Liz OhanesianWill Lost be the next Star Trek, a show to spark decades of obsession whether or not it's currently on the air? Eric Nakamura, publisher and editor of the influential Asian and Asian-American pop culture magazine, Giant Robot, posed this scenario Saturday night inside the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo as he interviewed Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin-Soo Kwon on the popular television show.
“Comic-Con in thirty years is going to be Lost Fest,” he said. Nakamura followed this with a laugh, but, as anyone who has been to San Diego Comic-Con in recent years and seen the amount of Lost goods in the exhibit hall can tell you, there's some truth to the humor. For six seasons, Lost has been a pop culture cornerstone. Even if you don't watch the show, you will recognize a few of the characters. With the series set to end in less than two weeks, it seemed fitting that Kim would be the subject of the inaugural Legacy Series event. Produced by CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), the Legacy Series features live interviews with Hollywood movers and shakers.
The event was set up in a style similar to Inside the Actor's Studio with Nakamura interviewing Kim live and then opening up the session for questions from the audience. Much of the conversation revolved around Kim's work on Lost. Kim discussed the process involved in playing a character who speaks Korean.
“We had to do the translations and make it colloquial enough,” he explained.
Giant Robot's Eric Nakamura interviewing Lost star Daniel Dae Kim; Credit: © Courtesy of the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. 2010. www.cape-usa.org. Photographer: W.W.K. Tom.
He also let the audience in on a few tricks of creating the Lost world. For example, the sea urchins that he offered fellow castaways were actually peach slices.
Kim also revealed some information about Hawaii Five-O. The actor will be playing Chin Ho Kelly in the remake of the long-running detective series. Len Wiseman, who directed the first two Underworld films, is set to direct the series.
“It's been modernized,” said Kim of the show, which was picked up by CBS today. “It's bigger.” He adds, though, that the Hawaii Five-O remake is still “reverent to the old show.”
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