CusickGallery.net: Henry Ian Cusick

Thanks to Elena in Madrid for posting this interview with Ian!

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CraveOnline : Henry Ian Cusick on the end of ‘Lost’

It’s kind of sad. These may be the last Lost interviews I ever do. It’s been a good six years, asking vague questions to try to get vague answers. Henry Ian Cusick finishes the series’ run as Desmond, exploring a sideways Desmond and electromagnetic experiments on the island. He met with the press at the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, having wrapped filming on Hawaii.

Q: With three shows left is there anyway that the finale is going to satisfy all of the fans?

Henry Ian Cusick: Probably not all of the fans. I think that’s an impossible task.

Q: Can you talk abstractly about how the finale will please general LOST fans?

Henry Ian Cusick: I think what’s great about the show is it stirs up so much debate and talking points. People get together. The interviews I’ve had, I’ve had people from so many walks of life getting together to talk about the show and so many issues have been brought up and that’s exactly what the ending will bring up. The big questions in life, fate and destiny, spirituality. In the true nature of the show, the show has always brought up a lot of debate, and there will be a lot of debate about the end of the show about the meaning of it. For some people, it will be a very definite thing, and for others…. We all get the same script and we all watch the same episode, and we all have different opinions on it, week to week. That’s what happens.

Q: Is there any redemption for Desmond?

Henry Ian Cusick: Absolutely.

Q: Was it gratifying to have such a great Desmond-centric episode this season?

Henry Ian Cusick: It’s always nice to be involved rather than just be hanging out in the back, to have a purpose on the show. I was happy with my episode. I loved [Nestor Carbonell]’s. I think most people would agree. I like my episode. I’m not saying I didn’t like it but this is always the way, when you learn about a character, the show has always been best when you introduce a character and you learn about their backstory. That’s when the show’s, what they did with [that] character was really great.

Q: How did they explain to you that your character is just not going to be there for the first half of the season and is going to be a total mystery, but then when he comes in it’ll be vital?

Henry Ian Cusick: They phone you up and say, “We don’t need you until the last.” “Oh okay.” Basically the phone call was we don’t need you except for the final seven but you’ll get a really cool storyline. You kind of just trust them.

Q: How does knowing about the light on the island and the smoke monster affect you for the last three episodes?

Henry Ian Cusick: Well that’s a good question. You’re really fishing there.

Q: You’ve been playing to waiting for those answers and now you’re playing it knowing.

Henry Ian Cusick: Right, so when you get that information you go “Oh!” You play the scene that you’re given.

Q: When you got the final piece of information to your character, did you know that’s where they were going with it or did you never see it coming?

Henry Ian Cusick: For me, when I got it, we were in the trailer and we just debated and talked. Everyone had an opinion. We all had different opinions on the same script.

Q: Was there a question of the show that you had as a fan that did get answered?

Henry Ian Cusick: You know what? There was a point in the show where I thought I don’t care about the answers anymore. I knew what I wanted from the ending, what I wanted the message to be. It was halfway through Happily Ever After I thought, “Okay, I like this thing of coming from a place of love and coming from a place of no fear.” All of a sudden it just seemed a lot bigger. The small questions I just thought I don’t care anymore. I don’t care why I can see the future, electromagnetic stuff. It didn’t matter. It just seemed to be bigger than that.

Q: What are you going to miss the most when you leave Hawaii?

Henry Ian Cusick: I’m not. I’m staying.

Q: What do you love the most about it?

Henry Ian Cusick: There’s so much to love. I love my life. That’s a catch phrase from one of the crew, the ADs, “I love my life.” Hawaii is a beautiful place to bring up a family. I will try to stay there as long as I can.

Q: Is it the coast or something particular?

Henry Ian Cusick: Yeah, the sea, the coast, the people, just the way of life.

Q: Why do Desmond and Penny have such an epic romance?

Henry Ian Cusick: Theirs is a very old-fashioned love story. Desmond is somebody who has lost his love, and he’s trying to get back to it.  That’s kind of an old fashioned thing that’s going on in the story. It’s timeless. The fans just went for it, and they did a good job writing it. They gave Desmond these traits of being noble and sort of being an everyman character that most people could relate to, and yet he has just carried on, doing the best he could, given the circumstances he was in. That’s always appealing. And then, he was given the ability to see the future, and that’s always kind of cool.

Q: Where are you going to be for the finale?

Henry Ian Cusick: I don’t know. I’ve got a soccer game I might do.

Q: What do you think the legacy of Lost is?

Henry Ian Cusick: It’s special. It’s a phenomenon. You’ll have to ask us in five or 10 years time, to see what impact the show had on American TV.

Q: Did you take anything from the set?

Henry Ian Cusick: No. We were just talking about that! We got nothing. I’m hoping that they’ll send us something. I would like something, but I find it hard just to think of one thing. I would like to have a Lost clapper board with the numbers and the clock at the top.

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TV Guide: New cover (thanks, Lyly Ford!) and “more of the same” interview questions for Ian-n-Nestor:

Sthanlee B. Mirador/Shooting Star

Lost Scoop!

If you’re dying not to know what happens in the remaining episodes of Lost, castmembers Henry Ian Cusick (the Sideways-traveling Desmond Hume) and Nestor Carbonell (the long-lived Richard Alpert) are the guys to talk to. Both actors engaged in subtle conversation with TV Guide Magazine, where they talked and yet somehow didn’t talk about the end of the landmark series – Carbonell even admitted he bypassed reading the final act of the finale so he could be surprised when it airs. But, after each were featured in crucial episodes during the ultimate season, they did reveal their thoughts about bringing one of television’s most mysterious series to its final conclusion.

With three shows left, is there any way that the finale is going to satisfy all of the fans?
Cusick: Probably not all of the fans. I think that’s an impossible task. What’s great about the show is that there are so many talking points. There are so many walks of life getting together to talk about the show and so many issues to be brought up and that’s exactly what the ending will bring up. People will be talking about it for weeks afterwards, and that’s what the show has always done.
Carbonell: I think that’s a really good point. It has people talking about Biblical themes, mythological themes and literature, science verses religion: the big questions in life – incredible questions. At the heart of the show are these characters that they created—these really complex characters layered with so much misbehavior. No one is completely good and no one is completely evil. They are just well-drawn-out characters and that’s the heart of the show. I think the finale without giving anything away will bring some resolution to a lot of the dynamics between those characters and relationships.

How much of your characters do we see in the last shows? Given how pivotal your episodes have been this season, I imagine we’d see a lot of both of you.
Carbonell: I was certainly happy with how they addressed my character, and I do appear in the next one.
Cusick: There is a resolution between Penny and Desmond. It’s always nice to be involved rather than just hanging out in the back and to have a purpose on the show. I was happy with mine. [to Carbonell] I loved yours. I think it was the best of the season.
Carbonell: Well your episode is…
Cusick: Oh please! I do like my episode, but I think yours…What I like about yours is that when you learn about a character, the show has always been best when you introduce a character and you learn about their backstory. What they did with your character was really great.
Carbonell: They wrote an amazing script and I got to play with it. I also benefited because you really didn’t know anything about my character for three years so I had that built-in intrigue. In a way, as an actor I could almost do no wrong because I had that.
Cusick: You still had to color it in.
Carbonell: Yeah, it was fun, and they wrote me a beautiful episode so it was great to do it. Man, you were terrific and amazing. You were. He hates to hear it. What I love about what you did was there was a real stoic especially in the flash sideways there was a different nature about your character. It was just another great, tremendous shade and a great turn.

Henry, how did the producers explain to you that your character is just not going to be there for the first half of the season, but then when he comes in…
Cusick: They phone you up and say they don’t need you. “Oh okay.” Basically the phone call was “We don’t need you except for the final seven [episodes] but you’ll get a really cool storyline.” You have to just trust them.
Carbonell: To their credit, I think they always had the end in mind. They had to have had the end in mind, but they always said the parts in between are the removable parts so you’re right—how could they not be?
Cusick: You must have an idea of the scene or image or something roughly about where you’re going…When you get that information you go “Oh!” You play the scene that you’re given.
Carbonell: I think the stakes have always been there and I think the fact that it’s a light in a tunnel is no different. The strength of that thing that you’re beholden to or the magic of the island is something that we’ve always had to deal with in some fashion. It’s just now it’s been made more specific.

Did you get the entire final episode script or just what’s for your characters?
Cusick: We both got up to Act 10 out of 11. I got Act 11, but you decided not to get it.
Carbonell: They just don’t like me! No, I’m kidding – They’re great and I’m sure if I would have asked for it I trust they would have given it to me.
Cusick: I think in Act 11 there is a secret scene that no one got. Only the people who are in it, but nobody knows. Everyone is keeping very quiet about it.

When you got the final piece of information to your character, did you “Ah-ha! That was where they were going with it,” or did you never see it coming?
Cusick: We were in the trailer and we just debated and talked. Everyone had an opinion or had a difference of opinion on the script.
Carbonell: I never got the last act and I didn’t ask for it after because I just really want to watch it with America how it ends. I want to be surprised. I was happy with how they specifically with my character and with what I read about they resolved a lot of the dynamics of the characters. They did an amazing job and I’m looking forward to the final resolution. [To Cusick] You know the whole very last scene?
Cusick: Yes.
Carbonell: That’s amazing. Don’t tell me! I don’t want to know.

Was there a question from the show that you had as fans that did get answered?
Cusick: There was a point in the show where I thought I don’t care about the answers anymore. I knew what I wanted from the ending and what I wanted the message to be. I like this thing of it coming from a place of love and coming from a place of no fear. All of a sudden it just seemed a lot bigger. Small questions, I just thought “I don’t care anymore. I don’t care why I can see the future.” It didn’t matter. It just seemed to be bigger than that.

Carbonell: I’m with you. The issue of love is sort of at the heart of every one of our characters. Yours in Penny and mine is the angst over the loss of my wife. The one central theme is that love is at play in every one of our lives and it’s ripped us apart in some fashion. I think that’s fully addressed in the finale. I think a lot of those dynamics will be addressed and I think for me that will be the most satisfying.

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And a blurb on CNN.com:

Dishing the dirt with the stars of ABC and Disney!

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New interview for Crave Onlline!

TV Guide Magazine LOST Cover – and interview