Daniel Dae Kim Interview
You finally get to speak English, but it's all medical jargon!
“I know. But as long as it's English, I don't mind.”
What do you get to say?
“Wow, I get to talk about Bucky Balls and I talk about Buckminster Fuller and his theories about quantum physics.”
Did you actually learn it, or just memorize it?
“Oh no, for me to do it properly, I had to learn the theory. Otherwise it feels false coming out of my mouth.”
Is it easier or harder than learning Korean?
“Easier. I would say easier. They each have their challenges, but it's easier.”
Did you read the original book to find out more?
“I did. I started there for the research on the character. I wanted to get a feel for the tone that the author intended, and I thought it helped with the performance.”
And the original movie?
“No, actually, I have not seen that movie.”
Interesting, your costars saw the movie but didn't read it.
“Oh really? The way I felt about it was we were adapting the original source material, so to see another adaptation, it's kind of like seeing a version of Shakespeare. You read the script of Shakespeare, but you don't have to see everything to do your take.”
Are you used to all the special effects? The green screen must have been different than Lost.
“Yeah, it's great to be able to work in a controlled environment because on Lost we're always outdoors, we're always in the sun, we're always subject to the weather. Here it was all in the studio, nice and climate controlled, all the lighting set, so it was a nice switch.”
When did you shoot this, just during some off episodes?
“Between seasons three and four.”
How blown was your mind by the flashback within a flash forward?
“I thought it was, when the flash forwards first started, I was really excited because I thought it kind of injected a new energy into the show. So I guess it was inevitable that they would start combining the flashbacks and the flash forwards. I think it's great. There aren't many shows right now where in the fourth year of its run where you're actually still questioning the narrative style. That speaks a lot for the creativity of the writers.”
How does it feel to be working up to something tragic?
“I don't know. It's an interesting phenomenon, to know the end point. But the thing is we don't necessarily know the endpoint. We don't know how he dies. We don't know when he dies. We don't know if he dies. So there are still so many questions.”
You think he just stayed on the island?
“It's possible.”
How much longer are you still in Hawaii?
“I actually just wrapped for the season, so I'll be free for a little while.”
Any big developments on the finale?
“Yeah, there are some really big developments. There's kind of a doozy of a development, actually.”
Additional Andromeda Strain Interviews: Christa Miller & Bill Lawrence / Viola Davis / Eric McCormack
