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Rodrigo Santoro on His Knowledge of the Battle of Thermopylae: “Well, I'd heard before when I was in school. I always loved history so it was something that I was aware of, but I went researching in the great historian book, Herodotus, which was the best source. There was a lot there, actually, about the battle, and there was a lot about Xerxes. He's very controversial, Xerxes, according to Herodotus.
There is a piece of information there that I found very interesting. It actually helped me with the character, because he says that Xerxes' father has more — I think two more sons, and the power could have been passed to any of them. For some reason, it went to Xerxes. He doesn't explain and he thinks it's very controversial. And there is a sculpture in the Palace of Persephone of Xerxes in front of his father's sculpture with an inscription saying that he was his father's choice. He wanted to make sure that everybody knew he was meant to be the king. That kind of made me think that underneath he was very insecure. He was very scared of everything. It helped me [understand] this Frank Miller vision that he is this god king, and I think he put out this figure in order to protect a lot of insecurity and a lot of stuff underneath.”
Hollywood and Fame: Santoro’s very well known in Brazil but is he prepared for Hollywood? “Well, I don't know man. I always think about what I'm doing right now, so if I start to think about everything, it's just too overwhelming. I never make a choice thinking about the results. I'm never going to take a role or a project thinking where, ‘What this could bring me?’ or something like that because you've got no control about anything, actually. I just do the work, get the material and try to make my choices based on my instinct, what I feel. And the rest is like really a consequence that you have to deal with. So, I don't know. I'm not thinking about that. What I'm thinking is that I hope - like this work right now with this movie - I hope that people are going to go and watch it. Most of all I really hope that it's not just for people who are into graphic novels. I think it's a very original, interesting, unique piece and it could be a great ride for any viewer.”
Joining the Cast of Lost: “It's great, man. Lost is another unique experience, just like this one. You literally don't know what's going on, so there's no control. Actually, it's hard to build a character like that. So it basically puts an actor in a position where you just have to live the moment once you get the script, which is not long before you start shooting. You've just got to go from there and be in the moment. It's this kind of ‘lost’ feeling, actually. You feel like you're a little like, ‘What's going on?’ You don't know. And I think that's the beauty of this experience.”
Santoro Can Keep a Secret: Asked if his Lost character is going to get a flashback, Santoro responded, “Yes. I can't say a word, man. If I say it, we'll all have to kill you.” Santoro’s sworn to secrecy. “I can't say anything. I tell his name - Paulo. I don't know a lot about my character at all.”
Getting Hooked Up with Lost: “I met one of the producers on the show for Alias two years ago. I was shooting something in Brazil and I could not do this. He offered me a guest star or something on Alias, and they brought up my name when he joined the Lost show. And then I had two meetings with everybody - J.J. [Abrams], all of them, and it was from there.”
Santoro was familiar with Lost before being hired to join the show. “Yeah. I was working in Brazil on and off so I didn't have a lot of [time]. I wasn't following anything, but I heard of it. But Lost is, even in Brazil, it's huge. Everybody's aware all over the world, so I watched a couple of episodes. I wasn't following it. But when I got the role, they sent me seasons one and two and I watched everything in a row, like a long feature film. It was really cool.”
Hanging Out on the Lost Set: “Well, I have a couple of friends there. Ian Cusick is someone…we play soccer together. He's a nice Scottish friend, he loves soccer and we play soccer on Sundays.”
Paolo’s Place in the Land of Lost: Will we see more of Paolo next season? “Who knows? I'm not saying anything,” replied Santoro. “If we knew more, we cannot say because that's part of the whole mystery of this show. But we do not know a lot of information at all. We have very little. Any actor, any character in the show, will tell you the same thing. We have very little information. That's part of the experience.”
Filling His Free Time During Lost’s Hiatus: “There are projects in Brazil and projects here in the States that I'm considering. I just don't know exactly and am trying to find one that I think's going to be right and interesting to do. It's very difficult after something like 300, which I found very interesting. It's difficult to find a part like that. But, you know, it's looking and seeing what could be right.”
