Online and print articles about the show.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION STILL

The Honolulu Star Bulletin has been covering the show since the very beginning.  Here are all their articles on Lost.

From April 7, 2004 in the Reel News Section

Pilot of new drama filming at Mokuleia

Lost" has found a new home on a Mokuleia beach. Filming of the two-hour ABC TV castaway drama pilot episode moved to the beach last Saturday and will continue over the next three weeks. A quarter-mile of Farrington Highway has been covered with some 10 inches of sand to make it look like a single wide beach where an L-1011 (a primary set in the show) had "crashed." The pilot's most spectacular scenes are scheduled for today when a part of the beached aircraft is blown up, simulating the moment after the crash. A crane will lift a 70-foot-long wing vertically, then drop it during the explosion.

From what I saw, the plane's fuselage has been recarpeted and burned, and the seats repainted to match what was shot in Los Angeles. A path cleared across the sand to simulate the crash path has been sprinkled with charcoal dust to make it look charred.

"Lost" filming originally started in Heeia, going on for six days a week, shooting about three script pages a day, which is similar to a feature film. The story follows a group of people stuck on an unnamed Pacific island after surviving a plane crash, and they're forced to build a new society in a sort of adult version of "Lord of the Flies." Producer JJ Abrams says the survivors face "a lot of freaky stuff going on, animals they've never seen before ... "

Some scenes have a "monster" pulling a man out of the cockpit. A polar bear, of all things, is one of the animals in the drama, and there are three incarnations of the beast: a large, complete body used in the chase scene filmed in Nuuanu; another that's shot but still breathing; and the polar bear's feet.

A crash survivor gets sucked into the airplane's engine. The story has an unresolved ending, with much left to learn about the characters -- perfect for a lead-in to a regular series.

Daniel Dae Kim ("Angel") is the latest to join the ensemble cast.

Local cast and crew seem happy with the mainland staff, describing them as "incredible," "the nicest bunch of people," "no egos" and "a creative experience," and producer Abrams himself as "delightful and very human." Producers held a party for cast and crew at the Ilikai Hotel after the first week of filming.

ABC announces its fall network schedule on May 12. There's already an unofficial "Lost" Web site at http://lost.b0x.com, offering a bumper sticker that reads "I promise to get 'Lost' on ABC this fall."  [Way to go, Xan!  Check the bottom of this page for a link to the Lost site.]

From March 24, 2004 in the Reel News Section:

ABC's two-hour pilot of the castaway drama "Lost" filmed its first two days this week in a rain and bamboo forest along Old Pali Road where three survivors of a plane crash -- actors Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly and Dominic Monaghan -- on an unnamed and deserted Pacific island find the dead pilot hanging in a tree, a dog (which suddenly vanishes) and a child's shoe. Most mysterious in this script by J.J. Abrams ("Alias") is today and tomorrow's Waikane Valley filming, when six of the survivors, while hiking, are attacked by a charging polar bear ...

From March 18, 2004:

New TV show ‘Lost’ is found filming on Oahu

ABC's most costly pilot ever uses plane wreckage as its exotic backdrop

by Tim Ryan

At Heeia Pier Tuesday, workers pieced together the fuselage of an L-1011 jet to be used in the TV pilot episode of "Lost," about the survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island.

The L-1011 jet scattered near Mokuleia beach looks like the aftermath of a crash but is actually a backdrop for the most expensive television pilot in the history of Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network.

ABC transported the scuttled jetliner to Oahu last week in 18 shipping containers to use as the set for its two-hour pilot, "Lost." The television movie begins filming here Monday through April 30, with about 24 days of production.

ABC will announce May 12 if "Lost" has been picked up as a series.

"Lost" is about the first few days spent by survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island, where they must learn to live together despite their different backgrounds. In the pilot, an unknown force makes one of the survivors disappear. The person's remains are found later.

Items at yesterday's filming at Mokuleia included a jet turbine.

The cast includes Matthew Fox ("Party of Five"), Harold Perrineau ("The Matrix Revolutions"), Malcolm David Kelley ("Antwone Fisher"), Naveen Andrews ("Mighty Joe Young") and Josh Holloway ("CSI").

Six containers of aircraft material, including the nose and a wing, are at Heeia Iki on Windward Oahu, being reassembled and set in place as if it crashed.

The remaining plane parts in 12 containers are being set up on a Mokuleia beach, along the makai side of Farrington Highway, the show's primary crash site.

The Heeia "plane" is easily seen from Kamehameha Highway, though filming will be done farther back, out of view. There is also a Nuuanu location.

A "Lost" producer in Honolulu referred questions to ABC's Los Angeles publicity department, which did not provide information.

Items at yesterday's filming at Mokuleia and a row of plane seats, below. The show, filming here through April 30, features Matthew Fox and Harold Perrineau.

According to sources, "Lost," written by J.J. Abrams (NBC's "Alias") and Damon Lindelof (NBC's "Crossing Jordan"), is the most expensive pilot in ABC/Disney history at more than $5 million.

Shipping the aircraft pieces from the mainland was the production's biggest single cost: $250,000, sources said. One of the three 3-ton jet engines was transported to Mokuleia on a truck with a police escort.

Members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, including two from Los Angeles, have been putting the aerial puzzle back together since last Thursday.

At Mokuleia they are rebuilding the structure of the bottom of the plane's fuselage, then installing steel ribbing to hold it together while patching a 4-foot gap with aluminum sheeting the length of the fuselage. Reconstruction will continue seven days a week until the "crash" set is ready for filming, said crew boss Dale DeStefani.

Airplane debris became TV props at Mokuleia yesterday during filming of the show, "Lost."

A few feet away is the fuselage's upper, or passenger, section -- minus the seats -- which after being reattached yesterday was lifted by crane atop the lower section. A crane will later stand up one of the 80-foot-long wings next to the rebuilt fuselage.

The airplane's seats -- removed for shipping -- will be reinstalled. Locally purchased used luggage and other typical passenger items will be charred to look like crash site remains. One scene features a wing crashing, burning and blowing up after being dropped from about 70 feet in the air by cranes.

At the Heeia site, teams of welders are reattaching the cockpit.

Filming at the Mokuleia and Heeia sites might not start until the first week of April when the crash sites are ready.

Small mention in the March 10th Reel News:

ABC begins filming its pilot "Lost" March 22. In the pilot, the production will only use the crashed plane's fuselage as a set and rain forest locales. Locations being considered for the "crashed" aircraft are Dillingham Air Field area and Kualoa Ranch. If "Lost" goes to series, it'll be filmed entirely in Hawaii. The show, which stars Dominic Monaghan (Merry of "The Lord of the Rings"), Ian Somerhalder, Jorge Garcia and Evangeline Lilly, deals with the aftermath of a plane wreck on a deserted island.

Maggie Grace ("Oliver Beene") plays one of the castaways, an upper-crust beauty. She also played Tom Selleck's daughter in last year's "12 Mile Road" ...

Small mention in the March 3rd Reel News:

ABC begins shooting on Oahu their castaway television pilot "Lost" on Mar. 22 for 15 days. The drama follows a group of people stuck on a Pacific island and are forced to build a new society after surviving a plane crash.

From the March 17th Reel News Section:

Besides the pilot script for the castaway drama "Lost" (filming begins next Monday), ABC has ordered another six scripts from J.J. Abrams ("Alias") and Damon Lindelof ("Crossing Jordan"). So far, the network has reportedly only seen a detailed 20-page outline from the duo, who are keeping the script secret. But here's what we do know: after a plane crashes on an unnamed and unoccupied island, the survivors must learn to live together, despite their disparate backgrounds. Some people disappear with no explanation.

Touchstone TV president Stephen McPherson describes the show as having "Michael Crichtonesque elements of a thriller with strong characters." A priority in developing the show is to have it done in a way that it can sustain over the long term as a series, he said.

The latest to join the ensemble cast are Matthew Fox ("Party of Five"), Harold Perrineau ( "Oz" and "The Matrix Revolutions"), Malcolm David Kelley ("Antwone Fisher"), Naveen Andrews ("Mighty Joe Young") and Josh Holloway ("CSI"). ...

From the Februrary 6th Reel News Section:

ABC joins the growing list of pilot episodes to be filmed on Oahu within the next two months when it shoots the hourlong drama "LOST," scheduled in March.

The story follows a group of people stuck on a Pacific island who are forced to build a new society after surviving a plane crash. The script is from J.J. Abrams ("Alias") and Damon Lindelof ("Crossing Jordan"). The project is a revamped version of "Nowhere," a drama from executive producer Aaron Spelling and writer Jeff Lieber.

ABC Entertainment TV chairman Lloyd Braun is reportedly enthusiastic about the concept.

The primary casting is being done in Los Angeles and ABC reportedly has ordered a pilot and six additional scripts for the new project from Disney's Touchstone Television, with Abrams and Lindelof executive producing.

"Portions, if not all, have to be shot in an exotic locale," Touchstone TV president Steve McPherson told Variety. "This is not something that can be shot in the Santa Monica Canyon."

Location scouting was done for three days last week with emphasis on jungle and beach settings at Kualoa Ranch and windward beach sites. The show's unit production manager arrived yesterday.