Obviously they’re not afraid to kill off a main character on Lost. Are you worried when you pick up a script that your character Jack might be the next one to go?
“I think that’s always an element it. I don’t worry about it too much. I feel really fortunate to be a part of this project and I do, from an objective point of view, understand that that is an element of the show that’s important. You can’t create this sort of this island in which life is always in the balance and then not, you know, have people perish. I think that’s just part of the show. So yeah, that’s always in the back of my mind, but I don’t dwell on it too much. You know, if that happens to Jack, I really feel… I have an enormous amount of faith in Damon Lindelof and J.J. [Abrams] and Carlton [Cuse] that if that time comes for Jack Shephard it’s because that’s what is meant to happen in the story. I have faith in that they’re on top of that.”
The storyline involving the Others has shifted the focus from the dynamics of the original group of survivors. Do you think the audience misses seeing the familiar group interacting and seeing those relationships develop?
“Well, I understand the audience missing sort of some of those other dynamics. But, you know, the story is dictating right now that we’re sort of looking at the story more from the Others’ perspective than our original survivors’ perspective. I think that's a really amazing thing that the show is doing. I personally, because Jack is now part of those Others as being held in captivity there, you know, I’ve gotten to work with new actors and create completely new relationships and dynamics. That’s been really exciting for me.
It has created some more time off for me because I’m doing all of my work, essentially, in one set. I have, you know, two or three days where I’m working 14-hour days. And then I will have a week of time-off while they’re doing other stories, and that’s been incredibly nice for me. I mean, I worked on two films over my hiatus. I worked six days a week all the way through and so getting back to Lost I was excited, but at the same time getting this much time-off has been a real relief. It’s been nice.”
Do you make a point of not hanging out with the actors who play the Others, just to make the feeling of animosity easier to capture?
“I wouldn’t say that it goes that far. There’s definitely a dynamic. I mean, the stuff that’s happening between Jack and Juliet [played by Elizabeth Mitchell] and Jack and Ben [played by Michael Emerson] and these Others… The relationships that my character has with the Others, I think there’s an understanding between us as actors that there's a certain - on the day that we work - there’s a certain dynamic that we strike. But I’m getting to know them both as people and they’re amazing. I just love them as actors. I’m really excited about working with them all the time and how psychological the work is. I’m really enjoying that stuff.”
Since you have so little time outside of Lost and you’re choosy about your film scripts, what was it that appealed to you about the Vantage Point film?
“Well, Vantage Point was a script that I actually read about a year and a half ago and I met with Pete Travis, the director of that film. That was a movie that I was looking at for my first hiatus, actually, and then something happened where it couldn’t get made then. So when it came back around and it looked like it might fit into my second hiatus, I was really excited. I just think it’s a really, really smart, intense and incredible thriller.
I just feel very strongly about Pete Travis as a director. He directed this movie Omagh, which I think is an incredible film. He and I really, you know, feel eye-to-eye on what needed to happen for that character. It’s a very, very, very different character than what I play in We Are Marshall. It’s a very different movie.”
Fox added, “I felt great about the two projects individually, obviously, and I also felt great about sort of how different they were. It’s a very, very intense character.”
Was Vantage Point more intense than We Are Marshall?
“It’s intense in different ways. I mean, playing Red Dawson was very, very emotional. I mean, it’s not (outwardly) but I had to carry something and carry this weight. And also because I’m playing Red, my friend, there was that added sort of intensely to it. The Vantage Point experience was intense in a different way, and I can’t really talk about that too much. It’ll give it away.”
Do you play a Secret Service agent?
“Yes, I do.”
Did you study at all with actual Secret Service agents?
“Yeah. Pete was really amazing about trying to get us [people to talk to]. Those guys are really reticent to talk about their profession…so getting that opportunity was great. Pete really pushed for that to happen, and then we had some research materials, as well, that we studied. We had people on the set all the time that were sort of consultants to make sure that what we were doing jives with reality.”
