JamesG
08-11-2010, 12:01 PM
Michael Emerson On the Final "Lost" DVD
by Maggie Furlong
posted Aug 11th 2010
Have you been debating about polar bears, glowing caves and alternate timelines for the better part of six years?
Find yourself humming those catchy Drive Shaft lyrics every now and then?
Maybe you've been staring at Weezer's new "Hurley" album cover a little too much?
Diagnosis: You're missing "Lost" as much as I am.
As the release date for the final season DVD nears (Tues., Aug. 24), I can't help but imagine what special features we'll find on those precious discs.
(And for those of you who watched the leaked epilogue, never fear -- there's still more bonus material where that came from.)
Emmy-winning star Michael Emerson tells me all about the mechanics and lighter tone of that now-infamous epilogue, in which he's compelling as ever. He also talks about the finale (he approves), the upcoming cast reunion at the Emmys, his "Lost" houseguests and life on another island.
Then he humors me with talk of the much buzzed about project with him and fellow "Lost" alum Terry O'Quinn.
How has life been post-"Lost"?
Well, it's been more domestic and less exciting than it was when I was on that other island. But now I'm on the island that I really like best, which is Manhattan, so that's fine.
Who have you been in touch with the most since the show wrapped?
I stay in touch with Terry, of course, because we're joined at the hip.
Also Jorge [Garcia] because Jorge and Beth are housesitting for Carrie and I in Los Angeles while they try to find a place to live out there.
How perfect is that!
Yeah, I thought well we're coming back to New York for the summer, and it's better to have someone in the house in case a pipe bursts or a tree falls on the roof or something, so it worked out for everybody.
So we'll see them ... I guess we're gonna fly out on the 20th, and I guess we'll be roommates for a week or so until the Emmys! [Laughs] Sitting around the breakfast table ... [Laughs]
We're all rooting for the show with you and Terry O'Quinn to pan out one of these days.
Where do things stand with that?
Well I know there are people out there working on it. Neither one of us is doing a lot of other projects because we're waiting to see if someone comes up with a crackerjack idea for something for us to work on together.
I don't know what it'll be. I hope it's something exciting and different, and maybe lighter in tone than what we have done previously.
With the release of the final season DVD, do you think it'll officially start to close this chapter of your working life?
I think so. I kept thinking that when the finale aired that "Lost" would start receding into the past, but of course with the DVD extras and the Emmy Awards and all of that, it's still very much a living issue.
Plus there's the fact that I've spent the last five summers taking a break from "Lost" and then always going back to it. So when it will hit home is late this month when my body says, "OK, it's time to get on the plane and go to Honolulu," and I won't.
Oh the Emmys! Congratulations yet again ...
I'm so pleased that "Lost" is nominated in such a broad array of categories so there will be so many of is to go to the show and have a little reunion.
I think we'll be happy and have a nice party no matter what.
I'm sure you've heard that the DVD epilogue leaked.
Did you watch it online like everyone else?
No! I haven't seen it. But see, I don't know how to find those things.
I read it in the paper that such-and-such got leaked, but I don't know where to look. Plus, I want to preserve my little bit of narrative innocence and wait and see it when it comes out for real ... and for legal.
What mysteries will the epilogue and special features tie up for fans?
Well, there's a couple of procedural mysteries that get cleared up I think, and I was happy to have that. The writers weren't dealing with procedural mysteries in the finale. They were bringing the show to kind of a spiritual conclusion, and that was the right emphasis I think.
But I'd have to say that this DVD extra feature thing is lighter spirited and a little more mechanical in the best sense of that word. And we do have the satisfaction of seeing what happened to some of the people whose storylines were not resolved in the finale. That's good.
My fingers are crossed for a little bit of Walt ...
[Laughs] And what is chiefly pleasurable about it was, the finale leaves open that great dark gap of time when Hurley and Ben make their agreement to become the management of the Island.
Between that and the afterlife, what happened? What happened for the hundreds, thousands of years during which they were in charge? That's all a complete blank, but we do get a little peek at that world in this DVD extra feature.
Although it's just a little whiff of a thing ... it's just a little taste. And people are gonna go, "Oh, but we want more!" But it's nice to know sort of what the tone of that world is, and I think you get a sense of that.
And I thought we all got a sense of it with the nod between Ben and Hurley in the finale -- "You were a real good number two" and "You were a great number one."
I was pleased with that, so to have any more is just a cherry on top.
Yeah, that's right. It is just a bonus.
Jorge told me the DVD guys recorded him reading the finale script.
Did they get you doing anything special for the DVD beyond starring in this epilogue?
There was so much of that stuff --
I can't tell you how dizzying it was. Because we were shooting the finale, and that's like two and a half episodes, and we're shooting the DVD extra feature, and we're shooting all that box set extra stuff -- at-home interviews and Jorge and I going out in the Kualoa Valley and walking around to different places where we played different scenes, and reminiscing about it.
There's all this extra stuff in there! Half of it I can't remember. We were so overloaded with stuff. I'll be pleased to see it -- I'll go, "Oh my, I completely forgot that I did that thing."
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/08/11/michael-emerson-interview-lost-final-season-dvd/
by Maggie Furlong
posted Aug 11th 2010
Have you been debating about polar bears, glowing caves and alternate timelines for the better part of six years?
Find yourself humming those catchy Drive Shaft lyrics every now and then?
Maybe you've been staring at Weezer's new "Hurley" album cover a little too much?
Diagnosis: You're missing "Lost" as much as I am.
As the release date for the final season DVD nears (Tues., Aug. 24), I can't help but imagine what special features we'll find on those precious discs.
(And for those of you who watched the leaked epilogue, never fear -- there's still more bonus material where that came from.)
Emmy-winning star Michael Emerson tells me all about the mechanics and lighter tone of that now-infamous epilogue, in which he's compelling as ever. He also talks about the finale (he approves), the upcoming cast reunion at the Emmys, his "Lost" houseguests and life on another island.
Then he humors me with talk of the much buzzed about project with him and fellow "Lost" alum Terry O'Quinn.
How has life been post-"Lost"?
Well, it's been more domestic and less exciting than it was when I was on that other island. But now I'm on the island that I really like best, which is Manhattan, so that's fine.
Who have you been in touch with the most since the show wrapped?
I stay in touch with Terry, of course, because we're joined at the hip.
Also Jorge [Garcia] because Jorge and Beth are housesitting for Carrie and I in Los Angeles while they try to find a place to live out there.
How perfect is that!
Yeah, I thought well we're coming back to New York for the summer, and it's better to have someone in the house in case a pipe bursts or a tree falls on the roof or something, so it worked out for everybody.
So we'll see them ... I guess we're gonna fly out on the 20th, and I guess we'll be roommates for a week or so until the Emmys! [Laughs] Sitting around the breakfast table ... [Laughs]
We're all rooting for the show with you and Terry O'Quinn to pan out one of these days.
Where do things stand with that?
Well I know there are people out there working on it. Neither one of us is doing a lot of other projects because we're waiting to see if someone comes up with a crackerjack idea for something for us to work on together.
I don't know what it'll be. I hope it's something exciting and different, and maybe lighter in tone than what we have done previously.
With the release of the final season DVD, do you think it'll officially start to close this chapter of your working life?
I think so. I kept thinking that when the finale aired that "Lost" would start receding into the past, but of course with the DVD extras and the Emmy Awards and all of that, it's still very much a living issue.
Plus there's the fact that I've spent the last five summers taking a break from "Lost" and then always going back to it. So when it will hit home is late this month when my body says, "OK, it's time to get on the plane and go to Honolulu," and I won't.
Oh the Emmys! Congratulations yet again ...
I'm so pleased that "Lost" is nominated in such a broad array of categories so there will be so many of is to go to the show and have a little reunion.
I think we'll be happy and have a nice party no matter what.
I'm sure you've heard that the DVD epilogue leaked.
Did you watch it online like everyone else?
No! I haven't seen it. But see, I don't know how to find those things.
I read it in the paper that such-and-such got leaked, but I don't know where to look. Plus, I want to preserve my little bit of narrative innocence and wait and see it when it comes out for real ... and for legal.
What mysteries will the epilogue and special features tie up for fans?
Well, there's a couple of procedural mysteries that get cleared up I think, and I was happy to have that. The writers weren't dealing with procedural mysteries in the finale. They were bringing the show to kind of a spiritual conclusion, and that was the right emphasis I think.
But I'd have to say that this DVD extra feature thing is lighter spirited and a little more mechanical in the best sense of that word. And we do have the satisfaction of seeing what happened to some of the people whose storylines were not resolved in the finale. That's good.
My fingers are crossed for a little bit of Walt ...
[Laughs] And what is chiefly pleasurable about it was, the finale leaves open that great dark gap of time when Hurley and Ben make their agreement to become the management of the Island.
Between that and the afterlife, what happened? What happened for the hundreds, thousands of years during which they were in charge? That's all a complete blank, but we do get a little peek at that world in this DVD extra feature.
Although it's just a little whiff of a thing ... it's just a little taste. And people are gonna go, "Oh, but we want more!" But it's nice to know sort of what the tone of that world is, and I think you get a sense of that.
And I thought we all got a sense of it with the nod between Ben and Hurley in the finale -- "You were a real good number two" and "You were a great number one."
I was pleased with that, so to have any more is just a cherry on top.
Yeah, that's right. It is just a bonus.
Jorge told me the DVD guys recorded him reading the finale script.
Did they get you doing anything special for the DVD beyond starring in this epilogue?
There was so much of that stuff --
I can't tell you how dizzying it was. Because we were shooting the finale, and that's like two and a half episodes, and we're shooting the DVD extra feature, and we're shooting all that box set extra stuff -- at-home interviews and Jorge and I going out in the Kualoa Valley and walking around to different places where we played different scenes, and reminiscing about it.
There's all this extra stuff in there! Half of it I can't remember. We were so overloaded with stuff. I'll be pleased to see it -- I'll go, "Oh my, I completely forgot that I did that thing."
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/08/11/michael-emerson-interview-lost-final-season-dvd/