LOST Media Mentions - DarkUFO

Marooned on the show

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Rescue from a long-running TV series will be a welcome relief for one star, Andrew Murfett reports.

IT'S the tap on the shoulder Lost cast members dread, a notification by producers that their character's time has come.

Following the jolting demise of characters such as Ana-Lucia, Boone, Libby, Shannon and Mr Eko, the cast is perpetually on edge. Further, a shocking death scene in tonight's excellent season finale demonstrates nobody is safe.

"The writers have given us as little as two weeks and as much as six months' notice," says Evangeline Lilly, who plays charming tomboy Kate Austen.

The 27-year-old Canadian was in Sydney last week, travelling with her rumoured real-life partner, actor Dominic Monaghan. The ex-hobbit plays Lost's luckless former drug addict, Charlie Pace.

Fluent in French, a devout Christian and keen philanthropist, Lilly was "discovered" by a talent agent in British Columbia, relocating to Vancouver to attend university and begin working as an extra to cover her tuition fees.

"I used to watch actors and say, 'You poor suckers, that job looks miserable,' " she says.

However, when the annual television meat market known as pilot season hit Canada in early 2004, Lilly went through a moment of "self-realisation". At the behest of a friend, she attended 25 auditions, encompassing all the prospective big-budget television pilots.

"I was least excited about Lost," she admits. "I read the premise and thought, 'Is this Blue Lagoon or Gilligan's Island?' But meeting the producers and reading the full script, I realised how special it was."

Lilly insists she resolved early in her career that there would be a disconnect between herself and her work. Questions about her relationship with Monaghan (and its rumoured recent demise) are met with a weary "no comment".

"There's a lot of things that I set in place from day one that I set up as barriers to keep the world out of my private life," she says. "I had never been interested in or enamoured by fame ... When I decided to take the job, that was my biggest apprehension. I was not willing to give up my privacy to become this form of artist. I have no regrets, but should another series come along that is a huge hit that will continue to launch me into the public eye, I would say 'no'."

Lilly won the role of Kate in January 2004. By March she was in Hawaii filming.

Based around the survivors of the fictional Oceanic Flight 815, Lost is shot on location in Oahu, Hawaii. Even the flashback scenes set in places such as Tokyo, Africa, Sydney or Miami are filmed there.

When asked if long-haul flights across the Pacific have been a problem for her since becoming part of the cast, she laughs dismissively. "I actually find flying therapeutic," she says.

Meantime, Lilly admits she struggled to adjust to life in Hawaii. "I hated living there for the first two years."

A fire that destroyed a Hawaiian house she was renting became the catalyst for buying her own house and "making my peace with being there".

Lilly says although all of the cast lives in Hawaii, she can go for months without seeing other headline cast members because of Lost's challenging third-season plot device in which the cast is frequently separated into isolated storylines.

"There has been huge unrest, dissatisfaction and frustration from the cast about that," she admits.

"There was a sense of 'I don't understand what sort of show I am on any more.' It didn't feel like the same show, and I think the audience felt the same way."

It was an interesting juxtaposition for Lilly. "Personally, I was exercising more acting muscles than ever," she says. "It was a huge challenge and honour, but there were some not working for two months in a row who were very eager to work and missing out."

The love triangle that has developed between Kate, Jack and Sawyer (and, of late, the inscrutable Juliet) has also been a source of frustration.

"I knew there would be love tension but I didn't realise how much," she says.

"I thought Kate represented strong, powerful, women, not the stereotype of the triangle. For a woman who has been through so much in her life, it felt slightly petty. I hope we get to see Kate becoming more independent."

Several elements of Lilly's role (such as a recent sex scene with Sawyer) have conflicted with her conservative upbringing.

"I was brought up in a household where I was not allowed to take the Lord's name in vain," she says.

"There's been lots of adjustments to make - like working on Sunday, always the Sabbath for me - or the issue of modesty that comes when you're standing in the water in your underwear. You have to make your own peace and understand your limits."

The liberating recent announcement from producers that only 48 episodes remain - 16 a year, for the next three years - has come as something of a relief to Lilly.

"It was the most brilliant decision," she says. "The audience, actors and writers needed it to know there was a firm structure around everything."

Lilly says that because she usually receives scripts only a couple of days before shooting, she has not received any for the upcoming season, which begins filming in a few weeks.

So how would she cope if she got that tap on the shoulder from the producers?

"I'd have no hesitation thanking them for the time they have given me, and walk away," she says.

"I have a different perspective than a lot of the actors in Hollywood. I see it as a different chapter in my life and not the be all, end all. I'm really, really happy to keep going, though. Life is all about embracing each moment that is given to you."
The two-hour season finale of Lost screens tonight at 8.30 on Seven.
Source: theage.com.au

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