J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Jack Bender, Carlton Cuse and other producers of ABC’s popular series Lost have publicly issued an apology to actress Evangeline Lilly after she spoke out about a partial nude scene she felt she was “cornered” into doing. In a joint statement released to The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets, the producers claimed their “response to Evie’s comments in the media was to immediately reach out to her to profoundly apologize for the experience she detailed while working on Lost.” As of this writing, the Ant-Man and the Wasp star has not publicly responded to the statement.
“We have not yet connected with her, but remain deeply and sincerely sorry,” the producers’ joint statement continued. “No person should ever feel unsafe at work. Period.” While speaking on The Lost Boys podcast, Lilly said she “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.” As a result, she said “I was mortified and I was trembling, and when it finished, I was crying my eyes out and I had to go on do a very formidable, very strong scene immediately thereafter.”
As a result of the experience, Lilly fought against, and failed to prevent, another similar scene the following season. She then declared, “I will never take my clothes off on this show again,” and decided never to do a nude or partial nude scene in any future project. “It’s not because I think there’s anything wrong with doing nudity,” she concluded. “It’s because I don’t trust that I can be comfortable and safe.”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
