Hello, Fellow DC area-er! I saw this article too and it brought a big smile to my face. Daniel Dae Kim is wonderful. His Gavin was no Lindsey but he wasn't meant to be, although Lilah did tower over him just as she had over Lindsey. Gavin was a subsidiary character and not particularly deep, but hey, he was a fun foil for Lilah. I particularly loved how Lilah paraded around on her high heels and gave a smugly smiling Gavin his comeuppance - again and again and again. You'd think that smug smile would have faded a tad but it never did. Ah, well, rest in peace, Gavin, "a really evil lawyer" and, for a couple of minutes, creepy-ass zombie.

As for Daniel on "Lost," may he find continuing success on that show. What a coup, landing a role on such a ratings powerhouse.

phlebotinin | May 22, 20:11 CET

Fun article. Thanks for posting it. The original recapper for "Lost" on Television Without Pity used to say he had a friend who translated Kim's Korean (and not as the subtitles suggested); was quite funny.

Nice "Angel" mention, too. I was surprised to see him speaking a role with no English—but he's really good at it.

Gaudior | May 22, 20:12 CET

Yay ! I love DDK and Jin. I think it's great to see a popular show where so much of a different language is spoken.

Sweet Fragility | May 22, 21:01 CET

I agree, Daniel is a remarkable actor. In the first few episodes of 'Lost', I thought he was cannon fodder for certain because they barely focused on him. Finally, he was given some meatier roles and they started to work the language barrier into the picture. Now, he's one of my favorite characters of the series. Hope JJ will have him around for season two.

phlebotinin, remember 'Billy'? We saw a different side of Gavin and realized how bad evil can be. A powerful episode no doubt. The best of luck to Daniel Dae Kim :)

Madhatter | May 22, 21:17 CET

Thanks for reminding me of "Billy," Madhatter. We did see a different side of Gavin and Daniel was indeed remarkable. Gavin went from an evil yet strangely likable (to me) lawyer to a chillingly evil, thoroughly unlikable man. I guess there's a case of the tables turning and Gavin giving Lilah her comeuppance, although I got zero joy from that.

JJ would be insane to release Daniel from Lost, in my book. On a separate note, I always wanted to see Daniel in Firefly. That would have tickled my fancy. In a 'verse that is so heavily imbued with Asian influences - not just Chinese but Japanese and Indian and other Asian cultures - it'd have been cool to see actual Asians, including Daniel and other great Asian actors, appear in speaking roles. And I'd have loved to have seen characters, Asian and otherwise, speaking in Mandarin and cursing in English! That'd have been a gas. Although if Daniel had won a part he'd have to add speaking some Mandarin to his already considerable skills. From what our beloved Firefly cast members have said, that wasn't easy at all. I've often wondered if Joss was going to explore Asian characters more in later episodes or seasons. I bet he was.

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2005-05-22 20:01 ]

[ edited by phlebotinin on 2005-05-22 22:17 ]

phlebotinin | May 22, 21:46 CET

DDK's mom couldn't sleep after watching Gavin die on Angel. Poor DDK's mom!

electricspacegirl | May 22, 23:42 CET

Phlebotinin- the dialect of Chinese spoken in Firefly was Mandarin, not Cantonese.

kylie | May 23, 00:05 CET

Whoops. Edited out my mistake. Thanks, kylie. I wonder where I got the notion that it was Cantonese. It's not like I'd be able to tell one way or another.

phlebotinin | May 23, 00:18 CET

Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm more interested in your thoughts for what would happen next on 'Firefly'.

Madhatter | May 23, 00:30 CET

I remember the impact he made on me when he appeared in -- wait for it -- Crusade, the 1999 Babylon 5 spinoff. He was the first telepath to be an executive officer on a flagship. He was also an accomplished fighter, as shown in the opening scene when he dusts off a few knuckleheads -- if I'm remembering this all correctly.

His screen presence nailed my attention immediately. It's a credit to creator Joe Straczynski who wrote support roles non-gender, non-just-about-everything specific.

O/T Crusade has been released on DVD (haven't bought it yet) and DDK's face is on the cover.

Drifter | May 23, 02:28 CET

kylie - actually, some of it was cantonese. I was just watching "Out of Gas" last night, and realised that the emergency "check life support" message was in cantonese. I speak mandarin, and can understand cantonese but can't speak it. just thought to clarify. :)

non sequitur | May 23, 13:19 CET

Last week I was watching Spiderman 2 and was surprised to see DDK as, well, "Igor". Is that a good thing to have a tiny role in a blockbuster movie? Oh - and yesterday we were watching the Sporanos and there was a very young Sarah Thompson - I'm afraid my girlfriend is annoyed to no end by my compulsive outbursts of "ohwaittheresanotherwhedonverseactor".

TactGuy | May 23, 13:32 CET

Actually, there appears to be a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin. Most things are in mandarin, but as non sequitor points out, there's also some cantonese, particularly that life support message, as well as some food words (the wine Mal orders in the bar in "The Train Job", for example). IMO food words should always be cantonese. Because, Dim Sum! Cha Siu Bao!

chickenbird | May 23, 18:23 CET