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A plane crashes and the survivors are lost in a jungle. The people encounter various supernatural beings and their goal is to survive. What do you do? You create a series called Lost almost starring Michael Keaton.
Credits: Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice / Warner Bros. PicturesThe ‘almost’ because he didn’t actually play a role in the series. However, there were talks and some discussions regarding his involvement in the project. Keaton was offered an iconic role in Lost, but not even director J.J. Abrams was able to convince Keaton to stay.
Michael Keaton Loved The Role of Jack Shephard
Well, in the beginning, the role of Dr. Jack Shephard was kept quite short. With visionary filmmaker J.J. Abrams helming the project, the director had the eyes of Michael Keaton for quite a while now.
Michael Keaton as Batman | Credit: Warner Bros.Before killing off the main characters became cool (looking at you, George R. R. Martin), it wasn’t the norm in Hollywood. However, Abrams wanted to do something different for Lost.
When Lost was beginning to take place, J.J. Abrams approached Michael Keaton with the role of Dr. Jack Shephard. According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, here’s what the original plan for Jack Shephard was.
He [J.J. Abrams] said, ‘Here’s what happens: the guy that you think is the lead dies in the last ten minutes,’ and I immediately — when I hear things like that … those type of things intrigue me.
Michael Keaton further continued,
And I thought, ‘Yeah!’ The idea of doing an hour television show … I’m just too lazy. So I thought, ‘Wow, this is pretty good! Then I don’t have to be in the series!’
The plan was on. Michael Keaton would portray the role of Dr. Jack Shephard who was going to be the savior but would die in the last ten minutes of the episode. Well, quite a brutal plot twist.
As mentioned earlier, killing off main characters wasn’t the norm. Naturally, not a lot of people were happy when J.J. Abrams decided to do that. The studio changes were more than enough to make Keaton hate the idea and eventually leave the project.
Why Michael Keaton Almost Starred in Lost
Keaton didn’t want to miss his son’s childhood. Being an actor makes for a pretty busy schedule, and The Birdman actor wanted none of it. That’s why he picked the projects that weren’t too time-consuming.
A screen grab of Matthew Fox on the ‘Lost’ series finale | Credits: ABC StudiosAlthough the actor fell in love with the role of Dr. Jack Shephard, J.J. Abrams had to deliver him the bad news. The studio (or Abrams) thought otherwise and decided to spare Dr. Jack Shephard. This made him one of the main characters.
Being a main character in a series is a good thing if you do not have other commitments. Unfortunately, Michael Keaton wasn’t happy with the changes since he would have to commit to the show for several years.
I think what happened was – and I’ve never really talked to him about this … he thought better of [the twist], or the studio said ‘That ain’t gonna happen.’ And then there was kind of a half a conversation like ‘Well, do you have any more interest?’
Keaton ultimately decided to leave the project. The role of Shephard was later portrayed by Matthew Fox, who earned him an Emmy and a Golden Globe award nomination.
Lost ran for 6 seasons, but the world fell in love with the iconic show. The series received a rating of 8.3/10 on IMDB and a whopping 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and is a global pop-culture phenomenon. Lost is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
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