDs have made significant efforts to get involved with the viewing community and give them more. From the "Lost Experience" online game to postings on message boards to appearances at Comic-Con and Dragon*Con to downloadable podcasts with cast and crew, there is an accessibility to this show that isn't normally associated with a network television hit. It is wonderful for the viewers, and these DVD Launch events just add to the total package of a television series that reaches beyond standard marketing techniques and tries to keep its audience enthusiastic year-round.
Lost's 2nd season experienced some sophomore growing pains, something pretty much unavoidable considering its hype and popularity, but it remains one of the more engaging and talked-about shows on the air. Taking the show's mythology to another level and presented on a DVD with some really solid special features, this is the kind of release worthy of additional promotion, and it comes highly recommended [review]. The DVD hits shelves September 5, 2006, and the 3rd season -- promising to feature more action-adventure and romance -- premieres on ABC Wednesday, October 4, 2006.
Acknowledgements: As always, many thanks to Mac McLean and everyone at BVHE for being such wonderful hosts, and special thanks to Todd Gilchrist at IGN.com and Bonnie Siegler at Life & Style Magazine for bailing me out when my audio equipment malfunctioned and for being great people in general.
