The Tail Section

Jorge Garcia: No, we start August 7th. That’s the official day back at work.

Q: Have you seen the script?

Daniel Dae Kim: No.

Q: So, can you tell us what’s going to happen all season?

Daniel Dae Kim: From the script we made up? We know nothing about what’s going to happen.

Jorge Garcia: Daniel knows a little bit more than I do.

Daniel Dae Kim: Which is to say nothing.

Q: How much time do you guys spend speculating about the storylines, like the fans do?

Jorge Garcia: We did early on in the show, but it’s kind of died down a bit. Although Daniel and I, we kind of like to go looking around on the internet, and see what people are speculating about. We do share information. Like Daniel turned me on to the podcasts that are going on, and so we tend to listen to those pretty regularly and find out what are the things on the show that people jump on and get excited about.

Q: Have you guys done The [online] Lost Experience?

Daniel Dae Kim: I haven’t. I hear it’s pretty extensive though. I’ve heard some little tidbits about things that people have found, but that’s about it. It’s just too deep!

Jorge Garcia: We’re doing a little part of it today though, apparently. It’s something that you’ll have to wait and see… There’s a thing at the panel, and there’s also a clue at that moment right after the panel. Something along the lines of Hanso. I don’t know exactly what The Lost Experience is right now. Like, I was kind of watching it, early on, and just seeing the site changes and stuff like that. As to what’s been going on lately, I’m not totally positive.

Daniel Dae Kim: [Pointing at Garcia's wrist] But this wristband has something to do with it.

Jorge Garcia: The only thing is, they’re all different. So the people have to gather the information that they get from all of them. And there’s a surprise planned.

[Editor's Note: Garcia was wearing a tan wristband with an odd design on it, though I'm afraid I had no idea what it signified. The surprise he spoke of was the interruption during the Comic-Con Lost panel by "Rachel Blake," a character from The Lost Experience]

Q: There are people who lined up here to see you at 7:00 am. Would you have ever done that for a television show or for anything?

Daniel Dae Kim: I know that for me, I saw all three Lord of the Rings movies on opening day, and I never see movies no opening day, because I’m not a big fan of crowds. So that was a pretty big deal. And I think that I’ve seen almost ever episode of Star Trek, the original series, at least three or four times.

Daniel Dae Kim: I make suggestions about Jorge’s character. But no one else’s, really.

Jorge Garcia: That explains a lot! Like, I had to speak in Korean.

Daniel Dae Kim: Exactly!

Jorge Garcia: Yeah, I just kind of like to let them do their part, and I do my part. I just let the stories unravel in front of me. So far I think they’ve written Hurley really well… So if it ain’t broke, I just let them do their thing.

Q: Why do you think The Others let Hurley go?

Jorge Garcia: I don’t know, because it’s funny; at first the big question was, "Why did The Others want Hurley? I don’t understand what they want with Hurley!" And then they let him go, and everyone goes, "Why did they let him go?!" And so, I guess they didn’t want him. I only have the information you guys have, but they wanted him to go back and tell the survivors that they can’t come over here. My only concern is, I hope Hurley makes it back to camp, because he doesn’t know how he got where he is! He had that burlap sack over his head.

Q: Daniel, as a big Star Trek fan, with J.J. [Abrams] working on the new Star Trek movie, are you going to hit him up for a part?

Daniel Dae Kim: No, but I’ve already given him advice; I gave one of producers some friendly advice, but that’s about it.

Jorge Garcia: Oh, like, "Don’t blow it!"?

Daniel Dae Kim: No, what I said to him was "You gotta make sure the ships are cool." Because to me, that’s what it was all about. I used to have models of the Enterprise, I used to make models of the Enterprise, so I said to make sure, if you’re going to do all those kind of effects, make sure the Enterprise doesn’t look like it’s made of paper mache. You know, when it explodes, and stuff like that.

Q: Greg Grunberg says he wants to be a Klingon.

Daniel Dae Kim: That’s a cool thing.

Jorge Garcia: ‘Cause you can hide in Klingon makeup. That’s a great idea, so it’s not like, "Oh, and the guy from Lost is there!" It’s not like that.

Daniel Dae Kim: Let’s both do Star Trek!

Jorge Garcia: Yeah, let’s just be like random, like… Maybe they’ll have the cool Star Wars style cantina scene.

Daniel Dae Kim: Exactly!

Jorge Garcia: They pan across and it’s like I was the guy with the pointy ears and the snout, and you were the guy with the scales.

Q: Are their any secrets to your characters we haven’t found out yet? More backstory to unfold?

Jorge Garcia: I assume so.

Daniel Dae Kim: I’m guessing yes, but I don’t know of anything specific.

Q: When you were hired, how much backstory were you given?

Daniel Dae Kim: I knew a little but, but just ’cause J.J. and Damon [Lindelof] and I, and Yunjin [Kim], sat down and had a conversation, because I’m part of a couple, which was unique on the show. And so, we just needed to know a little about our relationship, so I think that’s why we knew a little bit.

Q: Do you think that eventually you’ll be able to magically speak English on the show? Maybe you find something in a hatch and…?

Daniel Dae Kim: Well, if Jorge can speak Korean… I guess…

Jorge Garcia: I don’t think of how magic it is; I think eventually, out of necessity, the language gets learned.

Daniel Dae Kim: Yeah, I would love for Jin to learn some English and be able to communicate on a deeper level then grunts.

Jorge Garcia: It might be a quick learning curve, ’cause it’s television.

Q: How do you feel about them breaking the season up [into a block of six episodes and a block of 16]?

Daniel Dae Kim: I think it’s great. I think repeats were a big part of viewers frustration last year and for everyone to know exactly what the schedule is going to be is good for the continuity of the show, and for the ratings. And I think it’s nice to have the idea of a mini-cliffhanger at the end of the [first] six.

Q: What do you think of Sun’s pregnancy? Because of the timeline of the show, it seems like she’d be giving birth around season 8.

Daniel Dae Kim: [Laughs] Right, right. Convenient for her, for Yunjin. She doesn’t have to wear a belly pad for too long; that’s a good thing!

Jorge Garcia: It’s not construction, but there are some days that are more miserable than others, I must say. When Dan and I did the Hurley stepping on the sea urchin scene…

Daniel Dae Kim: Oh, right!

Jorge Garcia: That was two days, and we were exhausted at the end. It was like him trying to carry me, and all that stuff… That was definitely a day we felt we earned our pay.

Daniel Dae Kim: Was that the moray eel day, too?

Jorge Garcia: Yeah, the first day got cancelled. Because Jin is such a good fisherman, they put real fish in his net, so he would just kind of pull out a giant net full of fish. And a couple moray eels caught the smell of it and started swimming where we were. So we had to stop shooting that day, because we couldn’t get in the water with the eels, because they’ll bite.

Daniel Dae Kim: Moray eels teeth go inward, so when they bite into something, it angles in, so you can’t pull them off. I’m told that’s pretty painful!

Q: Are you looking forward to going back to Hawaii? When do you leave?

Jorge Garcia: I was in Hawaii yesterday; I just came in from Hawaii. But I am looking forward to going back. I enjoy Hawaii very much.

Daniel Dae Kim: I consider Hawaii home now. I’ve been away all summer and I’ll be heading back Monday. I’m looking forward to it.

Q: Did you guys do any projects over your hiatus?

Daniel Dae Kim: You did one, right?

Jorge Garcia: Yeah, I did one called Deck the Halls. It’s kind of a Christmas family comedy, with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick.

Q: The fans are so passionate about the show. Do they ever come up to you and ask you questions or tell you what they think everything means?

Daniel Dae Kim: Not when I’m with Jorge!

Jorge Garcia: I’m Daniel’s diversion when we’re out. He can become completely invisible when he’s hanging out with me, because I stick out like crazy.

Q: Jorge, you’ve become one of the sex symbols on the show. How do you feel about that?

Jorge Garcia: Hey, you know… if that’s what you’re in to!

So are you competing against each other for the People’s 50 Sexiest List?

Jorge Garcia: Well he already made it.

Daniel Dae Kim: You know, it’s different strokes for different folks, I think.

Q: Do you worry that the show is so popular and expectations are so high now, that nothing you do can live up to expectations?

Jorge Garcia: It doesn’t concern me. I think our writers are very strong. The creativity of Damon [Lindelof], Carlton [Cuse]… They hit a wall, they’ll just climb up the wall and do stuff on the ceiling!

Daniel Dae Kim: I always want the show to be as good as it can be, but I agree with Jorge that we’re in good hands.

[Everyone at the table laughed, as Daniel looked over at the approaching producers -- Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse and Bryan Burk -- as he said the above]

Jorge Garcia: [To producers] We’ve been kissing your ass over here!