Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

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David3
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Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

Post by David3 »

I think he has a point. Seeing how his storyline played out this season, I thought it was kind of a waste and pointless. Ben's man could have been anybody and accomplished the same thing. The show basically brought him back joping for a ratings boost. After the episode, I thought maybe he survived somehow, because ending his this story arc there was stupid and pointless, but obviously after reading the interview, he is dead. You would have thought the at least Hurley would have had the decency to tell Walt that his dad died saving him and the rest of the Oceanic 6.


TV Guide: Did you know Michael was being killed off when you returned?
Harold Perrineau: I had no idea. It's like, what the hell? I came back for that?

TV Guide: You're laughing as you say that, but you don't sound particularly pleased.
Perrineau: I'm disappointed, mostly because I wanted Michael and Walt to have a happy ending. I was hoping Michael would get it together and actually want to be a father to his kid and try to figure out a way to get back [home]. But this is [the producers'] story. If I were writing it, I would write it differently.

TV Guide:: So when did you get the news?
Perrineau: [Lindelof and fellow executive producer Carlton Cuse] called before the finale scripts were out. They said they weren't going to continue with Michael.

TV Guide:: And what did you say to that?
Perrineau: At this point, I've been on the island, off the island, back on the island — so I just went, "Oh, ok." [Laughs] This is their show and they know what they can or cannot write. I thought it was disappointing and a waste to come back, only to get beat up a few times and then killed. I felt like it was sort of pandering to some fans who wanted to see Michael punished because he betrayed people.

TV Guide: Are you referring to when he shot and killed Ana Lucia and Libby in Season 2?
Perrineau: Exactly. I honestly feel like Michael's death served a really weird bloodlust for the fans.

TV Guide: Were you disappointed Michael and Walt didn't reconnect before your character died?
Perrineau: Listen, if I'm being really candid, there are all these questions about how they respond to black people on the show. Sayid gets to meet Nadia again, and Desmond and Penny hook up again, but a little black boy and his father hooking up, that wasn't interesting? Instead, Walt just winds up being another fatherless child. It plays into a really big, weird stereotype and, being a black person myself, that wasn't so interesting. [Responds Cuse: "We pride ourselves on having a very racially diverse cast. It's painful when any actor's storyline ends on the show. Harold is a fantastic actor whose presence added enormously to Lost."]

TV Guide: Take me back to your last day of shooting.
Perrineau: My last day was kind of hectic. [Production] was trying to get me out because, at the time, my wife was a centimeter dilated.

TV Guide: Was she in labor at the hospital when you got back to L.A.?
Perrineau: No, I got home and then for another week, the baby would not come! We were like, "Seriously, dude, I was in Hawaii rushing like a madman!” I was talking to the baby, my wife was walking around, practically hiking, but the baby just would not come out! [Laughs] So we went to the hospital a week later and induced. A beautiful little girl came on May 7. Wynter Aria — I thought it was a nice name. It's poetic, and she's a little poetry in our life.

TV Guide: Let's talk highlights. Surely, you had some positive experiences on Lost.
Perrineau: Doing the job in Hawaii was cool. Getting to meet and work with [co-creator] JJ Abrams was very cool. The day we found out the show [premiered] so well [in 2004] was an amazing day. We were all so hopeful and excited. The first season was one of my best years as a working actor. Not to say there weren't tough times, but I loved the first season. And that one of my best friends, Dan [Dae Kim, who plays Jin], and I got to do pretty much the whole finale together.

TV Guide: Dead characters have a way of returning to the show. Would you be open to that?
Perrineau: I'd love to go back and work with people I really like working with, but I would have to know what was happening [story-wise] before I showed up again. Because this [last] storyline, I full-on feel, "No, that's not cool.'"

TV Guide: What's next for you?
Perrineau: This movie I did with Stephen Dorff called Felon is probably coming out at the end of the summer. And I'm in talks for a couple different films.

TV Guide: Any final thoughts?
Perrineau: Just that I hope the show continues to thrill people. I'm sorry to have to go, but I'll see you in another incarnation. I'll re-create myself because that's what I do. That part of leaving is pretty cool.

Jen
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Re: Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

Post by Jen »

The concern over the presence of people of color and women in the media and what roles they serve to reinforce, explicitly or implicitly, is a discussion that needs to always be open. That said, I think that Lost does an amazing job of presenting Michael as a man who is basically the opposite of the stereotypical black man estranged from his son. First of all, Michael is an artist, which you never see in TV or movies, and he has a pretty thorough knowledge of engineering. His wife, also black, though I can hear the rebuttals now about the fact that she is light skinned, with 'european features', and ends up marrying a white man, was a high-power corporate lawyer.
Michael fought hard to keep custody of Walt and his initial loss nearly ruined him. Then he went to extreme lengths to protect and save him. His death last night was to redeem himself. He died a hero, and who could have expected that after s2? There can be no happily-ever-after for Michael and Walt bc of what Walt knows Michael did. The closest thing to a happily-ever-after, which I imagine will come, is the closure of Walt finding out that in the end his father died somewhat heroically.
I think Michael, Walt, and Eko have been some of the most compelling characters in the story and Rose not only got a happy ending (for now at least), she got a miracle.
Though not perfect, Lost is an exception to a very real Hollywood rule.

Jen
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Re: Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

Post by Jen »

PS 'Wynter Aria' is not poetic. It is stupid. I should know bc I am both a poet and stupid.

TheRadioTower
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Re: Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

Post by TheRadioTower »

To be fair this did seem like a natural for his story. I would have like more Michael interaction with some other losties but this was probably on of the things that was the victim of the strike. Other then that Michael's story is pretty much wrapped up. Now that it looks like Miles and Charlotte and probably Daniel are going to be regulars next season not having Michael frees up some screentime. They brought back Michael to conclude his storyline and that's what they did.

TheRadioTower
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Re: Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

Post by TheRadioTower »

Thinking about this a little more, I think the writers may be setting up a long con. I find it odd that Harold Perrineau who is a professional will go out and publicly whine about being killed off. Could it be possible that Darlton deliberately sent him out to act upset to make the audience feel he has been really killed off only to surprise us next season when we see him alive? Last season Battlestar Galactica pulled off something similar when they had they leaked rumors that the actress who plays Starbuck wanted to leave the show that she did not like being on the show.then she was "killed" in one episode, after that she went out doing radio interviews saying how sad she was blah blah blah and 3-4 episodes later in the finale it was revealed that she is not "dead" and she came back. After that the producers said that all this was a long term plan to deceive the fans to make the twist surprising. I think Darlton may be doing something similar especially since they may be upset how this season's Michael reveal turned out be a dud.

David3
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Re: Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

Post by David3 »

TheRadioTower wrote:Thinking about this a little more, I think the writers may be setting up a long con. I find it odd that Harold Perrineau who is a professional will go out and publicly whine about being killed off. Could it be possible that Darlton deliberately sent him out to act upset to make the audience feel he has been really killed off only to surprise us next season when we see him alive? Last season Battlestar Galactica pulled off something similar when they had they leaked rumors that the actress who plays Starbuck wanted to leave the show that she did not like being on the show.then she was "killed" in one episode, after that she went out doing radio interviews saying how sad she was blah blah blah and 3-4 episodes later in the finale it was revealed that she is not "dead" and she came back. After that the producers said that all this was a long term plan to deceive the fans to make the twist surprising. I think Darlton may be doing something similar especially since they may be upset how this season's Michael reveal turned out be a dud.
I considered this as a possibility, but after re-watching the finale. I just don't see anyway for Michael or Jin to be alive. The freighter was outside the area that moved so even if they somehow survived and are in the water, there would be nowhere to go. But, it is wierd that there havent been any interviews with Daniel Dae Kim, so mybe something weird is going on with Jin.

You-Know-Who
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Re: Harold Perrineau is pissed that Michael was killed.

Post by You-Know-Who »

I agree with Harold. Before season 4 started Darlton said that Michael was gonna be a series regular and the hyped his story up as being super-compelling... he appeared in four episodes this season...
Just read these excerpts from transcript of the comicon 07 panal from lostpedia:
CARLTON: Michael's story is for us one of the most becoming storylines on the show because here's a character who obviously, you know, took- undertook some very extreme actions in order to basically get his son off the Island and then when he sailed off in that boat I think everyone was very curious about what happened to him, what is his fate, and in a series that deals a lot with the powers of redemptive on the Island and what these characters need to do to redeem themselves, we really feel that Michael's story will be a really compelling part of the Season.
Sadly I really don't feel that Michael's stroyline WAS a really compelling part of this season, does anybody else? Well let's continue...
DAMON: And, you know, we can confirm that Harold is not coming back for a quick pop in an episode, he is gonna be a series regular, he is rejoining the cast.

(Loud claps)
Really... lets see... He came in for a "quick pop" in "Ji Yeon", then the only other episodes he was in were "Meet Kevin Johnson" "Cabin Fever", and the finale. that's not much of series regular is it?
DAMON: We are- we're not going to tell you when, but it is going to be early in the fourth Season, because I think the way that we're doing it is going to be fairly awesome. (Crowd laughs) So er feel free to direct your questions to Harold.
Early in the fourth season? Now I understand that the strike made the season shorter, but even if there was 16 episodes in season 4 Michael really first appeared in episode 8! That's halfway through the season! Not "early in the fourth season". Michael was only in 3 and a half fucking episodes this season and then he died... Did he get redeemed as a character as Carlton was talking about? Maybe a little, but definitely not enough... I feel your pain Harold...

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