ONCE UPON A TIME: LOST’s Jorge Garcia on Playing The Giant, Working with Green Screen, and More

There have been no shortage of LOST homages on ONCE UPON A TIME, and in this Sunday’s brand new episode, the ABC series is bringing on LOST fan favorite Jorge Garcia in a key role: he’s the giant at the top of the beanstalk!

To celebrate the occasion, I spoke with Garcia about reuniting with OUAT co-creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, working with green screens, what cast member he wants to work with, and more…

You worked with ONCE UPON A TIME co-creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis on LOST (where Garcia played Hurley). How did this particular collaboration come about?
Jorge Garcia: Obviously, I’ve known Adam and Eddy for a while, and they were the keepers of the Hurley mythology on LOST, for the most part. Every time we’ve run into each other and talked to each other, we’ve talked about how much we’d love to work together again.

Last year, I was doing ALCATRAZ, and now that that is no longer [around] and I became available, they were coming up with different ideas for me. And then they pitched me this giant story and I went in and met with them, and they gave me an idea of where they were looking to take it and it sounded like a lot of fun.

What can you say about the episode?
JG: I’m the giant at the top of the beanstalk, so there’s a hint to the story we’ll be alluding to. But in typical ONCE UPON A TIME fashion, it’s not exactly as you’ve heard this story before.

Can you say who you’re sharing scenes with?
JG: My scenes have been with Colin O’Donoghue (Hook) and Jennifer Morrison (Emma).

Have you done more than one episode?
JG: I’ve done only one, although they’ve been talking about bringing me back for another one in about a month.

Since you’ve only done the one, do you have a lot of questions about this character? Or are you just content to have whatever his story is play out?
JG: I mean, from my training from working on shows that they put a lot on their secrecy, I kind of just enjoy what they give me and milk that to the best that I can. They gave me enough to know where my guy is coming from, without necessarily all the specifics that are going to be a part of the story.

Given you’re playing a giant — and the show does so much work with green screens — what was the filming experience like?
JG: It was tough. Definitely kudos to the actors and the director for making it smooth. To do a scene where — I’m a giant, so I’m like six times the size of a human, so to do the same scene, to get the same coverage would require complete resets. Even though it was a green screen…they use a lot of practical items on the set to give the actors a more real place to act in.

The right size [items] for scenes when everyone’s human has to be taken out [with each new angle], and anything that is more from my perspective gets put it. It’s just a lot of work to do it all. And it was in this completely green screen studio — they call it a Zeus system — and they have these barcodes on the ceiling that can be read and they place you in the set. They have a simple 3D model of the set you act in, so they can kind of get an idea of what the finished product is going to look like. So it takes a lot of concentration and a bit of imagination to have the focus of being the person in the place when you’re surrounded by green and acting with sticks with green tapes on it.

And I’d imagine that was a new experience for you.
JG: Right. My extent of green screen in the past has been like a big piece of green screen behind me to make up for a piece of scenery that didn’t exist. This is the first time I had to interact with stuff.

And I had to do some scenes where they put like a Barbie doll in front of me. Or sometimes when they took the Barbie doll out, it would just be the end of a doll with a piece of time.

But kudos, because there were times where I’m acting with Jennifer and she — for the eyeline to be right — she was willing to basically lay on the floor and put her head by the camera so I’m actually looking at her for real. So stuff like that definitely made the long days go smoothly; everyone really had a great attitude. It made it a lot of fun to do.

That’s great. When I spoke with Lana Parrilla (Evil Queen/Regina), she told me she was pitching Adam and Eddy that you two should share scenes together. Have you heard about whether she’s made any progress?
JG: No, I haven’t, but I’m hoping we get to do at least a scene together, because it would be really, really fun to come full circle from being in acting class together to being — we’ve gotten close to each other because she was on SPIN CITY and then I worked a day on SPIN CITY the season after she had already left the show. And she came and did an episode of LOST, but none of her scenes were with me. We still hung out in Hawaii, but we didn’t get to work or do anything together, so this is another chance that maybe something will happen. [Laughs]

Hopefully it happens. I have to ask — are there any LOST homages in the episode?
JG: I don’t remember. There was nothing, necessarily, in my scene that I can recall, but I think there was something when I read the script. But I don’t remember specifically what it was. But they did put one in there. If it’s there [the fans] will find it.

–

ONCE UPON A TIME airs Sundays at 8 PM on ABC. If you want to catch up on old episodes, make sure to check out ABC.com!

Related:

ONCE UPON A TIME: ‘Child of the Moon’ Photo Preview
ONCE UPON A TIME: ‘Tallahassee’ Photo Preview Gives Us a Glimpse Into Emma’s Past
ONCE UPON A TIME: Adam Horowitz Teases Barbara Hershey’s Return

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And to be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv