Evangeline Lilly on Lost. Image: ABC
It’s a well known fact at this point that Evangeline Lilly considered quitting acting after her tenure on the ABC sci-fi drama Lost, only deciding not to quit after her experience on Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films.
Recently, she’s been talking about why: on The Lost Boys podcast, Lilly discussed her experience on the set of the series.
“In Season 3, I’d had a bad experience on set with being basically cornered into doing a scene partially naked, and I felt had no choice in the matter,” she said, as transcribed by Variety. “And I was mortified and I was trembling when it finished. I was crying my eyes out, and I had to go and do a very formidable, very strong scene thereafter.”
She went on to say that a similar incident allegedly happened in the fourth season, and that, after that incident, she refused to do another nude scene for the series.
During another interview, on a panel about women doing stunt work, she alleged that a stunt coordinator had intentionally caused an on-set injury that she suffered during the production, blaming the stunt coordinator for being “misogynistic”, commenting, “I felt it was him saying, ‘I’m going to put you in your place for standing up to me.’”
Now, Deadline reports that JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse, the creative and producer team behind Lost, have issued a joint statement apologizing for Lilly’s alleged negative experiences.
“Our response to Evie’s comments in the media was to immediately reach out to her to profoundly apologise for the experience she detailed while working on Lost,” the statement reads. “We have not yet connected with her, but remain deeply and sincerely sorry. No person should ever feel unsafe at work. Period.”
Women, unfortunately, feel unsafe at work in many situations, and the gender imbalance in Hollywood in particular has been a significant focus of conversation since Harvey Weinstein’s outing as a sexual predator last year.
Lilly has not yet responded to the apology. The actress has notably become an advocate for herself and a feminine perspective in her career, notably advocating for a more powerful and distinctly feminine portrayal of Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man & The Wasp. It’s work that’s certainly needed.