The producers of “Lost” must be taking cues from the ’70s shipwreck sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” where Gilligan and his fellow castaways were often visited by the cosmonauts, Globetrotters and other momentarily lost travelers.
New characters have been washing up with regularity on this season’s “Lost,” including Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s mysterious Mr. Eko.
The son of Nigerian immigrants, the London-born actor’s most memorable role to date was Simon Adebisi, the baddest of the bad on HBO’s prison drama “Oz.”
Along with his new “Lost” gig, Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s mainstream visibility is about to explode with his turn as charismatic drug dealer Majestic in “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” the big-screen movie starring 50 Cent that opens Wednesday.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje took the “Lost” role immediately after filming with Fitty as something of a vacation.
“Working in Hawaii, being out there, it’s different, man,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje said. “It’s a trip. You’re on a rock, and you work, and all the locals know you, and it’s quite a trip. I took it after ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ just to cleanse me out. It was nice to wash that out and go to a beautiful environment.”
So far, TV viewers have learned very little about Mr. Eko. He’s part of the second group of plane crash survivors, a clan that also includes cast members Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros. But Mr. Eko hasn’t had more than a dozen lines of dialogue, and his presence–along with that of his tail section friends–has been threatening.
On Wednesday’s episode, at 8 p.m. on ABC, Mr. Eko, Sawyer, Michael and Jin, along with the other tail-section survivors, make their way through the island’s interior.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje says he had no concerns about being dropped into the insular “Lost” cast that has been bonding in Hawaii for more than a year.
“I didn’t really have time to even consider it; I went straight to work,” he said of the tight switch from “Get Rich.” “They’re a very tight bunch of actors. Obviously, when you’re very far from home you kind of club together. And it’s genuine. There’s a really nice sense of camaraderie there.
“Every Wednesday a different actor is showing the episode in their house and they gather there to watch it. It’s nice–it’s a nice posse to work with.”
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Edited by Curt Wagner (cwwagner@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
