Elisha Cuthbert and Christian Slater Talk To AOL On "The Forgotten"

[JamesG]

Come Tue., Feb. 9, Elisha Cuthbert, who's had some memorable scenes in her career, is joining Christian Slater on the ABC mystery drama The Forgotten in a recurring role.

It's not the first time the two have worked together -- they paired on the big screen in the 2007 dark comedy He Was a Quiet Man, in which she played a quadriplegic and Slater an office drone with homicidal fantasies.



On The Forgotten, Cuthbert's Maxine Denver joins a team led by Slater of non-professionals who help law enforcement identify Jane and John Does.

The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series, which premiered in the fall, marks a new television venture for Cuthbert, who's best known as Kim Bauer, daughter of Jack Bauer on Fox's 24, and for the movies Old School, and Love Actually.



We chatted with Slater and Cuthbert about the similarities between Quiet Man and The Forgotten -- besides the dead bodies -- and about how The Forgotten has started to solve real-life John and Jane Doe mysteries.






I was going to ask you if victims rights groups have contacted you about the show but there's been a development in that, right?

Slater: When we started the show I really didn't have any knowledge that there are people out there who do what we do. But there are real people like you and me, volunteers, who are willing to go that extra mile to give these families that closure that they desperately need.

I started to hear about different organizations, like Project Edan, which stands for Everyone Deserves a Name, and NamUs.gov [The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System], which has actually been very influential in solving recent Jane and John Doe cases.

When we started, I had a feeling that we had a real opportunity here to do something significant and really solve some real cases or at least play a part. I'm thrilled and honored and humbled to say that that started to happen.

There's a real women, Paula Davis, who went missing in 1987. Her sister was watching an episode of The Forgotten; she stayed tuned to watch the PSA, which ABC was gracious enough to play after the show, and she went on that Web site and was able to identify her sister who has been missing for the past 20 years.

On Dec. 11, Paula Davis was positively identified.


Cuthbert: The fact that Paula Davis was identified by a tattoo, a unique tattoo on her body, something that we touched on in filming and in some of the episodes, is remarkable.

To think that not only are we having a great time making a TV show together, but we're being accurate and we're helping other people -- that's a bonus.









Do you guys see common themes between the movie you worked on and now the TV series?

Cuthbert: I think it's fun for people to dive in and compare the two and see similarities but speaking for myself, I really was not trying to make any correlation between the two. I came into the show with the idea of my character and how she fits into this group and kind of wanted to make anew and solely focus on that.

But it's fun that there's a movie out there that people can kind of go back to and say, "Hmm, here they are again" and make those ties if they will.


Slater: For me, working with Elisha that first time was such an amazing experience. When her name came up for this particular show I was thrilled. It was a very, very intense movie and the work we had to do was very, very intimate, so a lot of trust was developed in that scenario.

I can only say that kind of energy has carried over to this scenario in that we're working together here and telling these stories now.









Elisha, are you filming for 24 and The Forgotten right now?

Cuthbert: My commitments are here for The Forgotten.

I finished up the work that I had to do over at 24 so I'm happy to say that I have all my energy and time for The Forgotten. It's been great so that's what I've been focusing on.









Christian, did you give her a welcoming present when she came aboard?

Slater: I gave here a hug and kissed her on the cheek.

Cuthbert: A big hug.

Slater: Yea, a great big hug and a great big smile. Welcome aboard, get ready for a wild ride!


Cuthbert: Coming to a show that's been filming for seven months, it was a great welcome and they made me feel at ease and comfortable with the rest of the group.

The crew has been amazing in welcoming me to the show. It's a great group of people.


http://insidetv.aol.com/2010/02/08/e...the-forgotten/