"Welcome back, everybody,” Conan smiles, coming back from a commercial break. “You all know my next guest from the films
In The Bedroom and
The Grudge. He's currently stranded on a desert island on the series
Lost. Please welcome William Mapother!"
William strides out from behind the curtain in front of the audience, grinning widely and waving slightly at the applause. He takes his seat. "Thanks, Conan. It's great to be here."
"Mr. Mapother--I hope I pronounced that right--let me start by asking the question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind..." He pauses dramatically, touching his fingertips together and leaning forward. "Is your character Ethan really Canadian?"
William laughs. "Well, that would be giving away the eventual plot twist. I'm sure there's a spin-off in the works to answer that question."
"Oh, I was so close," Conan grumbles, snapping his fingers and leaning back in his chair. "So you're on this hit show now, you've been in all these plays and films. Do you finally feel like people know you as more than Tom Cruise's cousin now?"
"Absolutely. I've been determined to establish a worthwhile career on my own merit. I've been in a few of Tom's films, often with pretty small parts. But the biggest parts I've gotten, such as
Lost, I
n The Bedroom,
Threshold...those are parts I've gotten on my own," said William. "I don't want to sound arrogant or boastful, but it's very rewarding to get a role on your own talent, and not someone else's name."
"Yeah, I tried to change my last name to Leno. Didn't really get me anywhere, as you can see," he laughs a bit, surveying the studio. He glances at the blue notecard in his hand. "This is something that I had no idea about. You were a teacher for a while."
William laughs at Conan's joke, before answering, "I was. And Oh God, if you think working with the Others would be scary..." William shakes his head with an exhausted out-take of breath. "Even thinking of my class brings Vietnam-style flashbacks. I practically picture the paper airplanes crashing towards my face."
"You were traumatized by origami? Gah, paper cranes!” he cries. “And you were teaching, what, English? In East LA? Which has gotta' be tough."
"I taught English, mainly, although I was a substitute a lot of the time," explains William.
"So the kids are all like 'Mr. Smith lets us leave early, Mr. Smith lets us eat ice cream...'," he asks.
"That's scarily close to the truth. Of course, I taught high school, so it was more along the lines of, 'Mr. Smith lets us smoke, Mr. Smith lets us snort heroin."
"Yeah, 'Mr. Smith lets us conduct our drug deals in the classroom. Don't be such a drag, man'," he adds. "So obviously, you got out of that very bad environment and got into acting. You did an off-off-Broadway play, studied with the Groundlings. And you decided that's what you were gonna' do."
"Absolutely. Comedy was the main reason I got into acting," replies William. "I'm just a massive comedy fan. The more I got into acting, though, the more I saw opportunities in it. I was already familiar with movie sets from working as a PA on some of Tom's movies."
"And Tom, in a really roundabout way, led to your getting the part in
In the Bedroom. Which is pretty far from comedy. I read that you met the director of the film at a dinner party, and Tom introduced you two to each other," he asks.
"Yes, Todd Field and I were introduced to each other by Tom. We had a very long, very intense discussion, and he told me about this little movie
In The Bedroom. He told me it was just based on a short story by Audre Dubus. 15 months later, he called me and told me that he had a part for me if I was interested," nods William. "The part was offered to me, but I insisted on reading for it. The producers didn't know who I was, so it was Todd who really fought for me."
"And you play a really bad dude in that. With crazy bleached hair. Did that affect the way people approached you? If they approached you at all?" Conan asks.
"Playing such a nasty, repulsive guy like Richard has really made an impact. It really got under people's skin," replies William. "I already get women in the grocery store come up and say, 'I didn't like you when I met you and I just remembered why.' There's something about this character that really gets under people's skins."
"So you're just trying to buy grapes or something, and they tell you how evil you are," he remarks.
"Well, actually, I'm buying chainsaws and machetes when that happens."
"Oh, okay," he laughs. "I'm shopping in the wrong grocery store. That's the one Ash from
Evil Dead runs, isn't it?" He turns his attention back to his notecards. "So then you went on to do
The Grudge, adapted from a Japanese horror film, and you filmed on location in Tokyo. What was that like?"
"Oh, like a whole different country," smirks William. "Honestly, I didn't get the chance to do a lot of exploring. The differences in culture were very clear, however. Japan is such a beautiful country and we were all a little sad to leave it. I mainly stayed around the city, and I went to a temple, which was very moving."
"And your co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar was your tour guide?"
"Buffy was our tour guide, so we were safe from pretty much any supernatural nasties we encountered, like the ones in the movie," replies William, smiling widely.
"That kid with the cat was friggin' scary. And the hair—all this long, black, evil hair. I don't know why the hair of Japanese women is now scary to me," he shakes his head. "Did you pick up any Japanese while you were filming? Or did you teach the director any American slang?" he asks.
"I myself didn't learn any Japanese, but our director, Takashi Shimizu, picked up a little English. One of his favorites was, 'This time, suck less', which he would say and then just give a massive laugh. He has a great sense of humor," says William.
"Yeah, my director says that a lot," he laughs, looking over to the crew behind the camera. "See, he’s nodding. Bastard,” he mutters under his breath. “And now you're on
Lost, which is also very mysterious and scary. There's all this conjecture about where they are. Have you formed any theories?"
"I have a theory that the island is resting on the back of a giant, magic turtle that controls the circumstances through its imagination," says William in a serious tone. "Therefore, any plot holes or inconsistencies are solved."
"It's a magic turtle," he repeats, with a laugh. "I told your co-star Heidi that, and she totally denied it. Which means it must be true."
"Absolutely. That girl is just a black void of lies and deceit," smirks William.
"And she does it with this big smile, so you totally believe her," Conan agrees. "When you originally read the script, what was it that appealed to you? Apart from the filming in Hawaii for most of the year. Did you always want to play Ethan, or did you audition for other roles?" he asks.
"I originally auditioned for Sawyer, much like everyone else was that day. At the time, the character was a lot different from what he is now. Matthew, Jorge and Dominic auditioned for him as well," says William. "I messed up the audition, left, and thought I'd probably never hear from them again. Then, I got a call from my agent telling me they wanted me to audition for this Ethan character. I guess the rest is history."
"I dunno, you seem like a natural Southern conman to me,” he says. “Since it's such a huge ensemble cast, are there people that you spend more time with than others? 'Cause you're all probably filming on different days….”
"Yeah. Pretty much, whoever Ethan interacts with, I interact with. I spend most of my time with Rachel Weisz and Michelle Rodriguez, who take turns hurting me," grins William. "The only time I really see the rest of the cast is during minor scenes or at episode wrap parties."
"Hehe. What? You're getting beaten up by girls? That’s my gig.”
"I play a tough, scary guy. I'm actually a wimpy actor," confesses William.
"Actually that doesn't surprise me about Rachel. She's probably a bad influence on Michelle."
"Yes. If we ever call her an English Rose, it's in sarcasm considering her desire to drink sinful amounts and pose naked with snakes," says William. "I'm trying to compete with her. I ate an entire Toblerone by myself and I plan to pose nude in
Playgirl with an octopus on my head."
"An octopus? I don't know if that's a good idea. You'd have to watch where those tentacles go..." he cautions. "So apart from all the Toblerone-eating and other acts of depravity, are you doing anything else in your downtime? Doing any writing, or reading other scripts?"
"Well, the biggest downside of being on
Lost is that anyone could be killed off at any time, so all of us continue the look-out for work, which is what I've been doing. Reading a lot of scripts, for TV shows, movies, and especially smaller, indie films," replies William. "Besides that, I mainly listen to music, work out or just enjoy the sights of Hawaii."
"Well, we hope you have a long and happy life on the show. Though it's highly doubtful. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us," he says, shaking William’s hand and then turning back to the camera. "William Mapother, watch him Wednesday nights on ABC. Coming up after the break, it's Amy Poehler. Stick around, everybody!"
