Mr.Eko

Jeff Jensen of EW.com posted an interview with Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse, one that was specifically focused on the new characters that we will be seeing in Season 4, it’s definitely worth a read and here are the highlights:

*All of the characters will be appearing in more than one episode, and it sounds like most will be appearing at least throughout Season 4 and into Season’s 5 & 6; so some of them will be of importance to the overall story arc for the final 3 seasons

*The descriptions we have seen to date are not necessarily accurate:

CARLTON CUSE: 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. 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. So yes, the stuff out there is not totally accurate.
DL: In fact, only one of the character names that has gotten out there is literally accurate.

*Rebecca Mader’s character will be of English descent:

DL: What was really cool about Rebecca’s [audition] read was, she did it on tape, but the producer who was with her asked her, ”All these things on your résumé are from the BBC — are you British?” She said yes, and we asked her to read it again, this time as a Brit, and it opened up another dimension we hadn’t foreseen. Now she’s English.

So her Lost character is English?
DL: Now she is.

*Finally, regarding Fahey and his beard:

Amazing. Something to follow up on. On a slightly more superficial front, the most recent pics of Fahey have him sporting a very bushy beard. Are you going to have him shave?
CC: Honestly, we don’t know. We’re meeting him for lunch this week, and our understanding is that yes, he has a beard. But we have no idea if the beard is on the table — and frankly, I want to see it. Because given the character we have in mind for him, a beard just might work.

So, in summary, very little information that has leaked at this point can be trusted, but of these characters it would seem that Fahey could perhaps end up being the most important. Some of the other parts were written with the specific actors in mind, and in the case of Lance Reddick, they had actually evaluated him for the part of Eko initially, so there could be a potential connection with his new character.

Enjoy!

Immediately after the death of Mr.Eko in last week’s Lost episode “The Cost of Living”, rumors that Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje had been hard to work with started circulating.

In an interview with the New York Post, Adewale explains his view of the rumors:

Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a Buddhist, says that perhaps his acting methods were misinterpreted because he didn’t talk to anyone while he was on the set and stayed in character as Eko - even off-camera - until the end of the day.

“The only way I know how to deliver is to focus; some people can turn it on or off - I’d rather stay in character. There was no socializing. I would start two hours before I went to the set and I wouldn’t say any other words other than the ones that I needed to say, that’s just the way I work and I think that intensity comes across in my characters.”

Adewale also said that Lost “was probably one of the best relationships I’ve ever had in terms of developing a character, and I think the character will be a testament to that.”

Read the entire interview in the New York Post

According to USAToday, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who portrayed Mr.Eko on Lost asked the show’s creators to kill his character.

Akinnuoye-Agbaje asked to be written off the series. After losing both parents last year, he wanted to return to his London home and work on a film he’ll direct.

Elizabeth Mitchell, who plays Juliet, got to know him off the set. “We got along really well,” she says. “He’s about to direct his first movie about his life, which is an incredible story. He’ll be missed.”

Damon and Carlton explained to Ausiello why Eko died in last night’s episode:

Cuse: When Adewale came on the show, he didn’t want to make a long-term commitment to a series. We love him and so we agreed that he would come on the show and then we would find a time in which his arc would come to an end. And we sort of felt after a lot of conversations with him — most of which took place at the end of the spring last year — that we would finish his character somewhere in [these first] six episodes. And as we started talking about what was going to really help the drama of these six episodes, we thought, “Well, this is the perfect place to do it.” As we said, we all kind of went into this [with the idea] that it was only going to be for a limited period of time.

Ausiello: It’s no secret that Adewale wasn’t the most beloved cast member. Did that play any role in his departure? [FYI: In next week’s issue of TV Guide magazine — on sale Nov. 9 — my colleague, Shawna Malcom, reports that, per multiple sources, the 39-year-old actor had become an increasingly difficult presence on set, refusing to film scenes as scripted, insisting on rewrites and even “demanding” several times to be released from his contract.]
Lindelof: We don’t really talk about anything other than the creative decisions made on the show. If you’re hearing it from other people, you’re not hearing that from us. Not to mention, we’re in L.A. So we would never let that kind of thing determine the creative direction of the show. We’re all in the service of the story.

I thought Mr.Eko was a very interesting character so I’m sad to see him go, but I’m confident that Damon, Carlton and the rest of the creative team know what’s best for the story.

When we left our Lost friends last week, Desmond had saved Claire and Charlie from being struck by lightning, Jack had failed to save Colleen’s life and Ben had shown Sawyer a new island.

Tonight’s Lost episode which is the second to last in the 6-episode mini-season is titled “The Cost of Living” and this is the official description of the episode:

Minor spoilers

A delirious Eko wrestles with demons from his past, while Locke and some of the other castaways head back to The Pearl — one of the Dharma Initiative’s island stations — hoping to find a computer that they can use to locate Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Meanwhile, Jack doesn’t know whom to trust when two of “The Others” seem at odds with one another.

If you are into episode previews, take a look at the preview of “The Cost of Living” while you wait for the episode to air, but please keep discussions of the preview in that comment thread.

To keep the discussion as interesting as possible please read through the comments before posting. Please don’t discuss spoilers or teasers/previews, but other than that feel free to discuss the episode in the comments and have fun!

“Every Man For Himself” (10/25/06): Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje discusses the challenges of playing his character, Mr. Eko. Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are away this week.

Listen to the podcast at ABC.com

An interview with Lost’s Mr.Eko, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, can be read at Maxim Online. Adewale talks about the characters he has portrayed and discusses the Lost community.

Given some of the roles you’ve played in the past, how’d you end up on Lost?
To be quite honest with you, I hadn’t heard of the show at the time they called me. I’m based in the UK and the show hadn’t aired there, plus I wasn’t looking to commit myself to a TV series. I was wooed into the part—the chemistry and creative vibe was great with the producers. The character, at that point, was just a priest, so he’s evolved along the way. He was originally named Emeka…

How does the Lost fan cult compare with the Oz fan cult?
Oz was big, but Lost is something else. The theories [fans] conjure and throw at you, it’s like, “Why aren’t they writing it?” The amount of fascination is one of the hardest things to come to terms with. Basically you just accept that the obsessive audience is part of it.

How do you think it eventually ends for Mr. Eko?
It’d be nice to see him get laid (cracks up). That’s probably not going to happen. Hopefully he’ll be a complete person by the end of his journey, free of the self-torture and guilt. I just want to see him in peace.

Read the entire interview at Maxim

Some good news today - the traffic charges against Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who plays Mr.Eko on Lost, were dropped after his defense attorneys proved that he indeed has a driver’s license.

Adewale was charged with driving without a license and disobeying a police officer earlier this month.

Zap2it reports that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who plays the mysterious Mr.Eko on Lost was arrested and charged with driving without a license and disobeying a police officer the past weekend.

Adewale is the third member of the Lost cast who has been arrested for traffic violations. As I’m sure many of you remember, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros who played Ana-Lucia and Libby where both arrested for driving under the influence during the production of last season. A few weeks later both Libby and Ana-Lucia where killed by Michael on the show.

The producers have denied rumors that the two actresses where killed off due to their complications with the law, but many still believe it to be the reason for the characters’ deaths.

Will Mr.Eko be the next one to die on the island?

I hope not since I would really miss the character. But if he gets shot in one of the first episodes, it might be a good idea for the rest of the cast to leave their cars at home…

Tonight’s episode is simply titled “?” and is LOST’s episode 21 of season 2. This week, I’ll be filling in again for Andreas due to his schedule, and leave comments after the show airs. I am watching from EST, so keep that in mind if you are on the West Coast and want to avoid spoilers, because I will be updating shortly after it airs on the East Coast. This is the official description:

Possible Spoiler

Mr. Eko enlists Locke to help find a secret location he believes houses answers to the island’s mysteries. Meanwhile, Jack and the other survivors struggle to cope with the horrific situation in the hatch.

Update:

Now THIS is what I call a really good episode, at least IMHO.

Once again, we have prophetic dreams which send us on a bizarre expedition with the two survivors who have “faith”… but faith that comes from very different perspectives in life. It is interesting to see the contrast between Locke & Eko.

Perhaps the biggest finding is that the ? is in fact Pearl Station (and not C3 or C4). And this whole idea that they are being observed, goes back once again to the Skinner Box concept, brought up by the first orientation film. Locke loses his faith in the button, while Eko’s gets stronger.

And of course, that brings us to a very interesting orientation tape this time. It, like the other, was copyrighted in 1980, and shows the DeGroots. However, instead of Dr. Marvin Candle, we now have Dr. Mark Wickmund* (same-looking guy, except for arm, different name — why?). And at the end… it states that the ferry will carry the subjects back to “the barracks”?? This leads me once again to think of Danielle’s maps from First Season. There were two island-like objects on the south side.

A twist I really liked in this show was of how they tied in a connection between Richard Malkin (Claire’s psychic) and Mr. Eko, as he goes to investigate a “miracle” for the Vatican. The mysterious daughter we meet is strange and brings interesting news, as does Malkin himself (he cons people… and says he’s not really psychic). Also, for those who do the webmaze, doesn’t the daughter remind you of someone else? (In addition to the flickering screens)

The only thing I didn’t like about the whole episode was the weepy dramatic subplot with Libby, will she talk, will she not talk… and of course, her mysterious last word is misinterpreted.

What did you think? Is the psychic lying about not being psychic? Was his daughter’s story one of a real “miracle”? Do you think there is a point to pushing the button anymore? What do you think of the new orientation tape and The Pearl?

*Note: Edited article to show new Orientation tape’s narrator as “Wickmund” rather than “Whitman” or “Wickman”, after a viewer on another site pointed out that the closed captioning stated this. Additionally, a previous spoiler call sheet had showed the actor as playing a “Dr. Waxman”, again along the Candle theme (but may have been changed at the last minute).

I was listening to the latest podcast from our friends at Lostcasts earlier today and they had some really good theories on some of the latest events on Lost.

Something I liked in particular was their theory behind Mr.Eko’s reasons for building a church. I hope i’m not posting any spoilers here, but I think we heard Eko and Charlie telling Bernard in the last Lost episode, that what they where building near the beach was actually a church.

When Bernard questioned their decision to build a church, Mr.Eko replied:

“People are saved in different ways Bernard…”

This would probably mean that Eko intends to save their souls through Christianity, but the guys at Lostcasts had an idea that took the concept even further.

Unless you are one of those fans who fall asleep during one of the most thrilling moments of an entire season of Lost, you will probably remember Mr.Eko’s confrontation with the smoke monster. All that happened was that the smoke appeared to either scan or implant memories into the mind of Mr.Eko and then it simply went back into the jungle. Charlie, who was sitting in a tree, watching the whole thing, didn’t get hurt either.

You might also remember that Locke has had two encounters with the smoke monster. The first time, we never saw the smoke, but most fans assume that it was the smoke that he looked upon when he had seen into the eye of the island, as he so poetically put it. That time, nothing happened to Locke, but the second time that he encountered the smoke monster, he was dragged through the jungle and was even very close to getting dragged underground by what appeared to be a pretty angry cloud of smoke.

One of the popular ideas in the fan community is that the the smoke monster’s different behavior in these situations could have to do with how it interprets the person it is confronting and “scanning”. The first time Locke encountered the smoke monster, he was very secure in his faith both in himself and the island, while the monster’s violent behavior at their second date could be explained by Locke’s deteriorating faith in the island.

The guys at Lostcasts believe that Mr.Eko is aware of these reasons for the smoke monster’s reactions and that he is building a church to make sure that the losties are secure in their faith so that the smoke monster will do them no harm. They even go so far as to suggest that Mr.Eko might be planning to take control of the smoke monster and use it against The Others in a final showdown.

I don’t know if I believe that this is what will happen, but it is a pretty good theory. I think that those who are secure in their faith will play an important role in the future.

Some really interesting things about magnetic healing and the magnetism of Uluru, or Ayers Rock as it is commonly known where also discussed on the latest Lostcast. If you aren’t already a fan of their podcast, I really recommend checking it out.