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SHOWBIZ TONIGHT

Anna Nicole Daddy Wars; Celebs and Crime

Aired October 3, 2006 - 23:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[...] 

ANDERSON: It`s not often you can talk about someone he`s a heroin addict with a heart of gold. But you can say that about the character Dominic Monaghan plays on one of the most popular series on television, "Lost." Millions of people around the world also know him as one of the little hobbits in one of the most popular movie trilogies of all time, "Lord of the Rings."

And Dominic is with us tonight here in New York.

Good to see you, Dominic.

DOMINIC MONAGHAN, ACTOR: Nice to see you, too. It`s good to be here.

ANDERSON: Oh, congratulations on "Lost," on everything that you`ve done.

But "Lost," more than TV show, Dominic. It`s got a cult following; Web sites devoted to him; people watch it fanatically. Same with "Lord of the Rings." People were obsessed with it.

MONAGHAN: Right.

ANDERSON: Do you get the extreme-fan admiration and obsession?

MONAGHAN: Yes, you do. You get the kind of convention fans, the people who do it, you know, for a career, a 24/7-type thing.

But I like that; I like the fact that people can become obsessed by things, because when I was a kid, I felt the same way about "Star Wars." I felt the same way about snakes and lizards and things like that. So.

ANDERSON: Something to latch on to.

MONAGHAN: Yes, it`s fun.

ANDERSON: Your character in "Lost" is complex, to say the least. You`re a rock star; Charlie is a rock star with a heroin problem.

MONAGHAN: Right.

ANDERSON: .trying to get off it.

Now we know about these characters in real life. Clearly, you`re not a heroin addict.

But how do you prepare for something like this, and just nail it every single episode?

MONAGHAN: You know, I'm a big - I'm a big fan of music. You know, John Lennon was a big hero of mine. Obviously, he struggled with drug addictions his entire life. Jim Morrison as well. And, you know, I've read a lot about those guys. And I think, you know, they - they become two separate people. You know, to try and deal with the lifestyle of late nights and plane travel and - and, you know, free alcohol and free food and free everything, they - they can`t give themselves - a little bit of self abuse.

And I think that`s where it`s come from. There`s a lot of self- loathing in there. And that gives you a little bit more complexity, you know? And I think Charlie has the ability to be a lot of things. You know, he can be a truly caring, nice person, and then sneak off into the jungle and - and, you know, wrestle with his demons.

But there are - for me at least, I enjoy it when he becomes a kind of Anakin Skywalker character. You know, he puts on the black hood - we spoke about that, the.

ANDERSON: Little bit darker side to him.

MONAGHAN: Yes. When he - when he puts his hood up, he always kind of goes a little bit dark. And at the end of the last season, he had the hood down. But halfway through, the hood came up again.

So it's always a link to which way his (INAUDIBLE).

ANDERSON: Has both sides to him.

Well, earlier, you know, I did mention the Web sites devoted to - to this. A lot of blogging about "Lost." And recently, a lot of the buzz on the Internet has been that you, Josh Holloway and Matthew Fox have been told not to skinny dip in your free time by the producers.

First of all, you guys skinny dipping out there? You must be having a great time doing this series.

MONAGHAN: Well, that`s kind of blown out of proportion. You know, I think.

ANDERSON: Oh, is it?

MONAGHAN: I think in the early days we had some pretty high-profile parties where - where, you know, skinny dipping took place and all that kind of stuff.

We don`t do that. We - I go surfing. I`ve been told not to surf as much as I do because I - I recently kind of went over on my ankle and things like that. They want to keep us safe. But I don`t think they could ban us from living our lives. And if people want to skinny dip, then they can skinny dip, right?

ANDERSON: Well, obviously, I`m sure the producers don`t want the paparazzi, who follow you guys to Hawaii, to take an invasive picture of you in the buff, so to speak.

MONAGHAN: I think I - I think it would be very beneficial towards my career if they had a photo of my skinny dip. Because, you know, it`s impressive.

ANDERSON: Oh - oh, is it? OK.

MONAGHAN: It`s kind of impressive.

(LAUGHTER)

MONAGHAN: I mean this. You know, I`m like.

ANDERSON: Everyone in the studio`s laughing.

MONAGHAN: It`s so happy (ph).

ANDERSON: OK. Well, we`ll move on from that. But.

MONAGHAN: Right.

ANDERSON: We were talking in the show earlier - George Clooney talking about the paparazzi being invasive, being a nuisance.

You`re in the public eye. How do you feel when your private life is thrust into the spotlight? Does it annoy you? Does it anger you? Or do you just accept it as part of the territory now?

MONAGHAN: You know, I think you have to try and not give the benefit of having them annoy you so much and - and get into your life. You know, so much of what I do is on show as an actor, you know, my - my job is on show. So many other things - the music I like, the food I eat, where I go, the clothes I wear, the designers I enjoy - the thing that I try and keep private is, strangely enough, my private life. You know, I don`t think that`s a huge stretch..

(CROSSTALK)

MONAGHAN: Exactly. You know, people find out things. You know, you unfortunately are out in the public. You - you go and, you know, get your laundry done. I`ll go surf or, you know, drive to work and - and people will follow you. But I just refuse to allow those people to do anything more than take my picture. They`re not in my head enough for that.

ANDERSON: Right. You still have to live your life.

MONAGHAN: Exactly.

ANDERSON: Well Dominic, congratulations on all the success of "Lost."

MONAGHAN: Thank you.

ANDERSON: We are looking forward to the big premiere.

Good to see you again, Dominic Monaghan.

MONAGHAN: Good to see you, too.

ANDERSON: And you can catch the season premiere of "Lost" tomorrow on ABC.

[...]

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/03/sbt.01.html