News New book details toxic work environment in the LOST writers' room and on set

[theenglish]

The one thing I do find was unnecessary about this article... saying the firing of Michelle Rodriguez was done without having 'any sympathy or empathy'. A bunch of speeding tickets (many where she was going 25-30 mph, or even more, over the limit), drunk driving, hit and run... what the hell is there is to feel empathy or sympathy for? That's reckless and dangerous driving and behavior. Her being fired... she had it coming. You do irresponsible, dangerous things like that, you receive consequences. Just letting that go simply enables more of that behavior.

There were a few news items that came out before she was let go, so it was no surprise. She was a rising star back then and had a bit of RDJ syndrome (no sympathy for him either when he was let go on Ally McBeal).

Daniel Dae Kim had been arrested for drunk driving in 2007. Unlike Rodriguez and Watros, he managed to remain with "LOST" until the end.

But Rodriguez' situation was repeated and there were other things going on with her. I can't remember the details right now, but I'm pretty sure that not only was she making mistakes off the set there were also problems on the set.

 

[JD]

Except, as detailed by the excerpt, it appears that all of that "going out of the way to be as diverse as possible" was surface level only. Perrineau joined the cast with the expectation that everyone would have equal focus but the show progressed to focusing on only the white leads (...and let's not forget about the treatment of Nikki and Paolo). He also had concerns regarding the depiction of Black fathers and they were mostly ignored (aside from Michael's weak reaction to Walt's kidnapping initially).

Monica Owusu-Breen (I think it was her) talked extensively how characters like Sayid, Sun, and Jin were mostly secondary characters while Javier Grillo-Marxuach talked about his legitimate disgust at the main Latinx character was constantly on the receiving end of fat jokes, no matter how "well-intended" they were.

I was thinking that they kept the focus spread through evenly, but thinking about it more, I guess they did kind shove the non-white characters into the background after a while.

The Vanity Fair article goes into much more details about both of them and Cuse comes off really bad.

Yikes.

 

[Dee1891]

There were a few news items that came out before she was let go, so it was no surprise. She was a rising star back then and had a bit of RDJ syndrome (no sympathy for him either when he was let go on Ally McBeal).



But Rodriguez' situation was repeated and there were other things going on with her. I can't remember the details right now, but I'm pretty sure that not only was she making mistakes off the set there were also problems on the set.

The only real issues I heard about Rodriguez was the sinus problems she had endured, while filming in Hawaii. If you're referring to diva behavior, I haven't heard of any such thing, except through gossip articles. And didn't she only sign up for one season? What was the real excuse for Watros?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Rodriguez's bad driving record and especially the DUI were well-known at the time, with the latter being why she was removed from the show.

I don't think there has ever been clarity on why Waitrose departed, but at least she returned for several guest appearances. I remember there had been some speculation at the time as to why but I don't recall any details.

That said, Perrinaeu also returned despite his obvious issues, while Rodriguez and Akinnuoye-Agbaje never did, which stood out in the final season. Perrinaeu's absence from the series finale also stood out (especially since he appeared earlier in the season).

That's a long way of saying we don't know all of the issues that happened behind the scenes, even if some are more obvious than others.

 

[FPAlpha]

Never saw the show and don't even wanna start but all these allegations coming up more than a decade after the show went off the air isn't going to do any one any good.
These stories of toxicity should have been tackled with at the start, like they do nowadays.

Hollywood has changed quite a bit in those years but the power imbalance between studios and actors is still quite huge. Unless you are an A Lister and have the power to get projects made like Tom Cruise and ages ago Will Smith for example you are at the mercy of the studio and the system as a whole. Even if you are in the right it is hard to prove and even if you can prove it and take them to court and win chances are you truly will not work in this town again because to the studios and Hollywood you have shown to be "problematic" and problematic may endanger profits which is ultimately the main point of movies ( if you thought it's the art you are quite naive).

So actors and everybody else keep their mouth shut while they want to work there and instances of people speaking out while working are few and far between and most don't lead to positive outcomes for the actors. Remember the feud between Ray Fisher and Warner Brothers? Check his IMDB page - not too many projects lined up after Justice League, his career is dead in the water.

This is the reason why it takes so long for dirt to usually come up - it's mostly when people are so fed up in the industry they want to burn down every bridge and leave the movie business so they have nothing to lose. Even A Listers are very careful about starting a fight because while they bring in the money the studios might think long term and just cut that super expensive star and look for new talent who will work for 10-20% of the A listers demands.

 

[Farscape One]

Rodriguez did appear in the finale, but it was more a cameo than anything else.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh, wow, I completely forgotten that.

Actually, according to IMDb she didn't appear in the finale but did appear in the final season (also the fifth!).

Clearly a rewatch is in order.

 

[Farscape One]

Oh, wow, I completely forgotten that.

Actually, according to IMDb she didn't appear in the finale but did appear in the final season (also the fifth!).

Clearly a rewatch is in order.

It might have been the next to last episode. She definitely was there in a scene with, if memory serves me, Desmond and Hugo.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I have to make corrections regarding my previous statements about Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros. According to Lostpedia, Rodriguez reportedly said on Good Morning, America that her her DUI wasn't the reason why Ana-Lucia was killed off and that her original contract stated Ana-Lucia would die towards the end of the season, which Lindelof and Cuse reportedly backed up in the Two for the Road podcast. I say reportedly because the Lostpedia article doesn't include any links to those claims.

Additionally, and I had completely forgotten this until I looked it up, Watros also had a DUI at the same time as Rodriguez, which is why it was so heavily believed they were both fired for DUIs at the time and why that thought persists today. Neither Lostpedia nor Wikipedia offer any explanations for Watros' departure, so it's entirely possible she had a similar contract as Rodrigeuz reportedly did.

That all said, it was a hell of a coincidence that they both had DUIs (and on the same night) and then were both killed in the same scene, leading to so much speculation that their deaths were retribution.

Which brings us back to this excerpt. I looked back at the reference to Rodriguez and it's only two sentences and cites only Gretchen, a name Ryan created to protect the source (she did that with at least three people in the excerpt). It is odd that Ryan would bring it up with only one source and without any comment from Lindelof and Cuse. That makes me thing, again, that perhaps there might be more about Rodriguez in the full chapter. That or this one instance was sloppy journalism an Ryan's part.

It might have been the next to last episode. She definitely was there in a scene with, if memory serves me, Desmond and Hugo.

Yup, she was in "What They Died For," as well as the second episode of the fifth season, "The Lie" (also with Hugo).

 

[Dee1891]

Rodriguez's bad driving record and especially the DUI were well-known at the time, with the latter being why she was removed from the show.

I don't think there has ever been clarity on why Waitrose departed, but at least she returned for several guest appearances. I remember there had been some speculation at the time as to why but I don't recall any details.

That said, Perrinaeu also returned despite his obvious issues, while Rodriguez and Akinnuoye-Agbaje never did, which stood out in the final season. Perrinaeu's absence from the series finale also stood out (especially since he appeared earlier in the season).

That's a long way of saying we don't know all of the issues that happened behind the scenes, even if some are more obvious than others.

Rodriguez had returned for cameo appearances in the early Season Five episode, (5.02) "The Lie" and the late Season Six episode, (6.16) "What They Died For". Also, either ABC or the showrunners had claimed that Rodriguez had signed up for only one season. So, which is the real truth regarding Rodriguez? The DUI or the one-season contract? And why was she and Watros fired over DUIs and not Dae Kim? Why did Watros leave the series?

I've always had issues and doubts about the showrunners of "LOST", ever since late Season Two. And now my suspicions have further deepened.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yes, see my follow-up post just above yours.

As for Daniel Dae-Kim, I always forget about that incident.

 

[the G-man]

At this point, can there be any doubt Hollywood's always been a toxic environment, from Jack Warner to Roman Polanski to Harvey Weinstein to Bryan Singer to (fill in the blank)?

 

[Dee1891]

Now that there have been revelations about the "Buffy" and "Angel" series, along with "Lost", I can only wonder what will be the next TV series or franchise to face this kind of revelation.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

At this point, can there be any doubt Hollywood's always been a toxic environment, from Jack Warner to Roman Polanski to Harvey Weinstein to Bryan Singer to (fill in the blank)?

If it's "Hollywood," then it's really everywhere there's power and money, especially when there's similar oversight.

It's why turning the light on these things is so important, even when they're decade(s) in the past.

 

[JD]

The same book with the Lost stories, also has some similar stories from Sleepy Hollow.
The big thing is apparently both Tom Mison and Nicole Beharies struggled at first with being the leads of a show for the first time, all of Mison behavior was quickly forgiven, while Beharie was declared "difficult". Appanently were pretty bad for the show's black writers, including an incident where one of the writers wanted to talk to Nicole Beharie, but the show's creator Clifton Campbell refused to let her because Beharie was "crazy". There was also apparently an incident where the all white staff were discussing whether or not Nicole Beharie's hair was "cute", looked "good" or was "professional".
Of course Campbell pretty much denies all of this.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I saw mention of the Sleepy Hollow issues in the author's tweets a few days ago (the same ones that informed that the LOST excerpt isn't the entire chapter) and at the time, I thought she was referring to the Tim Burton film. While I'm relieved it wasn't that production, I'm saddened and disgusted Nicole Beharies dealt with all of that shit on the show.

 

[Tosk]

From at least Fatty Arbuckle on, whether or not he predates Jack Warner.

Roscoe Arbuckle was exonerated. The claim gets remembered, but not the acquittal.

 

[Starbreaker]

I think they had major trouble integrating the tail section into the show narratively. The episodes with the "tailies" was some of the show's best work, but once they got the two casts together, they just started killing everyone but Bernard.

 

[The Wormhole]

Sleepy Hollow was a Roberto Orci show, and with Damon Lindelof's actions on Lost also discussed in this book, this isn't exactly painting a very flattering picture of JJ Abrams's inner circle.