It may contain one minor spoiler at the end.

Below is the transcript:

The A.V. Club: Darth Vader and the Joker were two of the bigger names that Entertainment Weekly’s readers put higher on the villains list than your character. Do you want to talk any shit about Darth Vader?

Michael Emerson: [Laughs.] He’s a great force of darkness, I guess, but how much acting goes on behind a plastic head? I’m not sure about it. [Laughs.] It seems like his costume does more work for him than mine does for me. I should get handicap points, I think.

AVC: Your character isn’t necessarily a straight-up villain; he’s sometimes portrayed as having the best of intentions. Why do you think Benjamin Linus has been so easily labeled as a villain?

ME: I don’t know. I’m happy to live with it, but I think it’s interesting that I make these best-villain lists when it’s not even clear that I am a bad guy. I think it’s something in the playing of the part. I think it worries people when they can’t get a handle on a character. I tend to play him kind of ambiguously. There is a sinister quality to him, but I think the verdict is still out about what his position is on the scale of good and evil. To a large extent, people’s interest in the character is the mystery of the character.

AVC: Because there are no clear-cut heroes and villains, it’s interesting to watch people discuss the show and say, “Obviously this person is good and this person is evil.” In the end, Hurley will probably wind up being the major villain, because nobody will see it coming.

ME: [Laughs.] Yeah, because that’ll come out of left field. That would be the last thing anyone was expecting. I’m going to make a broad statement here and say that I think people respond to villains because people in general are more villainous than heroic. I think it speaks to the human condition. I think we all secretly understand that we have our sins and our dark thoughts, but we put a face on it for the world. When we see villains played, we sort of perk up. We go, “How’s he doing?” [Laughs.]

AVC: Are you worried about being typecast?

ME: It’s on my mind, and it’s something I will have to deal with. Who’d say no to a role for fear of being so popular that they become typecast? You just do your work and let the chips fall. I really do think that every time you play a role well, you are in danger of being identified with that role until the next big thing comes along. My break on the live stage was playing the character Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency. So for a while, it looked like all I would ever play was flamboyant Englishmen. But then I get a couple of things on TV where I’m a little bit sinister, and now that’s the thing I’m in danger of being forever. So I’ll have to be a little bit careful about what I pick next, and try to bust out and find another part that is such a good fit that I’m in danger of being pigeonholed.

AVC: You’ve done a lot of theater work, and you were once referred to as a stage actor who also does movies and television. Was it an easy transition from the stage to television and film?

ME: It wasn’t that easy, not so much in acting terms as in social terms. It’s an adjustment, you know, just to find your way around to those studio lots and stuff in L.A. The drill is different. It’s a different kind of working regimen. It just didn’t have all of the old comfortable rituals: the first table-reads, the meet-and-greet, all those things I’m used to; starting out at the table and gradually getting on your feet and having four weeks to rehearse the thing. Suddenly in television and movies, you’re left to be ready on the day. Your rehearsal was auditioning for the part. Now you’re ready to go on. Higher stakes, in a way. But now I really like it. I don’t think it’s a huge acting problem. Anyone with any sense can see that you just have to dial it back a little bit when the camera’s up your nose.

AVC: The show has become huge, and so has your role. But when you were starting out, was it hard to tell whether what you were doing was going to be well-received, as opposed to being onstage, where you can gauge an audience in real-time?

ME: It is a different feedback system. You depend a little bit more on a set of subtle signals from the crew, or from the director of the episode. But in your actor’s heart, you know when you’re playing well. Others may not always agree with you, but I’m always aware of when the scene is cooking or not. You have an instinct about that from years of doing scenes and plays, and I think it stands you in good stead even in the TV world.

AVC: When it comes to what’s going to happen next on the show, the cast is largely kept in the dark, getting scripts just before shooting begins. At what point did you realize that Benjamin Linus was going to be an integral part of the story?

ME: That really dawned on me gradually. As you know, I was originally engaged to be a guest player, to do a few episodes and go away, so I wasn’t thinking in terms of staying in Hawaii. The scenes I was in in the early going, when I was Henry Gale, they had a kind of ambiguity about them. There was a mystery in there, and no one could really figure it out. I remember one day, a director came to me—I had a line, Sayid was waving a gun in my face saying, “Tell us who your leader is,” and I said, “If I tell you, he’ll kill me,” and the director came and said, “That’s good. Let’s take it again, and this time, act as if the leader is the scariest person on Earth.” And I said, “Okay, I can do that, but what if the leader is me?” And he blinked at me a couple of times and said, “I can’t discuss that.” [Laughs.] And that was it. From then on, I thought, “Oh, I see. This could turn into something.” I’m like a slower factor on those kinds of issues; if even I can see that that’s a possibility, then it must be in there somewhere. And as it turns out, it was true. It was a great development.

AVC: Tell the truth, you were getting online and posting anonymously, “Who is this Ben Linus guy? He’s great! They should give him more screen time.”

ME: I wish I had the savvy to do that. I don’t go online much, and of course I don’t even have the sense to have an e-mail name that isn’t my own name, so I can never do any of that stuff anonymously. I’m hopeless.

AVC: About a year from now, you’re going to be done, and people are going to be packing up and leaving the island. Do you fear having a post-Lost depression?

ME: It will be a sad time. You know, your body just lets down. I’ve been ill since we wrapped 10 days ago. When the pressure’s off, that’s just natural. It will be sad to see this amazing chapter… It’s a great show, the show really interests me, and I’ve had so much visibility because of my work on it, it’s a great thing. I’ll never duplicate this experience. But on the other hand, it will be good to move on and embrace the unknown future and see what that holds. I will say that life will be simpler when I don’t spend two-thirds of the year in the middle of the Pacific.

AVC: But is that so bad?

ME: No, no, it’s great. I have a great time there, and the people are so lovely. Not every TV show is as welcoming and warmhearted as the Lost company. Everything’s good about that. It’s just the logistics of being so far from Carrie, my spouse, and loved ones, and the world of theater, and the life of New York City. That’s sort of my life for many years now. But I’ll go back to it.

AVC: Do you have any predictions for Ben in the sixth and final season?

ME: No, I don’t know. I wouldn’t even venture to try and second-guess Damon Lindelof. He’s so brilliant. I’m really curious to where it will go. People say, “What new angles and developments for your character do you long for?” and I say I don’t really long for any. I think Ben has a kind of constancy, that Ben’s mission remains the same. His character is rather set. I’ll be curious to see what sorts of challenges or situations they provide for me. Having said that, they may completely change the character, for all I know. [Laughs.] I don’t think so, though. I’ll be glad to be in it, because I’ll be curious to see how far into the last season I’ll survive. We’re going to have to start losing people next year.

Source : TheOnion

Michael Emerson talked to Hollywood411 about the season finale, Ben Linus, the smoke monster, and tries to discreetly spoil, but if you watch the show at all, it is not discreet!

Some points he touches on include :

- being judged

- filming the 100th episode

- what his plans are post-Lost

- if we will see the monster again

- what he thought of Dead is dead

- and how fans react to him.

Source : sl-LOST

Click Here to see what I mean…..

Source: Jossip.

Here you go…

“They know deep in the brain that I’m not that character. But they tend to be a little… formal… with me.  You know, like when people come up to Jorge they pat him on the back and buy him a beer. But me they tend to keep a … distance. And they call me Mister  Emerson.”

I have to admit, I had a giggle.  Oh, it’s a tad spoilerish…maybe? Possibly? At the end… Kinda depends on your view of Spoilers!

Michael Emerson on the Bonnie Hunt Show

Dateline: 1980′s- Big hair, Pac-man, Rubik’s Cube, and the birth of MTV.

Place: Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.

Imagine sitting down in your drawing class. You feel pretty proud of yourself for not ditching class and going to the beach…  and in strolls Professor Emerson. Of course you wouldn’t know that he was that Micheal Emerson unless you had time jumped from the future…

In between acting jobs, Emerson worked as a freelance magazine illustrator in New York City where he met his ex-wife.  She convinced him to move to Florida for the milder climate and he ended up living there for several years.  While there, Emerson was offered an entry-level drawing class  for two or three semesters at Flagler College.

In Tom Iacuzio’s article  he discusses Emerson’s jump from actor- turned magazine illustrator-turned art-instructor- turned actor.

Q: What do you remember about your time at Flagler?
I remember the facility. Such a fabulous bunch of buildings. I mean what other college looks like Flagler? I remember for me that it was a revelation how educational teaching is for the teacher. I know it sounds trite. I’m sure every other teacher says the same thing, but it’s perfectly true. It’s one thing to do a “thing.” It’s another to be forced to articulate it to others. I found it to be very exciting.

Q: You’ve played Zep Hindle in “Saw,” won an Emmy as serial killer William Hinks on “The Practice” and now Ben Linus. Are you drawn to these bad-guy roles?
No, but somebody is drawn to the idea of me playing them. I don’t know who that is and I’m not sure whether to thank them or give them a smack. In my life on the stage, I’m usually in funny plays. It’s a little bit of a mystery to me. That seems to be what’s so interesting about the character, that there is that manipulative genius angle, but also a bit of vulnerability and compassion. Yeah, I think as season four progressed, Ben (was) being moved inch by inch towards the more sympathetic end of the scale. Something’s going on there. I’ve always maintained, sort of half in jest, that eventually Ben would be the good guy.

He also gives a few mild spoilers/teasers for us LOST fans to discuss:

Q: And she[Emerson's wife, Carrie Preston] wound up playing your character’s mother in your flashback episode.
That was kooky. It’s great to have your spouse on the set with you, although we didn’t have any scenes together, and now she’s a bona fide member of the “Lost” family. And I’m thinking maybe that’s not the last time we see her. Something has to be revisited there in Ben’s childhood.

Q: What lengths do producers go to prevent spoilers on a show like “Lost”?
Sometimes they go to crazy lengths. The script in last season’s finale had a secret scene. There usually is at the end of the season. But they went a step better last year. When they filmed the secret scene, they filmed three different versions of a moment in it so that even the people that were on the set didn’t know how the season would end.

Q: This past season, the show has seemed to ditch the straight flash format and has moved on to something else.

I think everything is flash now. Flash forward, flash back, flash present, flash other present. Other time zone, other geographical zone. They’ve done what they do every year, which is crank it one more notch in terms of narrative device. Every year they invent a device to tell the story they want to tell. It’s chaotic, but stimulating.

Full article: here.

Is the fifth season of Lost trending more towards action and adventure on the island?

Yeah, even more than you’ve seen so far. It is action-packed. Sometimes you read a script and you think “No way, no way can we film this in ten days—how are we going to get this done?” They are explosions and special effects, gun play and fights, and [we crash] every kind of vehicle imaginable. There is falling through time, falling through space, [even] falling underground.

Read the Rest Here (Thanks to Anna for the tip!)