'Lost' goes to medical school
Crew achieves delicate dance filming in UH lab
WHEN the hit ABC television show "Lost" needed a laboratory to film a flashback involving Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), there was one obvious location: the new state-of-the-art research building at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaako.
Yesterday was the first time a production of this magnitude had ever been shot on the University of Hawaii campus, and big questions loomed: Would the crew disrupt years of scientists' research by moving specimens or temporarily cutting power to temperature-controlled projects? And what about the misconception that cadavers graciously donated to the medical school's Willed Body Program would be used as props?
All concerns quickly disappeared as the production staff made every effort to address the university's requests.
"It went really well," said Kelsa Teeters, a graduate student who works in Claude Le Saux's molecular biology lab. "Everybody was really polite and considerate, and asked us before they touched anything."
Though most of the researchers were forced to read and do quiet work for at least half of the day, "it wasn't much worse than we expected; it was much better," said Teeters. "It was definitely an interesting day." Teeters, who had the opportunity to chat with actress Elizabeth Mitchell during the course of the shoot, added, "I thought it was kind of fun."
Production started in a second-floor laboratory, continued in a corridor and finished in the gross anatomy lab and outdoors in the courtyard, according to Francis Blanco, facilities director at the medical school.
Provisions for the shoot required that "Lost" supply its own power, which included two large generators outside the building. "With the recent earthquake, we didn't want to take any chances," said Blanco. "At first there were some concerns, but all that got ironed out."
Tracy Orillo-Donovan, broadcast manager at the University of Hawaii, said the crew took that promise a step further. "Twenty years of research is not something you can just unplug," she said. "They even asked permission to plug in a curling iron."
Steve Labrash, director of the Willed Body Program, spent eight hours moving cadavers out of the gross anatomy lab and sterilizing the area the day before the crew arrived. Dummies in body bags were used in place of real bodies.
"Steve's biggest concern as the director of the Willed Body Program was that he wanted to be sensitive to the families who would see this," said Orillo-Donovan. Labrash's involvement -- along with a strong audition -- landed him a speaking part in one of the scenes.
About 25 crew members and extras sat in the hall outside the gross anatomy lab on chairs or the floor amid carts, tripods and boxes, trying to remain silent as scenes were shot and re-shot. But the setting proved ideal.
"We really needed a very advanced-looking lab," said "Lost" producer Jean Higgins. Because of the scientists' experiments, "we were to touch nothing. And from what I saw, the crew was amazing. When we go on location ... they're doing us a favor by allowing us to be there."
That is why Higgins kept the crew small yesterday: Only 12 vehicles, three cameras, untold yards of cable and wires, and dozens of people. At the end of the day, the crew cleaned throughout the building and used sponges to erase any scratches on the walls. According to Higgins, the favor was returned. "They have been wonderful and gracious, and we're very happy to be here," she said.
"If things go well," added Blanco, "I'm sure they're going to want to come back."