Here’s a new interview with Michael Emerson:
For many, Michael Emerson’s Emmy win was the ultimate validation for his spot-on portrayal of the creepiest characters on television, ‘Lost’ villain Benjamin Linus. But before Emerson headed off to Hawaii to act creepy all over again on the ‘Lost’ set, he got all kinds of mushy talking to PopEater. “I always sort of cringe when people say, you’re that creepy guy,” Emerson exclusively confesses. “Sinister I can live with, that’s fine. But creepy is like someone you wouldn’t sit next to at a diner.”
“I’m probably being sensitive about it,” he admits. A big reason for this might be that people have trouble separating the veteran character actor (married to the lovely Carrie Preston from True Blood) from his creepy, er sinister television character. “My wife sees a very clear boundary between who I am and the character I play,” Emerson tells PopEater. “(Linus) freaks her out. She’ll say, don’t look at me like him.”
Strangers can freak out when they catch sight of Emerson. “I’ve had people scream, and drop what was in their hands when I’ve walked in,” says Emerson. “The standard encounter is a girl and a guy walking together and the girl sees me and her eyes go all saucer-like and she clutches her man’s arms, pursing her lips together to keep from crying out. That actually happens a lot.”
Wearing a hat helps also according to Emerson, who says “it turns out my biggest Benjamin Linus giveaway is the way my hair stands up.” But sometimes even the best disguise doesn’t do the trick. “I was in at a street fair in Honolulu in costume, I had painted my face like a skeleton … Some guy came up and said, ‘Dude, I love your work.’
[Via Popeater.com]
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