Canada.com Interview

NEW YORK - As one of the high-profile stars in the popular TV series Lost, Emilie de Ravin has endured more than her share of silly questions from inquiring minds.
Usually, she tries to be friendly and forthcoming, but the Australian actress makes an exception during a recent promotional interview for the movie Remember Me, which opens March 12.
In the romantic drama, de Ravin plays Ally, a New York cop's daughter who ends up falling for Tyler, a rebellious college student played by Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson. The characters develop a relationship - to the chagrin of Ally's protective father.
That's great, but what was it like kissing Robert Pattinson, she's asked?
"Come on," says de Ravin as she rolls her eyes to dismiss the teen-mag type of query.
She had more to say about her Remember Me portrayal and working alongside Pattinson. For instance, she will admit that her decision to do the Pattinson vehicle had nothing to do with the actor's involvement.
"His name might have been on the cover of the screenplay, but I didn't associate him with the movie," de Ravin admits.
However, she learned to appreciate his talents and his drive to be an actor, not a teen sensation. "He's a very sort of normal, grounded, down-to-earth individual, and he's not one of these people who's doing this for the fame," she says.
Neither is de Ravin. Besides, she never expected to get the part. Her Remember Me character went through a series of re-writes. Finally, the producers decided to go with de Ravin a month before shooting started last year.
That meant de Ravin, on hiatus from Lost, had to take a crash course on changing her dialect from Aussie to the Queen's style of New York speak. Luckily, she felt comfortable with the general Ally persona.
"Ally's full of life and she has an attitude," de Ravin says. "But Tyler (Pattinson) is the first person she's opened up to, and she's more in touch with appreciating life."
That's the key theme to Remember Me, despite the love affair, the family tragedies and the emotional turmoil of loss.
"I think there's a big message in the film: not being fearful of life," de Ravin says. "I thought about this after reading the script for the first time, and I think it remains the main part of the film.
"The movie says, 'Life is so hectic, and it's so go-go-go, that it is important to take a second and think, 'OK, I'm here today,' and just appreciate the day for what it is."
The 28-year-old has attempted to do that since studying ballet as a child and, later, with the Australian Ballet School as a teen. She also enrolled at Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art. When she moved to L.A., she quickly won the role of the alien/human hybrid Tess on the cult hit Roswell.
She also made a name for herself playing the addict girlfriend in Brick, and the beauty in jeopardy in The Hills Have Eyes.
But most Lost TV fans know her as Claire, the lady with a baby and, perhaps, some ulterior motives, on the supernatural drama entering its sixth and final season.
"It's quite an intellectual show," agrees de Ravin. "A lot of people have very interesting conversations about it and endless theories."
As did de Ravin, who was left in the dark about the story arcs. "I gave up guessing after the first season," she says, "because I was always wrong."
Indeed, de Ravin's Claire has been one of the survivors in more ways than one, and although her character took a year off in Season 5, she's supposed to figure prominently in the finale.
She doesn't know how, but she's thrilled to have been involved with it and is enjoying the return of some characters from the Lost past.
"It was such a revolving door," says the actress. "But everyone seems to be coming back. They really wanted to incorporate everyone with the flashing sideways, backwards and forwards, and I think they have."

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