THE BIG IDEA WITH DONNY DEUTSCH

CNBC TV

Original Broadcast Date: 2/2/05

 

 

DONNY- ABC is enjoying a banner year in prime time and one of the breakout hits is the TV show LOST. Take a look.

 

(clip is shown from LOST where Locke knocks out Boone with the blunt edge of a knife)

 

DONNY- Critics are calling one of the stars, Ian Somerhalder, the next big thing. He joins us tonight from our Big Idea studio in Burbank. Ian, how are you doing, man ?

 

IAN- Great. How are you, Donny ?

 

DONNY- Hey, congratulations on the show.

 

IAN- Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

 

DONNY- Thanks for being here. Now when you got this script did you have any idea this thing was going to be a juggernaut ?

 

IAN- No, I never really got the script...that's the whole thing. Uh...

 

DONNY- I hate when that happens !

 

IAN- (laughs) Yeah...we had 3 pages of the sides of the script and no one, no one could read it. Actually, I didn't read it until the day I signed the deal. Everyone...

 

DONNY- Okay, how about the first time you wrote it, er, read it that day...did you have a sense of it ?

 

IAN- It was pretty great. Umm, it's one of those scripts you get, it's so cool, you know, that says "confidential" across every page...it has a number on it and your name, so if anybody gets it...you know, and it gets out they know who gave it out and you get in a lot of trouble.

 

DONNY- You have to give up your first male born at that point.

 

IAN- Exactly. No, it was really incredible, you know, it was so fast, it was a page turner and you're sitting there going..."this is TV ?"

 

DONNY- Now I gotta tell you that the crashing of the plane to me was one of the most compelling visuals I've ever seen on TV...I mean it was just mindblowing how...I don't want to say real, I've never been on a plane thank God that crashed...but realistic, you really felt like you were there.

 

IAN- No, you're right and I'm glad you said that. It is. The fact that it was actually made for television, it is mindblowing, umm, just by virtue of the costs. The production value was incredibly high but it's pretty...it's a lot for 8 o'clock, you know ?

 

DONNY- You know what's interesting ? I was surprised at 8 o'clock. I heard they spent $45 million bucks on the first two (episodes). But you know I think that's great news because ABC was certainly on their butts...that basically doesn't happen on its own and you can't necessarily pull rabbits out of the hat and they put their money where their mouth was and God bless them.

 

IAN- You know what...no, absolutely, definitely bless them. And I thank them, seriously, we thank them. It's funny, you'll talk to anybody on the show, any one of the cast members, and we sound like broken records. Thank you ABC, you know, thank you guys for taking...and our producers and our writers...it's just...to be a part of something this huge and wonderful is incredible...and it's the people that make it up.

 

DONNY- Ian, you play rich guy Boone, stranded, a bunch of people stranded on an island, and all kinds of mysteries pop up all over the place, both around the island itself and the people. Is there any concern that the very thing that's made it successful, this kind of mystery...what's going to happen next, as some of those mysteries get solved vis-a-vis a TWIN PEAKS that maybe some of the interest gets lost ?

 

IAN- Umm...you know, I think the one thing this show has going for it is the number of dynamics in which you can create because there are so many people. But I think for every resolution there are 5 questions.

 

DONNY- Now I want to go back a little bit. You started out as...I mean, a great looking guy...started out as a male model at 10. How does one become a male model at 10 ?

 

IAN- One becomes a male model at 10 because one wanted more horses and motorcycles and boats and one...

 

DONNY- An honest answer ! Thank God, an honest answer. Not, you know, "my craft and this and I was trying to do fashion." Thank God.

 

IAN- (smiling) No...one's mother decided one day to ask him if he thought money grew on trees. I didn't know, you're 10...you don't know about capital at 10. And she said I have a proposition for you...look, you can go and do this modeling thing and you can make some money and you can buy whatever you want.

 

DONNY- Now you said...I want to read a quote from you what you learned about modeling is basically you learned about women, how to lose money, knowledge about the world. Give me lessons in making money and women...I can use all the help I can get.

 

IAN- (smiling) I don't think so buddy ! I think you've done pretty well.

 

DONNY- Thanks a lot, man.

 

IAN- You know, it's really funny. I think that it took a long time for me...it took a couple of years for me to really sort of accept and embrace the road that I'd chosen because all your friends are in college and sort of going through the motions and enjoying it and you go through this sort of head trip...did I make the right decision ?

 

DONNY- I want to jump a little forward into acting...where you started to get a lot of attention is, uh, THE RULES OF ATTRACTION where you played a gay guy  attracted to James Van Der Beek and, uh, later in your career you also played a gay guy again. You had a great quote when somebody said what's with playing gay guys...you said "Well, nobody asks Anthony Hopkins does he eat people" and I just find it a bizarre question that people even ask somebody that plays a gay guy...it's bizarre.

 

IAN- You know, yeah, it's a challenge. And, you know, there's this whole cliche thing where, you know...yes...(starts to laugh as a clip from THE RULES OF ATTRACTION is shown with Ian dancing in front of the mirror in his underwear)

 

DONNY- You're making us all look bad there with that, I gotta tell you...

 

IAN- (laughing) This is great !

 

DONNY- I like that. It's a little take off on that RISKY BUSINESS thing.

 

IAN- Well, you know, Roger Avary...uh, it's just horrible. Roger Avary has a way...

 

DONNY- That's...you weren't a serious actor yet...you were just making your chops then. In that movie of James Van der Beek, a great looking guy...you're a great looking guy...I go to the cast of LOST and pretty much 80%, 90% of the people are what I say are very easy on the eyes. You were voted one of PEOPLE's sexiest guys. And I know you're asked this question...so I want to kind of ask it in a different way, is...why are people shocked when great looking people are on TV and people go "do your looks bother you ?" No, they open doors...that's OK. I mean, I crack up when people go is there a problem for you that you're so good looking and that's maybe why you get the roles. Yeah, that certainly helps.

 

IAN- (smiling) Yeah, it does. It hurts sometimes.

 

DONNY- What do you mean it hurts ? I don't buy that.

 

IAN- Buy it, please.

 

DONNY- Please...tell me how it hurts.

 

IAN- It's on sale...no,no.no...I'm serious. The roles that...there have been some really amazing compelling roles that were written in scripts that were very well written with casts that were wildly talented and I really wanted to be a part of them and the studio would say no...the producers, the director, would say no. They wouldn't take...they wouldn't take...it wasn't that they weren't taking me seriously, it's just that they didn't want someone that looked like me, and...

 

DONNY- Sure, well it's the same way if you're casting for a fat person, I mean...

 

IAN- It's all specifics.

 

DONNY- I hear you.

 

IAN- But, yeah...I'm not going to victimize myself clearly but I think that there are pros and cons to everything.

 

DONNY- Ian, final question. You've just kinda come on in a huge way with LOST. All of a sudden now there are a lot of doors open, people are fawning all over you...how do you keep your feet on the ground and just kind of not lose it ?

 

IAN- Keep your feet on the ground. Just getting by the best most grounding family...umm, and, uh...we live in Hawaii. We live in Hawaii and I just bought a piece of property at home in Louisiana where I can go and just chill and...

 

DONNY- Hey, thanks for being here, man.

 

IAN- Donny...

 

DONNY- Continued success.

 

IAN- Thanks so much. I appreciate it.