Lost

TVOvermind Talks with Michael Emerson

Written By Jo Garfein on March 9th, 2010 at 1:15 pm

In late January, I had the opportunity to interview the cast of LOST on the red carpet at the Lost Season 6 Premiere on the Beach for TVOvermind. The following is my amusing and enlightening exchange with Michael Emerson, who in reality only shares two traits with Ben Linus – great intellect and a dry sense of humor.

At the beginning of our conversation, Michael is inquiring about the Lost fan meet-up that I had hosted the night before this interview. I actually met and chatted with the incredibly friendly and gracious Emerson at a private cast and crew press mixer an hour before my own party. We had a tremendously entertaining conversation (off the record), I told him about the meet-up, and gave him one of my commemorative S6 Premiere beach bags and custom Lost Fan pins…which he immediately put on his jacket lapel.

(Audio of this interview can be heard on Docarzt.com)

Jo: Michael Emerson, how are you?
ME: Good, how was your party?

Jo: It was great, Mr. Fahey showed up.
ME: Oh!

Jo: He got mobbed. It was amazing.
ME: Wow.

Jo: I had 120 fans show up, we played trivia and I gave out DVDs. It was fantastic.
ME: You had your gifts...

Jo: I had my gifts.
ME: And bags.

Jo: And then Fahey showed up, and I was done; I was like, ‘my work is done here.’ So how are you, on the eve of this premiere? How do you feel?
ME: Good! Well rested, well dressed.

Jo: Fantastic.
ME: Well entertained.

Jo: I have to say, it’s nice to see you without bruising on your face.
ME: Yes.

Jo: Are we going to see Ben with a clearer…with more of his face this season?
ME: Yeah, I’m presentable about half the time.

Jo: I was talking to your wife, the lovely Carrie Preston – perception versus reality. Do people actually come up to you on the street as if you were Benjamin Linus, or approach you?
ME: Yes, and I can’t tell if they are genuinely confusing me with the character or if it is pleasurable to play with that conceit. You know. I think it would be kind of fun to project the values of the character onto the actor, who you are presumably surprised to collide with in the real world…in this dimension.

Jo: True! One more quick question - if you could have played any other character besides Benjamin Linus, which one would you have loved to have played?
ME: Maybe Richard Widmore, I mean that’s a good character.

Jo: You mean Charles Widmore?
ME: The character I most admired was Mr. Eko, but that would be a completely different kind of Mr. Eko - if I had played it.

For what it's worth, I have no idea whether or not Emerson's mention of the name Richard Widmore was a simple mistake (combining Richard Alpert with Charles Widmore) or if it was an unintentional slip and potential hint at the shape of things to come. I will leave it up to you to interpret...