John Hawkes on Joining Lost... and Not Quite Understanding It

Jennifer Lawrence isn't the only actor to make an impression in Winter's Bone -- as her terrifying, tattooed uncle Teardrop, John Hawkes (Deadwood, Me and You and Everyone We Know) goes from antagonist to unlikely ally in a riveting arc. Movieline sat down with Hawkes and several others from Winter's Bone yesterday and we'll have more from that chat soon, but until then, Hawkes was happy to talk about another recent arc he's done on the upcoming sixth season of Lost.

In a way, it seemed inevitable that Hawkes would join ABC's island drama, since the show's creators have previously poached a bushel of Deadwood veterans for guest shots, including Kim Dickens, Paula Malcomson, William Sanderson, Titus Welliver and Robin Weigert. "I have no idea what that's about!" admitted Hawkes. "They must have been really big fans."

Still, though Hawkes couldn't talk too much about his recurring character (go here if you want the potentially spoilery casting notice), he said that shooting the show has been a fun experience, if a disorienting one: "When you're not a regular on a show, you feel almost like you're an outsider, or like you're walking into someone else's party, in a way.

"I don't know the series, honestly, and I didn't really know what was happening so much," he laughed. "I didn't have time to watch 99 hours of the TV show before I left for Hawaii. I just tried to go with what was there in the script and tried to make it work like I would in a film. I tried to tell the story as best as I could."

Still, Hawkes might finally begin watching the show when his episodes start airing early in the season. "I suspect I'll see it," he said. "I'm not an actor who doesn't want to see my work, necessarily, but yeah, I'll turn an eye toward it. If I can make it through a few scenes of seeing myself, I'll watch the show and see what happens."

[Photo Credit: Fred Hayes/Getty Images]