Post by bobdoc on Mar 17, 2009 9:49:20 GMT -4
First from Sci-Fi Wire, at scifiwire.com/2009/03/young-ben-gives-up-a-few.php
Then from the Edmonton Sun, at www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment/Television/2009/03/17/8776446-sun.html
Sterling Beaumon—the 13-year-old actor who played young Ben Linus in the third-season Lost episode "The Man Behind the Curtain"—will kick off a multi-episode arc on the ABC sci-fi series starting with this Wednesday's episode, "Namaste."
SCI FI Wire recently spoke with Beaumon about his Lost experience and his latest episodes. Following are edited excerpts of the exclusive conversation. Lost airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Go back a step. How did they first hire you?
Beaumon: I actually look hardly anything like Michael Emerson [who plays the adult version of Ben], besides the eyes. I guess I do; a lot of people say I do. But what really got it for me was I could cry. I could cry on cue. And in the first episode I did I had to cry in every scene.
When you did that first episode did they tell you the role might be recurring?
Beaumon: They don't tell anyone anything, but everyone said, "Your character is so big, and your first episode is so big, they have to bring you back." Little did I know that after two years they'd bring me back.
We know that Lost has that crazy veil of secrecy over it, but give us a hint as to what you'll be up to in your episodes.
Beaumon: You're going to find out how Ben became the mean, cruel Ben that he is today. And you're going to find out about the roots of the island and how the island became the island. ... In two of the episodes, I'm really not doing a lot, but you just see me a lot, and you'll see what I mean by that.
Do you get a lot of people coming up to you, asking what's going to happen?
Beaumon: Yeah. It's kind of nice, and it's kind of hard. It's nice because the secrecy gets people to watch, because they want to know what's going to happen. And, in a way, it's hard, because you want to tell people what you do, but now I have to wait months to tell people how fun it was to do this or do that [in an episode], or to show people pictures from the set.
Did you go back and watch any of Michael Emerson's performances as Ben in order to help you play a natural extension of the character?
Beaumon: After I did my first episode , we became hooked on Lost, and I watched every single episode. Actually, ["Namaste" director] Jack Bender told me, "You do anything like Michael, and it'll ruin what's coming up." I didn't know what he meant, because I hadn't gotten the next script. And then I [read the next script and thought], "Oh, wow, I see why I can't act like Michael." Because you'll see why Michael starts acting like Ben within these episodes.
What are the chances you'll be back again after these episodes?
Beaumon: Everyone says, "Oh, gosh, you've got to come back again." What I'm hoping is that Annie, supposedly Ben's childhood friend, comes back [in a subsequent episode]. The girl who plays Annie [Madeline Carroll] is actually a close friend of mine.
SCI FI Wire recently spoke with Beaumon about his Lost experience and his latest episodes. Following are edited excerpts of the exclusive conversation. Lost airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Go back a step. How did they first hire you?
Beaumon: I actually look hardly anything like Michael Emerson [who plays the adult version of Ben], besides the eyes. I guess I do; a lot of people say I do. But what really got it for me was I could cry. I could cry on cue. And in the first episode I did I had to cry in every scene.
When you did that first episode did they tell you the role might be recurring?
Beaumon: They don't tell anyone anything, but everyone said, "Your character is so big, and your first episode is so big, they have to bring you back." Little did I know that after two years they'd bring me back.
We know that Lost has that crazy veil of secrecy over it, but give us a hint as to what you'll be up to in your episodes.
Beaumon: You're going to find out how Ben became the mean, cruel Ben that he is today. And you're going to find out about the roots of the island and how the island became the island. ... In two of the episodes, I'm really not doing a lot, but you just see me a lot, and you'll see what I mean by that.
Do you get a lot of people coming up to you, asking what's going to happen?
Beaumon: Yeah. It's kind of nice, and it's kind of hard. It's nice because the secrecy gets people to watch, because they want to know what's going to happen. And, in a way, it's hard, because you want to tell people what you do, but now I have to wait months to tell people how fun it was to do this or do that [in an episode], or to show people pictures from the set.
Did you go back and watch any of Michael Emerson's performances as Ben in order to help you play a natural extension of the character?
Beaumon: After I did my first episode , we became hooked on Lost, and I watched every single episode. Actually, ["Namaste" director] Jack Bender told me, "You do anything like Michael, and it'll ruin what's coming up." I didn't know what he meant, because I hadn't gotten the next script. And then I [read the next script and thought], "Oh, wow, I see why I can't act like Michael." Because you'll see why Michael starts acting like Ben within these episodes.
What are the chances you'll be back again after these episodes?
Beaumon: Everyone says, "Oh, gosh, you've got to come back again." What I'm hoping is that Annie, supposedly Ben's childhood friend, comes back [in a subsequent episode]. The girl who plays Annie [Madeline Carroll] is actually a close friend of mine.
Then from the Edmonton Sun, at www.edmontonsun.com/Entertainment/Television/2009/03/17/8776446-sun.html
The young Ben initially didn't know anything about the adult Ben.
But that was a good thing.
"I'm not supposed to be like Ben yet," said 13-year-old Sterling Beaumon, who plays the young Benjamin Linus in Lost.
"Ben is not Ben yet."
Hmmm, good point.
Lost airs Wednesdays on A and ABC, and starting this week, Beaumon will appear in a string of episodes as the question of "how Ben became Ben" gets answered.
"That's one of the things we're going to find out," Beaumon said.
The adult Ben, of course, is one of the main villains on Lost. He is played in delightfully creepy fashion by Michael Emerson.
And even if the young Ben isn't necessarily supposed to be like the adult Ben yet, there's something about Beaumon's portrayal that brings Emerson's portrayal to mind. It isn't so over-the-top that it's cartoonish, but it's subtle and it's there.
"The first time I did it, everyone kept saying, 'Oh, he's so much like Ben,' " recalled Beaumon, who first played the young Ben in a single Lost episode in 2007. "But I really didn't know how to do Ben."
Chalk it up to astute casting, we suppose.
Beaumon already has a lengthy acting resume. His TV appearances have included spots on ER, Bones, House, Heroes, Cold Case and Scrubs. And later this year, Beaumon's voice will be among the voices propelling the animated feature film Astro Boy (alongside the voices of Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas and Freddie Highmore, among others).
A native of San Diego, Beaumon was a competitive figure skater when he was little more than a toddler. He's still obsessed with ice, but now hockey is his passion.
"My roots are in Canada -- my grandma is from Montreal," said Beaumon, who seemed thrilled to be speaking with a Canadian because of the hockey connection.
"Don't you guys get mad with Detroit saying it's 'Hockey Town?' "
Uh, yeah, actually.
Anyway, when Beaumon first got the call to play young Ben for one episode in Lost's third season, he already had decided he disliked the show. But it didn't have anything to do with the show itself.
"I had never seen Lost, but I hated it, because I was on another show -- it was called In Case of Emergency -- that kept getting pre-empted because of Lost," Beaumon said.
"After I found out I'd be working on Lost, I started to watch it. But I had made it only to the end of the first season by the time I had to go to work on it, and Ben wasn't even in the first season."
Somehow it all worked out, though. The creators of Lost clearly liked Beaumon's work, because now he's back.
Complex shooting schedules being what they are, has Beaumon ever even met Emerson?
"I have met Michael quite a few times now," Beaumon said. "He is one of the nicest guys ever. He is one of the best actors, and he's so educated."
It must have been weird, though, when Beaumon first met the adult version of himself, so to speak.
"Actually," Beaumon said, "I think it was more weird for him."
But that was a good thing.
"I'm not supposed to be like Ben yet," said 13-year-old Sterling Beaumon, who plays the young Benjamin Linus in Lost.
"Ben is not Ben yet."
Hmmm, good point.
Lost airs Wednesdays on A and ABC, and starting this week, Beaumon will appear in a string of episodes as the question of "how Ben became Ben" gets answered.
"That's one of the things we're going to find out," Beaumon said.
The adult Ben, of course, is one of the main villains on Lost. He is played in delightfully creepy fashion by Michael Emerson.
And even if the young Ben isn't necessarily supposed to be like the adult Ben yet, there's something about Beaumon's portrayal that brings Emerson's portrayal to mind. It isn't so over-the-top that it's cartoonish, but it's subtle and it's there.
"The first time I did it, everyone kept saying, 'Oh, he's so much like Ben,' " recalled Beaumon, who first played the young Ben in a single Lost episode in 2007. "But I really didn't know how to do Ben."
Chalk it up to astute casting, we suppose.
Beaumon already has a lengthy acting resume. His TV appearances have included spots on ER, Bones, House, Heroes, Cold Case and Scrubs. And later this year, Beaumon's voice will be among the voices propelling the animated feature film Astro Boy (alongside the voices of Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas and Freddie Highmore, among others).
A native of San Diego, Beaumon was a competitive figure skater when he was little more than a toddler. He's still obsessed with ice, but now hockey is his passion.
"My roots are in Canada -- my grandma is from Montreal," said Beaumon, who seemed thrilled to be speaking with a Canadian because of the hockey connection.
"Don't you guys get mad with Detroit saying it's 'Hockey Town?' "
Uh, yeah, actually.
Anyway, when Beaumon first got the call to play young Ben for one episode in Lost's third season, he already had decided he disliked the show. But it didn't have anything to do with the show itself.
"I had never seen Lost, but I hated it, because I was on another show -- it was called In Case of Emergency -- that kept getting pre-empted because of Lost," Beaumon said.
"After I found out I'd be working on Lost, I started to watch it. But I had made it only to the end of the first season by the time I had to go to work on it, and Ben wasn't even in the first season."
Somehow it all worked out, though. The creators of Lost clearly liked Beaumon's work, because now he's back.
Complex shooting schedules being what they are, has Beaumon ever even met Emerson?
"I have met Michael quite a few times now," Beaumon said. "He is one of the nicest guys ever. He is one of the best actors, and he's so educated."
It must have been weird, though, when Beaumon first met the adult version of himself, so to speak.
"Actually," Beaumon said, "I think it was more weird for him."
