Evangeline Lilly dreamt of Palawan, not Hawaii

By Ruben V. Nepales
Inquirer
Last updated 03:29am (Mla time) 11/03/2006

Published on Page F1 of the November 3, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

LOS ANGELES — OUR RECENT TRIP to Honolulu coincided with the Hawaii International Film Festival, which honored our press group. But the highlight was our interview with most of the cast of the hit TV series, “Lost,” and visits to the main set on the beach and the studio where many indoor shots are filmed.

On this first part on our exclusive “Lost” encounter, we feature Evangeline Lilly who set reports straight that she lived in “a grass hut (most likely a nipa hut) in the jungles in the Philippines.” Ever smiling and candid, Evangeline, who wore a white long-sleeved lacy blouse that set off her lovely face, talked to us about staying — but not living — in Palawan for three weeks.

The Canadian native, “Evie” to her cast mates, also discussed the love-hate triangle that her character Kate is embroiled in. Will she end up with Sawyer (Josh Holloway), with whom she had a passionate kiss (they intentionally did not rehearse so it will really look like a first kiss between them, she said) or Jack (Matthew Fox)?

In real life, the 27-year-old actress is going out with Dominic Monaghan, who was Merry in “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy and is now playing Charlie on “Lost.” Now on its third season, the award-winning “Lost” has rabid fans worldwide. Blogs devoted to the series constantly buzz with the latest plot developments and predictions on the plane crash survivors who end up on an island that is not completely deserted. There’s a group of mysterious island inhabitants known as “The Others.”

Evangeline was paired in our interviews with Daniel Dae Kim (Jin on the show), whom we will write about (as well as the rest of the cast) in this Sunday’s column. After the round robins, the cast joined us for cocktails and dinner on the oceanfront lawn of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Your IMDb (Internet Movie Database) biography states, “She has lived under a grass hut in the jungles of the Philippines with a missionary group.” How true?

I didn’t grow up there. I grew up in Canada. I stayed in a grass hut in the jungle for three weeks in the Philippines.

How old were you then?

I was 18. It was an incredible experience I will never forget. I have a heart for the people there. For many years, I was involved with a ministry there but I grew up in Canada. I went from Canada to the Philippines — the island of Palawan. I didn’t really get to see much of Manila or the other islands. But where I did go was probably the best place for me to go in the Philippines. I just love the beauty of the nature there. I love the simplicity of the indigenous people’s lifestyles. It was difficult for me to leave. I actually almost took a permanent posting there. When I came back to Canada, they offered me a permanent post in Palawan for two years. I almost took it but at 18, I wasn’t allowed by my parents.

What would you have done during that two-year post?

I was going to be posted as a teacher who would work with a gentleman trying to put the local dialect down in writing, help teach the children read and write and help a little bit in medicine. There were people there who were dying of ailments as simple as asthma. We have access to medical supplies that could fix that in a heartbeat. Sometimes all they need is an inhaler. We would also provide some medical training and supplies, food and shelter.

Did your three-week stint there prepare you for filming “Lost” in Hawaii?

People have asked me that question a lot. They are wildly different experiences. Although what the audience sees of my experience on “Lost” is being on the jungle, beach and wild terrain, primarily my experience with the show for the last two and a half years has been one of getting used to a world of luxury, glamour, pressure and stress. The Philippines, on the other hand, was one of the least stressful places I’ve been to. The lifestyle in Palawan was so simple and the pressures were just about basic survival. That was it. On the other hand, the pressures in this industry are so unique and complex. I feel they have demanded of me such different skills than what I had to in the Philippines. In Palawan, I had to give in and relax into our natural state of being. In Hollywood, I feel like I’m constantly forcing myself into a very unnatural place and doing things that feel very foreign to me as a human being. But I have to do these things.

Such as?

(Laughing) Like talking about yourself for hours on end in a room full of people. I mean, how weird is that? Before this ever happened, who wants to hear about me for the next two hours of my life?

We do.

But you wouldn’t have (been interested) a few years ago so that’s a really odd thing. Your world, instead of becoming a world that’s very broad, gets very narrow because everything is about you. Everything revolves around you. I’m always fighting to push that out, to push out those walls. It’s amazing.

You have such a stable outlook. Can you tell us about your background, your parents?

I have really good parents. I was raised in a family that didn’t have a lot of money but we didn’t mind. That was okay. My parents always taught us that love is more valuable and that family is more important than any amount of material possession. They taught us that money can hurt you and that it can be a hindrance. My parents gave me and my two sisters a real sense of self-worth. They always said, you are the most incredible, talented, beautiful, wonderful girl and you can do anything you want. I really think they believed that and so I believed it. So then I always thought that the sky’s the limit. There is no limit for me. I can do whatever I want.

Had the role in “Lost” not come your way, how different would your life be?

Very different. Before I started in “Lost,” I was studying International Relations in a university because I wanted to be a full-time missionary.

In what religion?

In the Philippines, you mean? At that time, it was with a Protestant group, yes. But to me, it was more important that I was doing humanitarian aid work than specifically religious work. I just have a heart for people who are suffering. I don’t believe that anyone who is blessed with the luxury that we have in North America can ignore the fact that there are people suffering and dying around the world.

Do you miss teaching?

I am still involved in a lot of things. When I started this job, I didn’t drop anything. I just continued on the way I was because I was working before that. I was a waitress or an extra on film sets.

In Los Angeles?

In Vancouver. I never lived in Los Angeles.

Where do you live now?

I live here in Hawaii. We work here nine months out of the year.

And what do you do during the other three months?

I travel. I pack a bag and I’m gone for three months, wherever I go. I don’t have anywhere to settle. I traveled to Canada to visit my family. I traveled to England, Scotland, France, Italy and Spain.

You traveled with whom?

With my friend (laughter).

Is your friend an actor?

Yes. I traveled there with Dominic (Monaghan).

He’s English. Did he take you to his hometown, Manchester, England?

I don’t quite remember (laughter). I’m having a memory lapse so that trip was all kind of a blur.

Well, that’s not good. Or actually, it means it was a good trip.

That’s right. Maybe it was Amsterdam (laughter) that we went to and I’ve just made up all those other (destinations). No.

What kind of life do you have in Hawaii?

A good one. I have taken up surfing. I am having so much fun learning that. That has become my new, biggest hobby. I also have a kayak that sits in my backyard. I can kayak down to the ocean. I just really love nature. I love being active and being outside and this is the place to do it year round. Since I come from Canada, on the first year I was here, on Dec. 8, I remember specifically calling my mom. She asked, “How are you doing? What did you do this morning?”I said, I went for a jog on the beach and I just reveled in that because I knew my mother was probably up to her eyeballs in snow (laughing).

Are we going to see a resolution to your love-hate triangle with Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) in this season?

I don’t know if you can say resolution because that would mean it’s permanent. But there is some sort of a temporary conclusion because I do end up with someone.

Who do you prefer, Sawyer or Jack?

I always say to people that’s like choosing between my big brother and my little brother.

But who do you want to end up with?

It makes no difference to me. I love both men. They are the two different sides of a female fantasy. It’s either the good guy or the bad boy so whichever side of the fence you lay on is where you are going to want Kate to end up with. I don’t think I am that black and white when it comes to men. I kind of ride the fence. So it can be either one.

Who is it going to be? They told me who it was going to be and then I got the scripts for this season. As I was reading the scripts, I realized it’s the other person so I think they planted that on me to see if I could go the whole summer and not spill it.

That was a passionate kiss between you and Josh in an episode. Was your kiss spontaneous?

We didn’t rehearse. We allowed what’s going to be in the moment because human beings don’t rehearse their kisses before they happen. Especially since we are two characters who have never really kissed each other before — we have always said that if both the kisses that we’ve done onscreen look awkward and weird, good. It should be. We have been fortunate enough in this last one to have a director who did five takes and that was it, not a thousand times and ruining the spontaneity.

I just told Josh, this one’s up to you because I had to be in charge of the last one because he was strapped to a tree (laughter). So this last one, I told Josh, “I am just going to let you kiss me. I am just going to let it happen because I wouldn’t know what was coming. I wouldn’t know where my hands are going to go or what you’re going to do to me. You’re in charge.” Apparently, he’s good at it. People liked it.

What’s life like in a cage?

I love that cage. I don’t know why. One of the producers recently came on the set and was like, ‘Aren’t you glad that you’re going out of that cage soon?’ I was like, ‘Do I have to leave?’ I’m starting to get the hang of acting and I think I associate it now with the cages. I’m afraid that if I leave the cages, I won’t be able to act anymore (laughing).

So what’s your own theory? Who are “The Others?” (For those who have not been following the series, the plane crash survivors use the term “The Others” to refer to a mysterious group of folks who inhabit the island.)

I think that The Others are a representation of every human being in our lives who is not familiar to us. I think what the purpose of The Others on the island is to show that depending on whose eyes you’re looking through and whose shoes you’re walking in, anybody can be a good or bad guy. The Others have been watching us as survivors since we landed on the island and they believe wholeheartedly that we’re the bad guys. They think we’re crazy. We have been hurting and killing each other.

We have had random encounters with them that make us believe they are the bad guys. We are all The Others to everyone and that word, other, has such a negative connotation. This show is constantly battling against racism and breaking those molds. We’re all different. Why does other mean bad? Why is it negative?

Of all the cast members, it seems you have been singled out for tabloid fodder.

I don’t know why. It’s definitely not something I’ve asked for or wanted. Let me tell you, if I get photographed in my boxer shorts in my carport one more time and then the tabloids write that I’m at the mall dressed like that (laughing)…

Has the paparazzi-stalking changed your life?

I try not to let it. At first, it did. I would be afraid to leave my house because I just didn’t want to feel like I was being followed. Eventually, I didn’t want to be a prisoner in my own life.

What was the worst, strangest story about you in the tabloids?

The one that really freaked me out was when I recently saw a photo that had been fabricated by superimposing my head and Josh’s head on other people’s bodies. For a minute, I was so freaked out. Where was that photo taken? Then I realized that somebody had fabricated the photo and it made it appear that Josh and I were doing things that in real life, we’d never be doing.

So what do you dislike the most, swim with sharks or have the paparazzi around you?

I would rather swim with sharks. In fact, that’s on my list of things to do in Hawaii this year.

* * *