Article Update as of 3/24/09.
Rebecca Mader, best known to LOST geeks as Charlotte Staples Lewis, has come forward concerning a recent gaff on ABC’s LOST that has turned into a game of he said she said. After viewers picked up on an inconsistancy involving the appearance of a younger Charlotte during 1970′s era Dharma, before the character’s 1979 birthdate, LOST showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof explained that the character’s birthdate had been written as 1970 originally, but Mader had a diva moment on set and arbitrarily changed the date. Not so, says Mader.
“I’m Pissed Damon and Carlton lied about me on the most recent PODCAST. The timeline error was their mistake and they are making it out to be my fault. NOT COOL!” Mader reports on her official Facebook profile. “I just wanted to say that I NEVER changed my characters age on the set of LOST as Damon and Carlton accused me of on the most recent PODCAST. Charlotte Lewis was ALWAYS meant to be 28 and born in 1979. It was written in the script EP #402!!!!!!”
Well first off all, if born in 1979 Charlotte would actually have been ~25 years old, since LOST is set in 2004. Anywho…
Perhaps supporting Mader’s claim is that fact that her role was originally offerred to Veronica Mars and Heroes beauty Kristin Bell, who also looks no where near 33… or does she? The character appears during the 2004 timeline of LOST making the character 33 give or take a year. Would the sparkling Mader pass for 33? Does Mader owe an apology to women over 30? What I really want to know is: are we honestly supposed to buy that William Mapother’s Ethan Rom is only 27?
UPDATED 3/24/09
Michael Ausiello cleared everything up in this mess late last night when he posted a response about Mader’s allegations by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelhof.
From Michael Ausiello:
Reached for comment this evening, D&C now concede that they got their facts wrong. “Rebecca is absolutely right and we apologize to both her and the entire fan community for screwing up the story,” the pair said in a joint email.
From Damon and Carlton:
“By way of explanation, here’s what happened:
There were a gazillion questions about the timeline discrepancy in that young Charlotte clearly exists in 1974, but wasn’t supposed to be born until 1979, per a single line of dialogue courtesy of Ben back in episode #402. When we inquired as to how this happened, the intel came back that we used Rebecca Mader’s birthday, July 2, 1979 because she was actually eight years YOUNGER than the character as originally conceived/scripted. We misremembered this as having come from Rebecca herself on the set, but in fact, it came several days earlier when our continuity expert Gregg Nations pointed it out and suggested using Rebecca’s actual birthday for Charlotte. And so, the mistake was OURS. Rebecca’s production draft DID have the date as being 1979.Our first mistake was the timeline gaffe, but the much more significant one was wrapping Rebecca up in this when she had nothing to do with it. Not her fault on any level. It was our bad. One hundred percent. We will say as much in a very special “Eating Crow” edition of our Podcast tomorrow. Speaking of which, what a wonderful world we live in where we can make a comment in a Podcast that triggers a response on someone’s Facebook page and that triggers a mea culpa on someone else’s blog. Ah, technology.”
source: The Ausiello Files“
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Drama! This has epic potential.
Well, they screwed up the whole Scott/Steve thing –dudes, we saw them shout their names out– when they used the wrong name for the actor they had used for Ethan’s head-bashing victim and tried to make it a running joke but Dustin Watchman (“I’m Scott”) mentioned his contract too when it was brought up by fans (“It says Scott on my contract”).
They did a good job of hair and makeup on Michael Emerson, but I never bought for a second that turned 28 on the day of The Purge; Michael Emerson was 51 when he started on LOST, so I don’t buy Ben as ca. 43/44 in the 2007/08 scenes.
Cuse and Lindelof talk way too much and are way too public for my taste but mileage, obviously, varies.
Bottom line: The creators screwed this up, as they have the Libby, Walt and Ethan storylines. I hope they’re reading this, and that they realize fans are unhappy about the ineptitude of claiming Libby’s story is done (which it’s not–there are mysteries unresolved), that Walt’s story is done (which it’s not–there are mysteries unresolved), that Charlotte is 29 (which she’s not–see above), and that Ethan is only 27 (which he CLEARLY is not). I love Lost, and I think the creators are amazing writers, but they need to get their act together and realize they’re creating plotholes and inconsistencies.
Not nice of Darlton to try to pin this on Rebecca if it was not her fault. Of course, I have an even greater beef with how they fail to utilize interesting female characters like Charlotte and Rousseau, killing them off after first reducing them to insignificance. Charlotte had an interesting line of work and an interesting backstory, yet she was reduced to bleeding through her nose and making googly eyes at Daniel for most of this season. Sad. I still love the show, but some of this stuff is starting to grate.
Yes, and what about Kate and Jack in the last episodes? The actors don’t even play anymore! I love Lost too but the writers must remember that they can go on with all the sci-fi they want, but when it comes to characters it’s about dealing with human feelings.. you cannot screw up charachters like this..
She has every right to complain. Implausible she would have walked by Daniel in 1974 as a toddler.The producers screwed up. I am glad it’s out in the open. Also with Ethan no way he would only be 27. And Ben, didn’t he come to the island until later.Horace has a different wife that help’s Ben’s dad deliver Ben into the world outside the infamousplace in Washington where Juliette later went.
On lostcub.it.net probably now long since buried in threads, I had a whole loog list of continuity errors the producers had made. Good reporting Bryan
Speaking of continuity errors…who’s Bryan?
No! No! It’s time-travel… You’ll see!
/jk yup i think they screwed up… still the best show on tv ever period.
As soon as I heard that the were making up the story as they went along, knowing where it will end but still making the journey up, I knew stuff like this would happen. Its bad planning. Its like building a house with a picture. Its just something you dont do.
I have lost a lot of faith in them, and to be honest, a little excitement about the show.
(not too much though, or I wouldnt be writing this )
Thanks for the additional post. Glad to see Damon and Carton actually admit they screwed up! Okay now what about Etan only being 27? See time travel is tricky, they fell victim to their own butterfly effect.
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I am SO glad to see this finally sorted out, and that they apologized to poor Rebecca
I can’t understand why they thought they’d get away with pinning the blame on her (I mean come on, are we really buying into it being a ‘misremembering’, whatever the heck that means?!)
Who cares, as long as she’s gone. Her acting was rubbish anyway.
[...] Mader (Charlotte) is not happy about Cuse and Lindelof dissing her in a recent podcast. According to Mader, it was the writers’ fault that young Charlotte [...]
[...] Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the two explained that Mader changed the script insinuating she had a “diva moment” —- “because she did not really want to brand herself as 37, which is what she [...]
[...] being a…what’s the term, Rebecca? Doodie [...]