Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with our own Moon Yun who interviewed the beautiful blonde from LOST and THE FOG, Maggie Grace, shortly before the film hit theaters. Now we've all seen it and know what a mess THE FOG is. But who can turn down an opportunity to listen to a beautiful woman speak, especially when it's about horror and LOST? I know I can't! Enjoy!
Aloha, Moon Yun signing in from Hawaii where I get up close and personal with the lovely and talented Maggie Grace of LOST. She’s traveling across the country promoting her first feature film – THE FOG.
I would have loved to interview Maggie Grace in person but she was in LA that day promoting THE FOG. I’m glad I was able to interview her by phone anyway. She’s great to talk to and such a sweet, grounded young woman. I wish her a long future.
AICN: How is THE FOG different from the original?
MG: It’s quite different from the original. They changed the story a great deal…The newer one attempts to flesh out the back story – why this is happening.
AICN: What was it like to meet the master horror filmmaker John Carpenter? (He was one of the producers of the remake and received co-writing credits)
MG: He was wonderful. He’s really amazing. It was an honor to hang out with him. He was on the set a great deal for this first part of the shoot. He’s such a legend. It was so cool to be able to talk with him, hear some of his anecdotes, and tales from the trenches. He’s got such a cool body of work. He’s had so many “firsts” to his credits as far as working in this genre and really trying new things.
AICN: Both THE FOG and LOST have supernatural/suspense elements. Do these projects find you or are you just drawn to them?
MG: I think it’s a little of both. I think LOST isn’t married to one particular genre. I wouldn’t call it some sort of supernatural or a drama – it has a little bit of everything. I think that’s what manages to garner the amazing critical (praise) and (draw) commercial audiences as well. It has all those elements. It marries them seamlessly together. There’s really something for everyone which doesn’t happen much.
AICN: How did you get the part on THE FOG?
MG: I had one meeting/session with the director Rupert Wainwright. I happened to be in LA that weekend. I didn’t have to go back in very much which is new for me. I’ve been working (as an actress) for five years. I’m use to going in a million times. (Laughs) Just to meet everybody…every cook in the kitchen…anyone who could possibly need to approve you. That wasn’t the case this time so that was certainly refreshing…really the only possible avenue since I was on set in Hawaii.
AICN: How did the role of Elizabeth come to you and when did you have time to film in between shooting LOST?
MG: I was shooting LOST at the same time for much of it. Unfortunately I didn’t have that many scenes with Selma Blair so we shot pretty separately. While I was still on LOST, they were able to shoot her part of the movie. Then I flew back and forth a few times. Revolution was really, really generous adjusting the schedule to shoot LOST changes because we postponed wrap for about a month.
AICN: It looks like you’ll be on this show a long time, but do you ever get anxious that your character might get killed off?
MG: It’s not something any of us devote a great deal of thought and time to. You do your work. You try to bring your A-game even though it’s five o’clock in the morning. Sometimes you succeed. (Laughs) It is what it is. No one can predict the success of the show or your involvement with it so…
AICN: What was it like for you and your cast members to win the Emmy?
MG: We were pretty blown away by that. We couldn’t believe it. I didn’t expect it at all.
AICN: Are you amazed by all the attention and sudden fame LOST brought you? And how do you think you’ll handle it if THE FOG kicks it up a notch or two?
MG: I don’t think anybody can be prepared for all this. It’s pretty a heady combination. I think THE FOG will do really well. It’s a great Halloween movie, the kind of thing where big pack of kids will go see and get really scared. We’ll see right?
AICN: There were all those rumors of you being in X-3 to which you said is not true. If you could be in an action superhero movie is there any particular type of role you’d like to play?
MG: I’d probably have to familiarize myself more with comic books but I don’t know. It would be great to be able to fly around in front of a green screen. It would be pretty exhilarating. I’ve loved some of the stunt work that I’ve gotten to do in the past couple of years on LOST. They’ve had me hooked up to pullies and I got to fly that way. That was pretty cool. X-3 would have been fun but it didn’t work out in the end. There’s no way the schedule would’ve worked out with LOST.
AICN: Is the media less intense in Hawaii than in LA?
MG: It’s been great (being shielded). It’s a bubble. The local people have been really wonderful as far as accommodating us and our noisy crew…really being so respectful of our privacy. It’s been amazing. I can’t imagine shooting the show in LA. Of course our set would be dramatically different and it wouldn’t be such a beautiful show. As far as the culture and place to live and work we’re very lucky to be shooting in Hawaii.
AICN: You say you’ve been acting for five years. What made you get into acting?
MG: I’ve been very passionate (about acting) since I was little. I started in theater when I was really young. I loved community and regional theater. It’s what I devoted all my time to outside of school. I’ve been completely in love with it from a very young age. I moved out to LA (from Ohio) when I was 16 and started working in TV and worked my way up from there. I was working enough to be able to support myself. It’s a great learning experience. That was a great way to learn not only about my work but about life.
AICN: Being so young and in Hawaii (not that Hawaii doesn’t have clubs), do you feel like you’re missing out on your wild days by not being in LA where there’s a bigger club scene?
MG: I didn’t really go out in LA or Ohio, obviously there’s nowhere to go out in Ohio. Even in LA, it hasn’t really been my thing, unless it was someone’s birthday. Actually I’ve had more amazing time with this cast than ever before. When I went to college it wasn’t that same kind of dorm chaos, it was UCLA at night so it was very different. This is my first time watching the sun come up with a group of people and debating philosophy in the wee hours. I’ve been grateful to have these people in my life. It’s been revelatory.
Well, that’s it. Since I get scared from just watching the TRAILERS of horror flicks, I must confess this movie wasn’t at the top of my “go-see list.” But now that I’ve had the chance to talk to one of its stars, I’m quite anxious to see THE FOG now. It’s PG-13 so I should (I hope) be able to handle it.
