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More Emilie USA Today - 2/28/07 (photos)
FROM:
Thre are three separate articles about Emilie 2/27-28/07.
Her beach photo is on the front page, upper right of the print edition.
SCAN:
The earlier one we posted earlier today and these other two.
'Lost' navigates its way back to the beach crew
Updated 2/28/2007 7:49 AM ET
Enlarge By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
Updated 2/28/2007 7:49 AM ET
Enlarge By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
Bridging the character gap: Dominic Monaghan, left, Jorge Garcia, Naveen Andrews and Emilie de Ravin are in the forefront again. "This season almost felt like there were two separate shows," Garcia says.
'LOST': BACK TO THE BEACH
Four of your favorite 'Losties' chat it up
By William Keck, USA TODAY
PASADENA, Calif. — Hugs abound on tonight's Lost as Kate and Sawyer return to the beach after a 9-month absence — finally restoring the increasingly gloomy ABC drama to an upbeat ensemble.
PASADENA, Calif. — Hugs abound on tonight's Lost as Kate and Sawyer return to the beach after a 9-month absence — finally restoring the increasingly gloomy ABC drama to an upbeat ensemble.
For the past year, many of Lost's supporting players have been left stranded by the shore, sifting the sand from their shorts as the series turned a darker focus on new villains and a handful of heroic holdovers.
Fan favorites from the first season such as Charlie, Claire, Sayid, Hurley and Locke have been seen only sporadically. And perhaps not coincidentally, the former top-10 show's ratings have taken a dive. (The last two episodes in the new 10 ET/PT slot have drawn fewer than 13 million viewers each, down from a peak of 23.5 million.)
But Lost loyalists are buzzing in anticipation of tonight's beachside reunion, kicking off a string of flashbacks focusing on Hurley tonight, followed by Sayid, Claire and Locke. Charlie will also have considerably more to do on screen until his flashback airs at a later date in an uninterrupted, repeat-free run continuing all the way through to the two-hour season finale (May 23).
And, says Dominic Monaghan, who plays Charlie, "As the rollercoaster hits the end of the season, they're going to start relying on us quite a bit more."
Over lunch at the Ritz Carlton Hotel last month, Monaghan, Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Naveen Andrews (Sayid) and Jorge Garcia (Hurley) expulsed frustrations and toasted their resuscitated roles.
The most outspoken of the group, Andrews parades about with the bravado of a lion, getting an immediate laugh by noting, "Even though I like getting paid for doing nothing, it is nice occasionally to work."
Monaghan agrees. Having "done a lot of surfing this year," he has come to understand that "With 14 members in a cast who all want to work, as one person works more, thus work is being taken away from another actor. You have to make your peace with that."
But all are careful not to appear ungrateful. After all, on Lost, unhappy or troublesome actors have seemingly found their characters shot in the chest or hurled through the air to untimely deaths.
"Legitimately, the actors are frustrated," acknowledges executive producer Carlton Cuse in a later phone interview. "They're all really good at what they do, and it's difficult when they don't get a chance to do it."
Here's the third...
Four of your favorite 'Losties' chat it up
By William Keck, USA TODAY
By William Keck, USA TODAY
PASADENA, Calif. — They may have been having lunch and drinks at the Ritz-Carlton here last month, but the minds of the castaway castmates of Lost were on the island.
"I haven't (worked with) Matt all year," Naveen Andrews (Sayid) says about star Matthew Fox (Jack).
"I haven't, either," says Emilie de Ravin (Claire).
"I haven't seen Foxy all year," Jorge Garcia (Hurley) echoes.
Turning to Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Andrews asks, "Does anyone talk to you about when they're going to see you again?"
"Yeah," Monaghan says.
"People have said they want to see more of our characters," de Ravin says. "We'll hear, 'When are you going to have an episode?' "
But, Andrews says, "What are we going to (expletive) say about it? Do we write the (expletive) thing? No." (Andrews' salty tongue leads his publicist, seated within earshot at a nearby table, to reprimand him with a cautionary "Language!")
Executive producer Damon Lindelof later acknowledges that the actors' limited screen time, particularly last season, was "hard for them." But Lindelof believes his cast has come to understand Lost's unique dynamics. "There hasn't been a single complaint in Season 3," he says. Adds executive producer Carlton Cuse, "Now they understand the reality of it, that that's the way it is. They accept it."
Perhaps. But, as Monaghan puts it, "I personally couldn't sleep at night if I didn't express concerns that I had."
The inequity in screen time seems to have had little impact on the close bond the cast developed early on. In December, Monaghan celebrated his 30th birthday at a U2 concert in Waikiki with girlfriend Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Garcia, Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Fox, Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun) and Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond).
Nor has it driven a wedge into Monaghan and Lilly's two-year relationship. "Evie has been kept very busy this year, and I've kept busy doing my own thing," he says. "As long as everything's being supported and you continue to communicate, then you're all good."
During his free time, Andrews shot films with directors Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse) and Neil Jordan (The Brave One), both due later this year. But when asked if he has considered exiting Lost to focus on films full time, he brags that few individuals "make more than us."
"Lost has done wonders for all of us. I wouldn't have done those couple of films. I wouldn't have gotten nominated for awards twice. Those things wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for this show."
Nor would the paparazzi have had any interest in capturing Andrews kissing a mystery woman on an L.A. beach last summer. Despite that embarrassing revelation, Andrews, 38, says his relationship with longtime companion, actress Barbara Hershey, 59, is still strong.
"Fantastic and happy," he says, noting they recently reunited after her 10-week location shoot in South Africa for the drama The Bird Can Fly, due in theaters this year.
Andrews has not been the only victim of paparazzi. Once considered a haven from Hollywood shutterbugs, Hawaii has given birth to a small population of amateur paparazzi wielding camera phones.
Says Garcia: "In New York or L.A. or London, the paparazzi are in your face; you see them. In Hawaii, we never see them, pictures just turn up. There's a reason that every time I go swimming at the beach I wear a rash guard (cover-up) now, or shower before I go to the store."
Monaghan and Garcia pride themselves on being the informants who clue in their co-stars to the presence of such annoyances. "I make sure people know their license plates," Monaghan says.
They've long relied on one another during times of personal crisis. "There's a camaraderie in a group of actors where we all realize the pressures we have in trying to protect what is private," Monaghan says. "We all have personal relationships. And in those times when you need someone to talk to, you turn to them."
He endured a crisis in December when Lilly lost her Hawaiian home to fire, leaving her and her roommates homeless.
"I've probably never admired another person more in my life than watching Evie deal with that," Monaghan says. "She mourned over the things that she lost — computers, photos — in the way anyone would. But she wasn't hysterical about it. The next day I said to her that the majority of people I know would be in the psychiatric ward. But Evie said, 'Look, it's just stuff.' The fact that no one lost their life was a blessing."
Garcia also is no stranger to heartbreak. He turned to his co-stars early in the season when he and live-in girlfriend of more than a year, Malia Hansen, ended their relationship. "Malia is no longer," Garcia says sadly. "Relationships end. There's no tragic event. We talk very regularly."
Clearly the most heartbroken of this foursome is de Ravin, still emotionally fragile at the time of this interview, just a week after she announced her split from her husband of 6 months, actor Josh Janowicz. As the others answer personal questions, she abruptly announces, "I'm getting up to leave right now," and does just that.
"We're all at a point in our lives where no one wants to talk about private issues," Monaghan says.
(Through her publicist, Jeff Raymond, de Ravin later offers an apology "for her reaction, and excusing herself abruptly from the table. It was a very sensitive and extremely emotional time. … She is doing much better now.")
The cast is smart enough to realize their overnight mega-fame has turned them all into consumer products, demonstrated by a line of collectible Lost action figures.
Garcia had to disguise himself behind a wrestling mask to mingle with fans at a comic-book convention where his figure was revealed.
"You finally realize that that's what you are. You're a franchise," Andrews says. "A product."
"But," Monaghan quips with a smile, "a fantastic product."
-Gloriana
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