Archive for the ‘LOST’ Category

By Bekah Wright | Compass – Tue, Apr 9, 2013

Watch the characters Michael Emerson plays – i.e. Harold Finch on CBS’ “Person of Interest” and Ben Linus on the former ABC series “Lost” — and there’s definitely something they have in common – their  brilliant minds are always at work. The same could be said for the actor, himself. Which leads one to wonder… how does he spend his vacation? And, might The Machine have come in handy on his honeymoon?

What’s something you never fail to pack in your suitcase?
Prescription medicine.

Carry-on or check-in?
I’m a big fan of checking luggage, even if it’s small enough to put in the overhead container. I want to be civilized; I don’t want to be struggling, pushing fat things into skinny places over people’s heads. I want to just zip in and sit down.

Window or aisle?
Aisle.

What’s your idea of the perfect vacation?
We take so few, my wife (actress Carrie Preston) and I. Quiet time somewhere where the world can’t get at us.

Tell us about a vacation you’ve taken that’s come close thus far.
I joined Carrie in Barcelona when she was shooting the Woody Allen movie “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” We stayed on for a little while after she was done working. It was just the most delightful city. It was a walking city; not so jammed with things you have to do, with a city like London or Paris, so it was relaxing.

Any favorite spots there?
We had breakfast every day at a café in an old, cobbled square behind a church. It had a nice, old Europe romance about it.

What’s the worst vacation you’ve taken?
We chose poorly for our honeymoon. We were tired, stressed out and had been going 100 miles an hour for weeks. We decided to go to London. All of a sudden there were so many things we thought we had to do – shows, historical sites, museums. We crashed and burned. It was within a week of our marriage and I’d say one of the darkest times in our marriage.

Where has been your favorite film/television shooting location?
We worked at some stunning locations in Hawaii on “Lost.” Those black rock outcroppings on the southeast side of Oahu are unbelievable. They’re like something from another world. I’ll also never forget spending three months shooting “The Legend of Zorro” in San Luis Potosi, a town in Mexico most tourists don’t go to. That was the most cultural immersion I ever got. In three months you have time to become a kind of citizen in a foreign town like that.

What’s the most unusual souvenir you’ve ever come back with?
For a long time, I tried to collect cultural masks from places I visited. They’re hard to get home because they’re fragile. You end up trying to figure out if they should be carry-on, or checked in your bag surrounded by underwear. Now I’m more interested in textiles – weavings, hangings or rugs. Those you can just fold up and throw in your suitcase.

Ever try a food you wished you hadn’t?
Nothing that bit back in the moment. I did find, after three months in Mexico, the heaviness of the cuisine was beginning to take a toll on my stomach. But it was good!

Favorite hotel you’ve ever stayed in?
We stayed in Rome a few years ago at the Grand Hotel de La Minerve; it’s on a little square behind the Pantheon on the Piazza de La Minerve. The Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is there. It was once a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva, then the church was built on top of it. The hotel had sufficient luxury to be comfortable, but yet it felt from another world, too. It was so perfectly placed in the middle of everything. You stepped out the front door and you were in just the place you wanted to be in Rome.

Biggest regret you’ve ever had while on vacation.
I always have the same great – that I over-structure my time. My secondary regret is that there isn’t enough time.

The one thing you’re willing to splurge on above all else?
Carrie and I are fond of saying our prosperity should buy us convenience if nothing else. What I’ll splurge on is not having to wait on a bargain. Or being able to take a more direct and comfortable mode of transportation. I don’t mean first-class air travel, because I’m not sure that’s a good deal, I mean taking a higher class or train or hiring a car when traveling in a foreign land. Those kinds of things are worthwhile.

Three songs (or artists) on your travel playlist?
I intentionally don’t listen to music on the flight. I don’t know why people don’t want to look out window or read. There are about five or 10 things I’d do before I’d listen to music.

Where would you take someone visiting your hometown for the first time?
I grew up in a tiny little farm town, Toledo, Iowa. As tiny as my hometown is, there’s a charming, old opera house, Wieting Theatre. I performed plays there as a teenager. My grandmother played the piano accompaniment to silent movies there, too.

You only get one more trip in your lifetime. Where will it be?
The windswept islands off the west coast of Scotland.

Larger version of the photo featured in this story can be viewed here.

Source: YahooNews

Seasoned performer who found stardom through ‘Lost’ and ‘Person of Interest’

He may not be a household name, but Michael Emerson became a household face by virtue of his role as the sinister Benjamin Linus in Lost, the leader of the group called the Others on the show’s hallucinatory South Pacific island. Emerson, born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1954, was already a theatre veteran with a string of intermittent TV performances to his credit. Now his ascent became rocket-assisted as he appeared in all of Lost’s six seasons except the first, winning an Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy in 2009.

Lost ended in 2010, leaving even faithful viewers bewildered by its mystical and metaphorical ending, but the following year Emerson was cast as the enigmatic billionaire Harold Finch in the mystery-drama series, Person of Interest. It was created by screenwriter Jonathan (aka Jonah) Nolan, collaborator/brother of film director Christopher, and like Lost, the series is made by JJ Abrams’s Bad Robot production company. Not a bad pedigree, since Abrams’s entertainment juggernaut has also launched Alias, Fringe, Undercovers and Alcatraz on TV, and the movies Cloverfield, Star Trek, Super 8 and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The prepost

After a relatively slow start in the US, where it airs on CBS, Person of Interest has suddenly boomed in its second series, and now ranks in America’s top five shows. Season two is currently showing in the UK on Channel 5 on Sunday nights, where it may not topple the likes of Mr Selfridge and Call the Midwife, but is pulling a million-plus viewers and rising.

The show centers around the eccentric relationship between Emerson’s Finch and Jim Caviezel’s John Reese a former CIA agent who had suffered a psychological crack-up following the death of his lover, and was living as a hobo in New York. Finch has devised a computer system for the government called The Machine, able to hoover up data from all manner of surveillance sources to predict terrorist attacks. However, Finch found that it could predict “ordinary” crimes too, though it could only identify an unnamed “person of interest” who was involved, without specifying whether they’re perpetrator or victim. Finch rescued the burned-out Reese from the gutter, and now sends him out as investigator and enforcer on Machine-specified missions…

(1) ADAM SWEETING: What was your first glimpse of Person of Interest?

MICHAEL EMERSON: I read a pilot script. It was sitting on JJ Abrams’s desk. Terry O’Quinn [from Lost] and I had been trying to cook up some kind of project together because we get along so well, and nothing was quite clicking. I thought come on, this is Bad Robot, and I said “what have you got?” So they gave me this thing that Jonah Nolan had written, and I thought it was exciting and I liked the high-tech, high styleness of it and its noir quality. And the fact that it was set in New York City was really appealing, though right now I’m feeling like it’s a bad bargain weather-wise because it’s been really a cold snowy winter here and we shoot outdoors quite a bit, so the work has been kind of tough and bone-chilling lately. I guess I was spoiled by the climate in Hawaii [for Lost], but really the island I prefer is the island of Manhattan.

(2) Is JJ Abrams very hands-on?

No, I think JJ’s role in this particular case was to be the sort of broker or bringer together of the artistic parties. I think he has bigger projects that take most of his attention. But it feels like a Bad Robot show and I’m happy to be part of what seems to be a kind of repertory company of actors who work on JJ’s projects. I just like the stuff he picks. There’s always an element of mystery or the thing untold or the black box into which we cannot see, and I share that feeling with him. That’s where there are some similarities between Lost and Person of Interest . Like all Bad Robot shows it bounces around in time a little bit, it has some central questions that will never be answered, there’s an air of mystery about it. Jonah tried to create a state of paranoia where no-one can be trusted which includes the conventional authorities, although we do have good cops and bad cops.

When I got on Lost I came in the middle of series two, and I think they had peaked in terms of viewership. It was never the same again after the first season, but those who stayed with the show were more fanatical than any TV viewers I’ve been around. I think half the people that talk to me on the street now are still watching Lost, maybe they got the box set. Everyone wants to take you to task for the ending. Finally I met someone the other day who said “I just want to tell you I think the ending was beautiful”, and I said “well thank you for that, I’m glad I didn’t have to make my pitch.” Read the rest of this entry »

Jimmy Aquino and Michael Emerson have been friends for many, many years. If you ever listen to any of the many interviews that Mr. Aquino has done with Michael Emerson (CNI) , you can sense how relaxed Michael Emerson is when talking to Aquino. You can also sense that they have a history together and that they do like each other. Here’s a great and recent interview Jimmy Aquino made for Stated Magazine. There are some new information even for the die-hard Michael Emerson Fan. Enjoy~Edith

By Jimmy Aquino, Pop Culture Contributing Editor

 By Corrina Lawson

10.17.12  10:00 AM

When I signed up for two press roundtables at last week’s New York Comic Con, I expected to handle them well. I’m used to interviewing politicians and the occasional celebrities from my time as a daily newspaper reporter.

 So went I sat down for the Person of Interest event featuring the stars of the show and its creator, Jonathan Nolan, I was prepared.

 Until Amy Acker sat down at my table. 

She wasn’t an announced guest, so I had no prior warning that my Angel fandom was about to collide with my professional composure. Luckily, I had just caught up with the first two episodes season two of the show, which heavily featured Acker as Root, a computer expert with a very sick viewpoint on the world. So I  had some worthwhile questions. 

Along with Acker, series producer Jonathan Nolan, Taraji P. Henson (Detective Carter), Michael Emerson (Finch), Kevin Chapman (Fusco), and even the cast’s new addition to the show, Bear the dog, appeared at the press event. 

The dog attracted the most attention but, predictably, gave the least away about this season’s plotlines, though it appears he will be on the show to stay. 

Acker also confirmed that Root will be appearing again this season. She said it was a “treat” to play a character who existed long before she was even cast, as Root’s existence had been teased for much of the first season. Acker appeared in last season’s finale as the face behind Root and said she loved playing the switch from the seeming victim to someone who casually murders a woman and kidnaps Finch at the end, comparing it  to her switch from Fred to Illyria in Angel. She also emphasized what a treat it was to work opposite Emerson and Jim Caviezel, who plays ex-CIA agent Reese. (Caviezel’s schedule prevented him from appearing at the press roundtable.)

 “I’ll be back,” Acker said. “I think he [Finch] misses me too much,” she said, teasing in character. 

Asked about her status as something of a geek icon, Acker said “Joss [Whedon] has been great to me” and that he calls  her when he “doesn’t have someone for the part”, as do other writers who once worked on Angel. She called filming Much Ado About Nothing  “an experience that was just so special.” Not many people, she said, can just decided to shoot a movie in their backyard in  two weeks by calling all their friends. She also pointed out that it was a chance to play a “normal girl” for a change.

 Series producer Nolan spoke about the season-long arc planned for the characters but said despite personal developments, POI will stick with the procedural concept, with a number of the week producing someone Finch and Reese must save in some way. He said X-Files is a perfect model for what he want to do with the show. His original concept, he said, for the Machine started when he was a teenager in England in the 1980s and all the surveillance cameras went up but sometimes nobody was watching. 

Asked whether the show had crossed into the realm of science fiction with hints that the Machine is artificially intelligent, Nolan said “yes,” but that “Finch is still making the case it’s only a machine.” 

Nolan confirmed that the crimelord Elias will be back “soon” this season. Nolan also said he plans to be with the show for a long time and he’s “having too much damn fun to stop now.” He credited an incredible partner and an amazing team as part of that fun. (J.J. Abrams co-wrote the original screenplay for the show.)

 Henson and Emerson talked about their characters, Carter and Finch. 

Henson was animated and fun, no more so than when talking about the new addition, Bear. She loves dogs, she says, and they keep having to tell her to not pay attention to him while he’s trying to work. But she said between

takes, he’s all hers to play with. She laughed when she revealed that she usually doesn’t do television and Nolan “wooed” her to get her to play Carter. “At first, it was ‘I hate TV, no, click’.” She television is a very slow burn compared to feature films and, at first, she had no idea who Carter was, which was frustrating, but she’s  learning to just go with it as far as character development.

Emerson had a fascinating take on Finch and Reese’s mission to help those whose numbers came up per the Machine. “They’re on what surely will be a suicide mission in the end. Every number could be their last, so the stakes must always be dire.” He said he doesn’t try to imagine where the show is going and sees himself as handling the micro elements not the macro arcs of the show. “The arc of the show is a contract between writers and the audience. I’m just the one who solves the little problems in the scenes themselves.” About his name being on the marquee for POI, he said he “slept better” when he was part of the cast of Lost.

Asked about his role as the Joker in part 2 of the animated adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, Emerson said he hadn’t seen the most recent versions played my Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger. “The Joker in my head was Caesar Romaro.” He called the Joker the avatar of “pathological mockery” and said he would enjoy more voice work but wryly revealed that he keeps trying out for voice parts and not getting them.

 Person of Interest airs on the CBS network on Thursdays at 9 p.m.

Larger version (and additional) photos of Michael Emerson can be viewed here.

Source: Wired.com

Former LOST stars Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) and currently acting as Finch on Person of Interest; Carrie Preston (Emily Linus–Ben’s mother), currently acting as Arlene on True Blood; and Terry O’Quinn (John Locke), currently acting as Malcolm Doran on 666 Park Avenue met at a New York restaurant. Oh the fun of seeing these three actors together again.

 

Larger version of this photo is available here.

LOST and SAW fans, once again, Michael Emerson and Ken Leung will be on the same show. Season 2 of Person of Interest will premiere on  Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 9/8c on the CBS Television Network, Ken Leung is guest starring as the new POI while Reese (Jim Caviezel) enlists Detectives Carter and Fusco to get his Finch back. I like how Michael Emerson is able to get some of his old buddies a part in his shows. Here are some photos for your pleasure.

Larger versions are available by clicking on this link or the photo itself.

By Liz Kelly Nelson

Michael Emerson, the actor who wormed his way into viewers’ hearts as the wormy Ben Linus on ”Lost” and now co-stars in CBS’ ”Person of Interest,” joins the cast of Woody Allen’s next project, reports Deadline.

Details on the yet-to-be-titled movie remain sketchy. We know the cast includes Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Bradley Cooper and Bobby Cannavale and will shoot in New York (not Copenhagen or San Francisco, as previously rumored). Beyond that, we’re in the dark.

Emerson has worked with Allen before: He appeared in Allen’s 2001 short film, “Sounds from a Town I Love.”

On June 22, Allen’s film “To Rome with Love”hit theaters with its own ensemble cast, which includes Baldwin, Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenbergand Penelope Cruz.

Source: Zap 2 It

By Patricia Sheridan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The television series “Lost” is where audiences found actor and former illustrator Michael Emerson. The 57-year-old has won two Emmys — for outstanding guest actor on “The Practice” and for outstanding supporting actor on “Lost” — while being nominated for several more. He is an accomplished stage actor as well, and is married to actress Carrie Preston. He is currently starring in the CBS drama “Person of Interest” with Jim Caviezel, which airs Thursday nights at 9.

Have you ever played a character that you could not stand?

That I couldn’t stand … no, I don’t think that would happen often in an actor’s life because the only way an actor — I’ll say me — can solve the problem of playing the character is find the thing — maybe “like” is too strong a word — find the pleasure of playing the part. Even if you are playing a villain. I mean, I’ve played terrible villains, but they’ve had something that for me was redeeming, like precision or wit or intellect or courage. You know, there’s always something redeeming.

God, a character I couldn’t stand. Yeah, I guess I’ve been in some bad plays and some bad TV shows too, but …[laughing]. Part of my job is to make a character, even if it’s poor on the page, my job is to give it dimension and nuance. That’s an excellent question.

---

PG audio Hear more of this interview with Michael Emerson. 

---

Read the rest of this entry »

After LOST blog members had the opportunity to interview Michael Emerson. They talked about Michael’s experience as an actor while portraying Ben, his project with Terry O’Quinn, which unfortunately to us Bocke fans, the show never materialized), and his new project, Person of Interest. Here’s the recording, enjoy:

If you feel like skipping, here’s the rundown by After LOST:

First we talk about his current show Person of Interest. Then we talk about his time as Benjamin Linus, the leader of the others. The questions start at (0:57), with a Spoiler line is in effect at (33:41). Outtakes can be found at (42:14).