First of all, do you watch Lost?
Absolutely. I’m a big fan.
How did you get the role of Ethan? Was it because you have the word “other” in your last name?Ha-ha! I got the role because my agent submitted me, and JJ Abrams, the show’s co-creator, really liked my performance in “In the Bedroom.” The producers didn’t ask me to audition; they just offered me the role - on the morning the show premiered on TV. I hadn’t even heard of it, but what actor is going to turn down work?? I got very lucky, having this show drop into my lap.
Ethan had a lot of potential as a character, in my opinion. I’m sorry he’s gone, but the great thing about Lost is that they can bring old characters back anytime they want in flashbacks. The burning question right now is when we might see Ethan again. Do you have any information regarding this?If I did and I told you, my life would be in danger. : ) The truth is, I don’t know. They just call me when they need me. Of course I’d love to be on the show all the time, but they have their own plan. Unfortunately. : )
While we’re on the topic of Ethan’s death: Why do you think he and Goodwin died so easily, while Mikhail survived so many different things?Good question. Perhaps because Mikhail didn’t interact so much with the so-called ‘good guys’? They’re a dangerous group to spend time with! Trivia: Goodwin (Brett Cullen) and I share the same manager and are good friends.
One of the many interesting things about Ethan is that he seems to have some sort of super-strength. First he dragged Claire and Charlie through the jungle, hung Charlie to a tree without letting Claire get away, and later beat Jack up pretty bad. Are we looking too much into this, or do you think it means something?I think it might mean something, but you made one
assumption. How do you know Ethan hanged Charlie? It was never shown, and Charlie never said Ethan did it. Hmmmm, right? Also, perhaps he had help dragging Charlie and Claire. We saw him beat up Jack, but then later Jack beat up Ethan, right? So I don’t know for sure. There are some aspects of Ethan even I can’t answer.
With your own, appealing personality, you appeared on the show in an initially positive role of Ethan, who later seems to be a “bad guy”. Is there any hope that as the story unfolds, we might find out that Ethan has actually been a positive character all the way through, in which he would be similar to your own, kind self?Basically, anything is possible on that dang island. However, as the show keeps adding characters, it does seem to become increasingly unlikely that the audience will get a full dose of Ethan explanation. I do hope at least that we learn a bit more about his past. In terms of him being a ‘bad guy,’ I think that people wrongly assume he’s evil. For example, both Jack and Charlie (with a club) both attacked him first. And when Ethan lived among the survivors, he could have hurt them but didn’t; he only pick papayas (!). And when we saw him in the flashback with Claire, he was thoughtful and protective of her. Finally, we learned he was a surgeon!
In the show’s third season we learned a lot about the Others, and their reason for being on the island. We also saw how some people were there before the Dharma Initiative, like Richard Alpert, and others were later recruited by Ben as was Juliet. Should we consider Ethan a native or a recruit?You’re asking good questions. I could make an argument both ways, frankly, but I lean toward Ethan being a native.
In the episode “Maternity Leave” (season 2), we saw what happened during the time Claire was taken by Ethan. They seemed to really warm up to each other. (Although Claire didn’t really know what was going on.) Do you think Ethan actually had feelings for Claire? Do you think he actually kidnapped her, against Ben’s will, to try and save her from dying, like all the other pregnant women on the island?I believe that Ethan did have personal feelings for Claire, and they went beyond caring for her only as a doctor would. I’m not sure I’m convinced that his kidnapping of her was against Ben’s will, if only because Ben is so feared. I think he was probably told to bring back any pregnant women, and he fell for her. Perhaps he was planning some way to protect or save her, though..
Do you have a favorite character on the show, besides Ethan?I like so many of them. Some of my favorites: Locke, Jack, Sayid, and of course Ben.
Most of your scenes were with Emilie de Ravin, who plays Claire. How was it like working with her? Is she really that gorgeous in real life? Who did you enjoy working with the most?Emilie is beautiful, and she’s a lot of fun to work with. However, almost all my scenes in Season 3 were with Juliet, and Elizabeth Mitchell is an absolute delight. She’s professional and funny and very giving. And I worked with Jack, too. I enjoyed working with everyone on the cast!
How did you like working on Lost? Do you keep in touch with any of the actors?It was a ball. The cast, crew and writer/producers are all terrific. I still keep in touch with a few. It’s difficult to stay in touch with all of them. First, there are so many cast members now! Second, many of them are married, and between work and family commitments, there’s just not enough time to go around.
The creators recently introduced flash forwards in the show. How did you react to the twist at the end of last season’s finale?At first I wasn’t sure I’d like it, because I was afraid it would ruin the suspense. I’m now less against it, so I’m waiting to see where they take us…
What might we expect from the rest of the 4th season? Do you know anything about what’s coming up?Absolutely no idea! (And I couldn’t tell if I did!)
Can we expect to see you in any upcoming movies or TV shows? What are you up to these days?I have two new movies out on video: Moola and The Lather Effect. I’m supposed to start shooting something soon. I’ll be appearing in David Mamet’s famous play, ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ in September. A lot of my time recently has been spent helping prepare and negotiate the new contract for the actors’ union. We’re still working on that now. It’s the first contract to cover the internet, so there’s a lot to work out.
Thank you so much for doing this Q&A with us, it means so much to us here at the lostspoilers.org community. Is there anything you’d like to say to the Hungarian Lost fans?First, thank you for watching the show and enjoying Ethan. Second, here is a link to my website (www.williammapother.com), and here’s a link to a ‘Lost’ site where you can email questions in to some of the actors (http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/forumdisplay.php?f=51). I answer lots of emails there. Finally, I was briefly in Budapest in January 2007 and loved it! I look forward to returning to your beautiful country.
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