'Lost' Star Finds Unique Attachment To Show

[Sydney]

Perrineau Plays Michael On Smash ABC Series

POSTED: 7:50 pm EDT May 24, 2005

There's no question that film and television actor Harold Perrineau has had his share of major projects over the past few years, from the acclaimed HBO drama "Oz" to the last two "Matrix" sequels, "Reloaded" and "Revolutions." But few would argue that his biggest find has come with the blockbuster television drama "Lost."

For those who have missed out on the excitement that's unfolded since last fall, "Lost" follows the lives of several plane crash survivors who are stranded on a strange island somewhere in the Pacific. Each inhabitant has their own unique story that leads up to the crash, which is chronicled in a series of flashbacks every week.

The show concludes Wednesday night on ABC with a two-hour season finale (check local listings). Last week's show concluded with Michael (Perrineau), his son Walt (Malcolm David Kelly), Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) setting sail on a raft in hopes of being located -- saving themselves and ultimately, those they left behind on the island.



Unlike the mother of all shipwreck survivor shows, "Gilligan's Island," "Lost" has quite a bit more edge to it. Sure, there are light-hearted moments that make you laugh on "Lost," but also, week-in and week-out, creators Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams and David Lindelof, as well as the show's writers, effectively weave in some very dramatic human elements -- making the island setting anything but paradise.

For the characters, that meant surviving the plane crash in the pilot episode was only the beginning. That's because after the show became a smashing success, the word was out that one of the characters would die on the show, but not who (Boone, played by Ian Somerhalder," unfortunately met his untimely fate).

"It wasn't talked about in the beginning of the show, but as it was going along, we thought, 'One of us is going to have to die in order to keep the stakes really high,'" Perrineau recalled for me in a recent interview. "Then we started reading in the press that the writers and producers were saying it as well. They must have called Ian before anybody, a couple weeks before the scripts came out. Then the rest of us found out."

Oddly enough, while the tension of an impending character's death added to the intensity of some of the performances of his cast mates, the 36-year-old Brooklyn-bred performer said he took the prospect of his character dying in stride. After all, having walked the paces of a struggling actor earlier in his career, Perrineau -- also a veteran of the stage -- was just happy to have the gig in the first place

"There were some of us who are veterans who realize how the business goes – where you do a job here and you do a job there," Perrineau explained. "For me, I was happy to be on the show and was happy that it was a hit, but if my character were to die that would be OK because I would work again."

That's not say that Perrineau didn't worry somewhat about his fate on the show. But it came more on a personal level than a professional one.

"The only sort of apprehension I had was wondering what I would do with my family because they were all there (on location in Hawaii) with me," Perrineau said. "It was hard to make plans the first year, whether to rent an apartment or buy a home, and to figure out what to do with my daughter, being 10, I wanted to have solid plans. That was the only difficulty for me."

The ensemble cast of "Lost" is no doubt talented (the core also includes Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Naveen Andrews, Dominic Monaghan, Emilie de Ravin,Yunjin Kim, Jorge Garcia, Maggie Grace and Terry O'Quinn), but Perrineau credits the writers for giving "Lost" its life.

"The writing staff is so brilliant -- they've come up with back stories that are so interesting," Perrineau gushed. "Plus there are so many questions about island, like 'How is it that they can't find us? That's ridiculous!' But that's exactly the question."

Anybody who has seen "Lost" knows part of its appeal comes from the ambiguity of the character's motivations, which makes the show anything but predictable. The outcome is so intriguing, that the cast members can't wait to see what the writers come up with next -- effectively getting caught up in the alternate reality they've helped create.

"When we're lucky we get the script a week before shoot, but normally it's a couple of days before the next episode. Not only are we scrambling to find out what happens to our characters because we're all fans of the show as well, we are also scrambling because we have to find out what work we have to do," Perrineau chuckled.

Naturally, Perrineau had to be tight-lipped about the finale, but could tell me that it will be really large in scope.

Everybody keeps asking if there will be a cliffhanger? And I say, there will be 'cliff-hangers' -- it's multi-faceted," Perrineau explained. "I think everybody will be excited about it -- hopefully as much as they were about the pilot."

For some actors, an acting job is just that -- but for Perrineau, like done on many projects before, he's taken on "Lost" as an opportunity to learn.

"I hope that almost everything I do I can learn something, but the thing about 'Lost,' is that it gets you thinking about how lucky we are, not only in this country, but in this society, to get the opportunity to live the way that we live," he said. "Being stuck out there and suddenly away from all the things you love to do -- it reminds how not to take the stuff we have for granted."

Plus, more importantly, it made Perrineau realize he better start learning a new set of skills if he is ever to find himself in the same predicament as Michael.

"I have been so focused on being an actor, that the show made me realize that I would be of no use if I ever in a desperate situation. I could tell a couple of jokes, but that's it," Perrineau said, laughing. "But now, I started building stuff around the house and talking to the guys on the crew and ask how they build the sets. That stuff is really fascinating. Plus, I hang out with a bunch of guys on the water team, because I don't even know how to swim."

source: bostonchannel.com