I overslept! she said as she entered the room and greeted
her most devoted fans. Sayid or Jack wouldn’t have recognized her.
She was smartly dressed without the bullets and arrows and the patched
clothing. She said she was tired, but after a short while, the coffee
appeared to be working its magic. She appeared relaxed and very beautiful.
She made several comments about the great coffee. She knew the show was
called Set Secrets and Funny Stories, but she indicated that she
was ready for questions from the audience.
One of the first questions was Have you ever read a
script and been totally surprised at something your character was
going to do?
Stealing the baby! she replied. That was a surprise to her.
She hadn’t seen that one coming at all.
She told us about the porter carrying her luggage who recognized her and
said Oh – you’re the French chick! She laughed while telling
us and said to us What kind of way is that to talk to a lady?
Someone asked if she knew the other actors very well and she
told us that it was just a job. For a while, she seemed to adopt a small hint
of the dark attitude we have seen with her character. I don’t remember exactly
what she said because I had stopped taking notes. She did say that she enjoyed solitude
and wished that there was more time enjoy such things.
At another point, she told us of the conditions in the country from which she came -
that her father once spent time in Tito’s concentration camp. He was in many prisons and
once spent 200 days in solitary. He also went off to fight the Germans at age 20.
She was very grateful that her father had chosen to write about his experiences.
Much later, when asked which actor she would most like to do a scene with,
she quickly replied Terry O’Quinn! It was the age thing, she went on to say.
O’Quinn had the sort of experience that allowed him to act in a way that seemed effortless.
Speaking of actors in general, she said that she thought many young actors
tried too hard.
Editor’s note: Is this the reason she slammed Claire in the face
with a rifle butt?
CLAIRE (overacting): I have to give him to them so he’ll be safe, okay. Help! I’m here! Ethan!!
WHAMMO!
She said she played everything when she was 25 and says she can not watch
those movies now.
We also learned that she likes her role as Danielle Rousseau. She
likes the toughness of the character – toughness from pain. She likes
the explosiveness and the wild aspect of the character, but she
goes on to say that her character has a gentleness inside. When asked if she would
like to be a regular weekly character on LOST, she replied that she would like to do
more as Danielle.
Other questions involved where Mira considered home since
she grew up in Croatia, but now lives in Los Angeles. What locations would she like
to visit? With which language is she most comfortable?
Mira answered to laughter that Hawaii is not bad! Regarding
the question of where is home? Home is house. and
Home is where your books are. She considers Los Angeles her home, although
she has a fear of freeways and doesn’t like switching lanes at 60 mph. English, she explains,
is now her language. She would like to go to Africa. She has been to Algeria, but considers
it much different from the rest of Africa. She also remarked that there are no curtains
in Scandinavia! She has also written screenplays and noted that her writing was more
disciplined and concise when she began writing in a less familiar language.
I was determined to ask a question and after staying up all night to travel to Dragon*Con,
I finally managed to blurt out: Who’s your favorite LOST writer?
She was a little surprised, so maybe it was a new question. She said that David Fury
had written an episode that featured her character very much and also mentioned that he was no
longer with the writing crew. I replied that Fury had written my favorite episode:
Walkabout and she asked me to refresh her memory on that episode. I explained that it was
the episode where we found out that Locke had been in a wheelchair . She also said that
Damon Lindelof, of course, was the heart of the show and she also liked Carlton Cuse.
Immediately, I thought of the regular ABC podcast with Lindelof and Cuse, so I mentioned
that I listened to the podcast. This, of course, made no sense to anyone not actually reading my mind,
so at that moment she actually gave me the famous confused French Lady look. I explained
that Cuse and Lindelof had a podcast on the ABC web site and someone else explained that
a podcast was like a radio show on the net. Note to ABC: please feature an interview with
Mira Furlan on an upcoming podcast. It will be great!
She was also asked about deleted scenes that she wished had been included.
Apparently, there was a deleted scene where she acquired some new shiny boots from the
wreckage. The scene was deleted and she later appeared wearing the new shiny boots
with no explanation. She was worried that people would notice, but was relieved to learn
that none of us had questioned the new boots. There was also a deleted scene of Danielle
eating a raw egg. There were seven takes and she ate seven raw eggs! Now we know
why she considers acting to be just a job.
