Show creators break radio silence, confirm flurry of casting rumors; Jeremy Davies, Jeff Fahey to both be recurring.
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the two showrunners for ABC's meta-drama Lost, love messing with people's minds. The pair holds the answers to some of today's greatest television mysteries and, following an Internet leak of details on season three's twist-tastic finale, has promised to keep a low profile with the media until the show's fourth season begins next year.
However, the two did answer a few questions regarding the recent casting rumors and news--Jeremy Davies (Rescue Dawn, Solaris) and Jeff Fahey (Lawnmower Man, Grindhouse)--and talked ever so slightly about the new characters of season four.
Unlike other shows that trumpet their new cast members and characters, the crew behind Lost prefers misleading the millions of fans of the show. Simple things, such as casting announcements, can go a long way in today's Internet news world, so even the actors don't know who the character they're auditioning for is.
"We actually [have] the actors read fake [scenes] and give them fake character names. Because those casting [pages] travel so widely, there's no way to maintain secrecy," Cuse told EW.com. "So we basically have to come up with fake but analogous scenes that will show us qualities of an actor but won't give away what the role is."
Lindelof and Cuse know what those roles are, and they knew that Davies and Fahey would be perfect for those characters.
Jeremy Davies already looking Lost-ish in Rescue Dawn.
"He's a real actor's actor--there's an intelligence you glean from this guy," said Lindelof of Davies, according to EW. "He's usually the smartest guy in the room in any part he plays. That transformative quality, plus the tremendous intelligence that seems to emanate from him, sort of seemed perfect for this particular character."
Lindelof also feels that Fahey fits the Lost mold well as an actor that is somewhat recognizable to casual television fans but holds on to some anonymity. "...[Fahey will] be able to land on our island without most people going, 'Oh, I know who that guy is.' And especially for the part we cast him for, he has exactly the right sensibilities."
Another newcomer to the show, Ken Leung, caught the eyes of the pair after seeing him once on The Sopranos. That one episode was enough to not only have them pursue him for Lost, but also write a new character specifically for Leung.
"[Leung's character] is so specifically geared to what we thought he could do as an actor [that] if he had said no, we would have had to scrap the character and rewrite him and come up with a different one," said Cuse.
British actress Rebecca Mader joins the drama after several stints on television, the most high profile of which was a starring role on Fox's 2006 law drama Justice. She read for her part with an American accent, but the producers eventually had her read in her native tongue, and it stuck--the character is now British.
Finally, The Wire's Lance Reddick was always a target of Lindelof and Cuse (he was originally considered for the part of Mr. Eko), but scheduling conflicts held him up until now. When news of Reddick joining the cast broke, his character was described as a "corporate recruiter," but don't expect any normal human resources worker doing some simple company headhunting.
"Around here at the Lost offices, 'corporate recruiter' means something entirely different than corporate recruiter," said Lindelof.
Isn't that always the case with Lost?
Source: TV.COM
