The dark side of Lost – cast feud, ‘no choice’ on nudity, fan fury and ‘racism’

Lost is one of the most loved – and arguably hated – shows of all time.

The series, which is coming to Netflix on August 15, is what it says on the tin. A group of people get stranded on a remote island after a plane crash, and attempt to find their way back to real life.

Its first few seasons especially were instant successes, with fans loving the deep dives into the characters, the unexpected twists and the eerie atmosphere within every episode. But as it went on, fans were often left confused – and let’s not even get started on that finale…

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But behind-the-scenes, things often were less than rosy. From cast feuds, to accusations of racism, and fan fury causing scripts to be changed, the Lost island wasn’t the only place with a dark side.

Fan fury

Lost fans definitely had their favourites – whether it be Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Sawyer (Josh Holloway) or Sayid (Naveen Andrews). But when they didn’t like a character, they made it known.

Two particular characters who were almost universally despised were Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) and Paolo (Rodrigo Santoro). They were introduced in season three and almost just as quickly killed off.

Nikki and Paolo were survivors who viewers had not yet been introduced to. It turned out they were trying to find a stash of stolen diamonds, but turned on each other and were both paralysed by spider bites, and essentially buried alive by the other survivors.

Speaking after they were killed off, co-creator Damon Lindelof told Entertainment Weekly that the plan for the characters had initially been a slow pay-off – but fans weren’t having it. “Given the backlash against them, we had to clean up the mess,” he said.

Cast feud

The cast reportedly initially got on well. Considering the size of the ensemble cast, that’s no easy feat. But as soon as money was brought up, things soured.

Last year, Maureen Ryan explored the show’s dark side in the book Burn It Down: Power, Complicity and a Call For Change in Hollywood. Maureen spoke to a number of cast and crew, some who chose to stay anonymous.

One, who was called Sloan, said: “The thing that kind of created a rift in the cast was money.” According to Sloan and Harold Perrineau, who played Michael, the cast had spoke of showing a united front when it came to salary negotiations.

But it soon crumbled, and when the cast was given its salary tiers, the highest was reportedly only given to white actors. The actor known as Sloan added: “That affected relationships.”

‘Racism’ on set

Money wasn’t the only issue on set, though. Harold Perrineau said he quickly noticed the white characters were getting more storylines and screentime. He claimed he was told the “hero characters” were Jack, Kate, Locke and Sawyer – all of whom are white.

He said: “It became pretty clear that I was the black guy. Daniel [Dae Kim] was the Asian guy. And then you had Jack and Kate and Sawyer.”

At one point, Harold disputed a script he was given, in which his character’s son Walt was missing. In the original script, Michael mentioned Walt once, then the focus was on Sawyer and his backstory.

He was eventually given a revised script, in which Michael’s backstory was the focus. But he claimed he was given a much shorter time to shoot it and get it right, saying: “I felt like suddenly they were mad at me.”

Harold was later told his character was being written out, although he did return in later seasons.

It was later claimed that Michael had to be written out because the actor who played Walt, Malcolm David Kelley, had a growth spurt, which caused issues to the storytelling.

Another black character, Mr Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), was also supposed to have a different death to what was seen on-screen. Writer of the episode Monica Owusu-Breen claimed showrunner Carlton Cuse said: “I want to hang him from the highest tree. God, if we could only cut his d*** off and shove it down his throat.”

Monica said she became angry and pointed out the “lynching imagery”. She did suggest Carlton Cuse was just trying to thing up a “painful death” for Mr Eko and not intentionally come up with the lynching.

However, “racist” and “sexist” remarks were reportedly commonplace behind-the-scenes. Monica said: “It sucks to be a person of colour in rooms like that.”

‘Failings’ on set

Elsewhere in the book, Maureen spoke to show co-creator Damon Lindelof. He admitted to failings behind-the-scenes.

He said in 2021: “My level of fundamental inexperience as a manager and a boss, my role as someone who was supposed to model a climate of creative process – I failed in that endeavour.”

He went on: “I was like, okay, as long as there are one or two [writers] who don’t look and think exactly like me, then I’m okay. I came to learn that was even worse.

“For those specific individuals, forget about the ethics or the morality involved around that decision, but just talking about the human effect of being the only woman or the only person of colour and how you are treated and othered – I was a part of that, 1,000%.”

He said it “broke his heart” to hear of the accusations of racism when it came to Harold Perrineau’s exit from the show. But he accepted it, saying: “I don’t know why anybody would make that up about me.”

He also said Harold was “completely and totally right” to point out the unfair amount of focus the white characters were getting. In regards to other allegations of a toxic workplace, Lindelof said he “had no recollection” but “that’s not [him] saying they didn’t happen”.

Meanwhile, Cuse claimed he did not hear any of the offending issues. But he said: “I deeply regret that anyone at Lost would have to hear them. They are highly insensitive, inappropriate, and offensive.”

‘Cornered’ into nudity

Speaking in 2018, Kate actress Evangeline Lilly detailed one particularly difficult moment on Lost. Speaking on The Lost Boys podcast, she spoke of how she felt “cornered” into a partially-nude scene in season three.

“I felt I had no choice in the matter,” she recalled. “I was mortified and I was trembling, and when it finished, I was crying my eyes out and I had to go on to do a very formidable, very strong scene immediately thereafter.”

She went on: “And so, in season four, another scene came up where Kate was undressing, and I fought very hard to have that scene be under my control, and I failed to control it again.

“And so, I then said, ‘That’s it. No more. You can write whatever you want – [but] I won’t do it. I will never take my clothes off on this show again.’ And I didn’t.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk