Matthew Fox Lies Low in Scots Town

Thanks to Donna for the heads up.

HOLLYWOOD actor Matthew Fox thought he could get away from the pressures of fame on a trip to the north of Scotland.

So the star of mould-breaking TV series Lost was shocked when he was spotted by fans in the harbour town of Lossiemouth.

Matthew, 42, was sight-seeing in the north-east with his 12-year- old daughter Kyle on their first visit to Scotland.

He said: "I was very surprised by how excited everybody was that I was there.

"It is always very strange to me because I try to convince myself that nobody in the world knows who I am and I am just going to do what I want.

"But the Scottish people were very nice and polite and the countryside is absolutely spectacular. It was a very good stay. I enjoyed it very much.

"We flew to Aberdeen then drove to Lossiemouth and it was stunning - a beautiful town.

Sunshine

Matthew brought Kyle to Morayshire to go to a world-renowned summer school after hearing about its programme of academic, art, drama, sport and adventure courses.

Speaking at the Rome Fiction TV Festival, he said: "We had a nice couple of days there. My daughter Kyle is having a great time in Scotland.

"It stays light. The sun did not set until 10.30 at night then it just got dusk for a few hours till the sun came back up again, which was pretty awesome - I loved that."

The actor may have loved all things Scottish but admits he was not brave enough to try our national dish.

He said: "I didn't try haggis but I had lamb. I didn't go for any of the more radical things. I might try haggis next time."

Matthew is now off to film the sixth and final series of Lost in Hawaii with co-stars Evangeline Lilly, Ian Somerhalder and Dominic Monaghan.

He revealed the end of the awardwinning show about the bizarre adventures of the survivors of a plane crash will be a landmark in his life and career.

After the final scenes are shot, he plans to move his family - wife, former model Margherita, Kyle, and eight-year-old son Byron - to a ranch in Oregon and take as much as six months off.

Matthew, who grew up on a ranch in Wyoming, said: "I am not a tropical island, sunshine every day person.

"I am 42 and a father of two children and I don't want to miss them growing up. I don't want to find myself 10 years from now feeling like I was an absentee father because I was so focused on my career."

When he is ready to work again, Matthew wants to have a less all- consuming schedule by making just one or two movies a year.

He said: "I am not going to do television again. That's not because I think film is better than television. Not at all, in some of the respects some of the best storytelling is happening on television.

"But I have done two TV shows - Lost and Party Of Five - that have each run for six years. When you add it all up it is in the vicinity of 300 hours of television."

"I want to find a way to have more control over when I am working and when I'm not. I'm looking for more flexibility.

"And when the movie is finished I really need to spend time with the people who are the most important in the world to me."

The global success of Lost has turned Matthew into a hot property and he has appeared in films such as the thriller Vantage Point, kids adventure Speed Racer and true life sports drama We Are Marshall.

Not surprisingly, since he first got on horseback when he was only six years old, Matthew's dream is to make a Western.

Westerns That wish might come true since the Wild West is back in fashion in the film world. There is even talk of the Coen Brothers - Oscar-winning makers of No Country For Old Men - doing a remake of True Grit.

Matthew said: "If there are more Westerns made then I would be happy. I love them and someday I would love to be in one."

Despite being one of the world's most famous faces, the actor is an unlikely star.

At university he got a degree in economics with the aim of getting a job on Wall Street. But after one interview he figured a life in high finance was not for him. Nor did he seem ideally suited to an acting career, as he was born into a home where therewas no TV set.

Matthew said: "It was not so much that my dad didn't like television, he just really loved books and I'm trying to carry on the old man's tradition.

"We allow our kids to watch a little bit of television. An hour a day is the rule but they are very manipulative and wily about finding ways to extend that.

"I don't want to be as a hard core as my dad was, though I respect him a great deal."

Matthew reckons that it is not a bad thing if kids complain they are bored because they do not have TV to watch.

He added: "When you are bored, you are going to use your imagination to develop some version of the world that is exciting to you. That was something my father encouraged."

Perhaps restricting his own children's viewing in the same way will lead them to become international TV stars? Matthew said: "I don't think my dad has ever fully explored the irony of that."

Source: California Chronicle