MATTHEW FOX: Oh yeah, I know a lot. I know everything that got him to that point. I know why he’s at that point. That was important to me.

Q: In general terms what does having a final date for the show to end affect the way you as a cast and crew approach the whole process?

MATTHEW FOX: I think how it affected Damon was the – Damon campaigned for that, that was what he wanted, and I understand why, he would always say to me, ‘If somebody told you you were going to go out and run a marathon tomorrow, but they were like we’re not sure whether we’re going to make you run 18 miles or you’re going to run 26, you wouldn’t have any idea how to pace yourself through that.’ And he has the story in his head, but until he knew how many chapters he had to write that story in, it was very difficult for him. And so now that he has that, that’s why the story is going to have a lot of momentum and is going to move quickly, every episode is going to feel like it’s charging forward to the final conclusion of this story.

Q: How surprised were you that the show became the cultural phenomenon that it seems to have become?

MATTHEW FOX: I’ve always believed in it being something very special from the moment I read the first script and met with J.J. and Damon and the people that were involved. I felt very positive that it was going to be a very good show. You can never count on that translating into some sort of finding a massive audience. And what the show has done globally has just been astounding. I’m very surprised by it. But on the other hand, I think the show deserves it.

Q: Do you think it lost its way? It had a huge audience and then a huge drop off.

MATTHEW FOX: No, I don’t feel that at all. The people that jumped, those were all bandwagon jumpers, those were the people who would not have been Lost fans to begin with. We won the Emmy, we won the Golden Globe, we were like this cultural [phenomenon] and then we had a whole bunch of people jump on just because they couldn’t stand being left out, and they weren’t really Lost fans to begin with. And they all went away.

Q: What are the other two movies you did besides Speed Racer and Vantage Point?

MATTHEW FOX: I did a cameo in Smokin’ Aces as well, with Joe Carnahan, so I count that as one of the projects. We are Marshall, Vantage Point, Speed Racer, Smokin’ Aces

Q: Is it true you don’t have a television at home? How do you keep your kids grounded when you’re a star?

MATTHEW FOX: Well they don’t have any contact with the business part of it. They really don’t get to see any of the things I’m in. Speed Racer that’s one of the things that I was just so excited about as well was that I knew that my kids – it’s a PG film and a family movie, and they came to Berlin and they came on set and saw me in the full Racer X thing, and I didn’t want to scare them so I was like, ‘Hey,’ and they were like, ‘ Daddy?’ ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s me,’ and I walked on set and my little boy turned to my wife and he goes, ‘I want to be Race X next Halloween.’

Q: How old are your kids?

MATTHEW FOX: He’s six and the girl’s turning 11 this spring.

Q: Are they aware that their daddy is a big star?

MATTHEW FOX: I don’t know what big star means. I have no idea whether – I guess people at school make a little bit of a thing about it, but I don’t think they’re really that conscious of that in any way.

Q: Would you like to have a big family?

MATTHEW FOX: Every now and then I think about having another one, and then my wife says, ‘Absolutely not.’

Q: How’s life in Hawaii?

MATTHEW FOX: I’ll tell you what, I’ve never really been a beach paradise guy. I’m more of a mountain person, so it’s been amazing and we’re enjoying it and it’s been a welcomed change for us to get the kids away from the bigger city into a quieter – they’re in a really good school and they’re making great friends and it’s been wonderful, but it’s not the place I would want to live the rest of my life. I just need bigger horizons, mountains, and I need four seasons. I really miss four seasons of weather I’ve got to be honest with you.

Q: What do you want to do with the rest of your career when Lost goes off the air? A romantic comedy?

MATTHEW FOX: Again, for me it’s just sort of project by project. I don’t think I’ll do television again. I only say that because – I think some of the best writing is going on in television, and in my opinion Lost is an example of that. The reason why I want to do films from here on out is just because it gives me more control over my year. I love the idea that I can pour myself into something 110% for three months and then it’s done. Then I’m unemployed again, and then I use that unemployment period to hang out with people that I love and nurture those relationships and do things that I love to do and reenergize myself until that next thing comes along that feels inevitable for me. And that just gives me more control over the year. When you’re working on a television series, depending on whether you’re doing 24 episodes or doing 16 like we are now, that’s anywhere between six and nine months of your year is locked into one character, one project, one place and I would just like to have a little bit more flexibility than that.

Q Will J.J. come back and direct an episode of Lost?

MATTHEW FOX: I would love that, and I think it probably will happen before the final episode. I would be very surprised if J.J. didn’t want to come back and direct at least one more episode of the show.

Q: Going back to Speed Race for a second, you mentioned PG, but there’s a lot of talk that the movie might be rated G.

MATTHEW FOX: They might be going for G as well. I’m not sure where that’s going to fall, but it’s certainly going to be in one of those two categories.

Q: Could you talk a little about working for the Wachowskis and if you had any preconceived ideas about them going in and what were they like on set?

MATTHEW FOX: None, no. They were very private and so you don’t really know much about them until you get to meet them and fall into their world, and they really are artists, they create a world and a big part of your job, particularly on a cartoon being turned into this whole world, is that you spend all of your time trying to figure out what that world that they’re creating in their two head is, and you’re trying to crawl in that and you’re trying to bring that image of X, and that’s what I was doing, X, and this guy and this voice and this presence and this silhouette and find that guy within the backdrop of what they’re doing, which was just amazing. It was a really, really great experience.

Q: I’m curious how your life now in Hollywood compares to what you envisioned for yourself when you first started out as an actor?

MATTHEW FOX: I never ever thought I’d be doing what I’m doing right now. I never really set out – getting here has just been a series of a bunch of opportunities, one leading to another, and I never set out when I was 22-years-old and said, ‘I want to be acting in big movies.’

Q: Would you like to do romantic comedies, and do you consider yourself a romantic guy?

MATTHEW FOX: I’m probably on a scale of 1 to 10 on romantic, like a 3.

Q: Does your wife agree with you?

MATTHEW FOX: Yeah, yeah, she probably would, but she’s a 3.7

Q: So Valentine’s Day is not a big day?

MATTHEW FOX: No, we’re just not soft and mushy in that way. If the right romantic comedy script came along, if somebody writes one that’s not the same exact fucking formula, then ….

"Vantage Point " opens in theaters on February 22nd.

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