Michael Keaton Turned Down Lost’s Jack Shephard Over One Scene
Though 20 years have passed since the show premiered, “Lost” remains a cultural touchstone. Its ending naturally didn’t go over well with everyone, but its early seasons, at the very least, are pretty flawless. Its pilot in particular still holds up as an effective exercise in character building and tension. It’s impossible to imagine its story beginning any other way, or any other actors playing the characters we’d grow to love.
The bulk of the cast remains synonymous with their roles to this day. For some, Daniel Dae Kim will always be Jin. Jorge Garcia will always be Hurley. And Matthew Fox will always be Jack, the noble hero whose point-of-view drives so much of the action in the inaugural episode of “Lost.” The series lives and dies on the strength of its ensemble, but Jack Shephard is the glue that holds these disparate characters together — especially in season 1.
It might come as a surprise, then, to learn that Jack wasn’t always positioned as such an important character — nor was Fox always set to play him. Back when “Lost” was in early development, creator J.J. Abrams had a different (and much more famous) actor in mind: Michael Keaton. And for a time, the “Batman” star was gung-ho about the role … until a slight tweak in the pilot changed his attitude.
Keaton would have played Jack in one episode only
Keaton was a major star in the ’80s and ’90s, but the new millennium saw him taking a step back from the spotlight. “I had a life,” the actor told The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. “And also not a whole lot of folks knocking on my door.”
Though he wasn’t getting the offers he used to, Keaton was on J.J. Abrams’ radar. “J.J. and I had a conversation — and I like what he does — I thought ‘Well, this guy’s worth talking to, he’s real smart,'” Keaton recalled. The actor had read a few of Abrams’ scripts in the past, but he seemed to love his initial concept for “Lost” and Jack Shephard:
“He 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. 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!'”
Jack Shephard later became a major character
As “Lost” was a multi-season affair, it would have required a major time commitment for Keaton. At the time, the actor wanted to be present for his son’s childhood, so a one-time gig naturally seemed like a good fit. Keaton noted his interest to Abrams after that initial conversation — but for one reason or another, the “Lost” pilot went through one major change:
“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 let the role go, paving the way for Fox (who originally auditioned for the role of James “Sawyer” Ford). It might have been interesting to imagine a world where Jack only appeared in the first episode of “Lost,” but at the end of the day, keeping him in the series was likely the right move. Fortunately, there was no love lost on Keaton’s part: the actor went on to have a major resurgence in the 2010s and has since reprised a few of the roles he’s best known for, Batman and Beetlejuice. There’s no telling whether an extended role on “Lost” would have affected his career as we know it, but hey — everything happens for a reason.
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