Newsgasm: Lost stars meet fans, take questions

A week after the Hawaiian earthquake that had fans around the world worried for their safety and their show’s shooting schedule, three stars of Lost showed up alive and well to meet fans, take questions– and offer a few clues to the series’ future after television.

The scene was a Lost seminar yesterday at the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival in Honolulu. Stars Michael Emerson (Henry Gale/Ben), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Henry Ian Cusack (Desmond) and co-executive producer Jean Higgins provided answers in a packed theatre.

Some highlights:Why’s the show a hit?

Emerson: because of its “logical use of a multicultural cast, and it plays to our taste for mysteries and puzzles in a really good way.”

Higgins: “We’re looking to stretch the cast all the time.” With the characters and story lines, “we push the envelope.”

Garcia: “We just showed up, and the audience showed up with us.”

Did Lost break the mold?

Higgins: When Lost first appeared, networks were wary of serialization shows, but now “I think it’s changed the landscape of television. Several new series this season include survivors and flashbacks, and connect from one episode to the next. “A lot of them are really derivative of Lost.”

Cusack: “It’s nice to see something besides a cop or a medical drama on TV.” (Applause)

Emerson on the challenge of Henry Gale/Ben affable:

“Shakespeare shows you the way. His evil characters are likable.”

The most grueling or surprising episode they’ve shot?

Garcia: The pilot, when enormous lights on the beach in Mokuleia attracted insects galore: “Every single bug that was in the jungle that night came flying out, and most of them found my hair.”

Cusack: His moment in the most recent episode, “when I was naked!”

The inevitable questions about whether their characters would last:

Emerson: It’s the nature of the business. “You’d better be ready to hit the pavement again.”

Higgins: Not that death on Lostreally matters. “They die and they still come back to work!”

What about the island?

Emerson: It “looms large as a character on the show.” He hinted at a metaphysical quality, and the possibility that the entire location is fabricated.

Cusack: “It’s a vortex that won’t let Desmond go; it’s really his prison.”

Garcia: His character Hurley feels that his being on the island keeps his loved ones safe because he brings bad luck.

Higgins: It’s important that the island remain a mystery– especially to those living on it — because the show revolves around survival, and not understanding where you are is a key component to that. “We’ve always been careful not to reveal too much of it.”

Will there ever be a Lost movie?

Higgins: “I would never rule that out. We all have a big vision. It’s oversized.”

Then the stars signed autographs for everyone.

–Tabloid Baby