'Lost' fans find paradise at DGA
'Lost' salute
March 14, 2005
The most meaningful tributes to the overnight success of ABC's drama thriller "Lost" were delivered by its avid fans Saturday night during the show's William S. Paley Television Festival session at the DGA Theater.
More than a few of the 600-odd attendees reported that they flew in from out of state for the event. Some camped out in front of the DGA headquarters on Sunset Boulevard as early as 6:30 a.m. Saturday to secure tickets to the "Lost" night at the annual TV festival hosted by the Museum of Television & Radio.
During the audience Q&A, speaker after speaker gleefully reported the traffic numbers on their "Lost" fan sites.
At the end of the session, moderated by The Hollywood Reporter editor-in-chief and publisher Robert J. Dowling, hard-core "Lost" lovers rushed the stage for autographs with rock-concert intensity.
J.J. Abrams, who co-created "Lost" with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber, was characteristically aw-shucks and appreciative of the fandom on display for his thriller about a group of plane-crash survivors stranded on a mysterious island.
"I wish I could show just you guys a bunch of episodes that no one has seen yet ... but I can't," Abrams said. "So I just want to say, thank you."
Nonetheless, Abrams, his fellow executive producers Bryan Burk and Carlton Cuse and the nine cast members in attendance dropped enough behind-the-scenes tidbits and plot hints to satisfy the "Lost" faithful.
(Abrams said co-creator/exec producer Lindelof missed the event only because he had to attend his engagement party on the East Coast.)
For one, Abrams, Burk and Cuse confirmed Internet buzz that one of the show's regular characters will die by the end of the season. And they confirmed that the season finale in May will be a two-parter, starting with a one-hour episode and concluding with a 90-minute installment, with the final half-hour airing commercial-free.
As for insight into how "Lost" came together, Abrams painted a picture of an extremely rushed process that in hindsight may have been just the pressure they needed to pull off such an ambitious project.
Abrams confirmed what has quickly become industry lore: He got a call late in the pilot-script development process last year from former ABC Entertainment chairman Lloyd Braun (now head of Yahoo! Media Group) asking him to tackle a plane-crash survivor story. And it had to be done in a week, at least the treatment. That wasn't as hard as it sounded once ABC introduced Abrams to writer Lindelof. The two hit it off immediately, Abrams recalls.
"He wore even geekier glasses than mine" and his enthusiasm was infectious, said Abrams (who usually favors rectangle-shaped dark horn-rims).
The challenge of assembling "Lost's" large and diverse ensemble cast was complicated by the fact that the dozen or so main characters had yet to be fleshed out on paper. That meant the actors themselves influenced the development of their on-screen personas.
Actor/comedian Jorge Garcia, who plays the oh-so-mellow, extra-extra large Hurley, was the first person cast on the strength of his guest shot on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Abrams said.
"The cast was as central in shaping what the show became as anything," Abrams said, singling out casting director April Webster from the audience for a round of applause.
Of "Lost's" 14 regulars, those who took part in Saturday's event were Garcia, Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Dominic Monaghan, Harold Perrineau and Ian Somerhalder.
The camaraderie among them was palpable. The group said they'd spent a lot of time together on screen and off this season in Hawaii, where "Lost" is shot.
"It is great to be in a show that doesn't insult the intelligence of the audience," said Andrews, who plays the tortured ex-Iraqi National Guardsman Sayid.
Perrineau credited the writers for deftly avoiding stereotypes in their efforts to create an eclectic mix of characters. "I'm not just 'the black guy' on the how," he said.
The show's numerous, intricately interwoven storylines were the subject of much discussion and questioning from the audience. Moderator Dowling suggested that to accentuate the show's momentum, ABC should run the show over 24 consecutive weeks with no repeats. Abrams nodded.
"I'll ask them," he said.
More than a few of the 600-odd attendees reported that they flew in from out of state for the event. Some camped out in front of the DGA headquarters on Sunset Boulevard as early as 6:30 a.m. Saturday to secure tickets to the "Lost" night at the annual TV festival hosted by the Museum of Television & Radio.
During the audience Q&A, speaker after speaker gleefully reported the traffic numbers on their "Lost" fan sites.
At the end of the session, moderated by The Hollywood Reporter editor-in-chief and publisher Robert J. Dowling, hard-core "Lost" lovers rushed the stage for autographs with rock-concert intensity.
J.J. Abrams, who co-created "Lost" with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber, was characteristically aw-shucks and appreciative of the fandom on display for his thriller about a group of plane-crash survivors stranded on a mysterious island.
"I wish I could show just you guys a bunch of episodes that no one has seen yet ... but I can't," Abrams said. "So I just want to say, thank you."
Nonetheless, Abrams, his fellow executive producers Bryan Burk and Carlton Cuse and the nine cast members in attendance dropped enough behind-the-scenes tidbits and plot hints to satisfy the "Lost" faithful.
(Abrams said co-creator/exec producer Lindelof missed the event only because he had to attend his engagement party on the East Coast.)
For one, Abrams, Burk and Cuse confirmed Internet buzz that one of the show's regular characters will die by the end of the season. And they confirmed that the season finale in May will be a two-parter, starting with a one-hour episode and concluding with a 90-minute installment, with the final half-hour airing commercial-free.
As for insight into how "Lost" came together, Abrams painted a picture of an extremely rushed process that in hindsight may have been just the pressure they needed to pull off such an ambitious project.
Abrams confirmed what has quickly become industry lore: He got a call late in the pilot-script development process last year from former ABC Entertainment chairman Lloyd Braun (now head of Yahoo! Media Group) asking him to tackle a plane-crash survivor story. And it had to be done in a week, at least the treatment. That wasn't as hard as it sounded once ABC introduced Abrams to writer Lindelof. The two hit it off immediately, Abrams recalls.
"He wore even geekier glasses than mine" and his enthusiasm was infectious, said Abrams (who usually favors rectangle-shaped dark horn-rims).
The challenge of assembling "Lost's" large and diverse ensemble cast was complicated by the fact that the dozen or so main characters had yet to be fleshed out on paper. That meant the actors themselves influenced the development of their on-screen personas.
Actor/comedian Jorge Garcia, who plays the oh-so-mellow, extra-extra large Hurley, was the first person cast on the strength of his guest shot on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Abrams said.
"The cast was as central in shaping what the show became as anything," Abrams said, singling out casting director April Webster from the audience for a round of applause.
Of "Lost's" 14 regulars, those who took part in Saturday's event were Garcia, Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Dominic Monaghan, Harold Perrineau and Ian Somerhalder.
The camaraderie among them was palpable. The group said they'd spent a lot of time together on screen and off this season in Hawaii, where "Lost" is shot.
"It is great to be in a show that doesn't insult the intelligence of the audience," said Andrews, who plays the tortured ex-Iraqi National Guardsman Sayid.
Perrineau credited the writers for deftly avoiding stereotypes in their efforts to create an eclectic mix of characters. "I'm not just 'the black guy' on the how," he said.
The show's numerous, intricately interwoven storylines were the subject of much discussion and questioning from the audience. Moderator Dowling suggested that to accentuate the show's momentum, ABC should run the show over 24 consecutive weeks with no repeats. Abrams nodded.
"I'll ask them," he said.
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