» ARCHIVES Dominic Monaghan Goes from 'LOTR' to 'Lost'     |     26 October 2004 Dominic Monaghan conquered the big-screen in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and is now grabbing the brass ring on the small screen with ABC's new drama, "Lost." Monaghan plays Charlie, the one-hit rocker on the show about a group of airline crash survivors stranded on an island - which has become one of the few breakout hits of the season. He says he's enjoying the challenge of playing a character coping with withdrawal from a heroin addiction, but is more intrigued by Charlie's struggle with issues of faith. "I was brought up in England in a relatively Roman Catholic faith," says the 28-year-old Monaghan, who was born in Berlin and later moved to Manchester with his father, a teacher, his mother, a nurse, and his older brother. "I have my own kind of opinions about faith that I'm trying to put into this character and maybe understand a little bit more about the journey." Notes the actor, "I think we all at some point question and struggle with our faith and try to make sense of how important it is in our world. The character I'm playing is looking at faith from the outside in and I'm trying to understand how that helps him and how that limits him." The 5'7"actor says that with each part he plays, "I try as hard as I can to try and realize the reason why I'm dealing with a character and its significance in my own life." Monaghan, who played the hapless, irrepressible hobbit, Merry Brandybuck in the "Lord of the Rings" saga notes that "the big themes in those films also dealt with the very basic human feelings of faith and trust and love - and feeling that a belief system you hold true is going to come through for you in the end." He says that people are still expressing their ardent appreciation for the "LOTR" trilogy and its positive messages to him "on a daily basis." And they haven't stopped telling him how much they loved him in the film, which "I don't mind at all. I'm slightly egocentric that way," he quips. Showing a decided tendency toward understatement, he adds, "We're still kind of associated with it ("LOTR")…It's kind of hard to duck away from it, which is not a bad thing. And they've got the DVD coming out at Christmas, so I don't think it's going to disappear for awhile." The "LOTR" cast became like family over the several years they were thrust together in New Zealand shooting the trilogy. Now Monaghan says he's found a new family shooting in Hawaii with his "Lost" cast mates, who include Matthew Fox, Naveen Andrews and Harold Perrineau, Jr.. "We're all really close and we're all away from our own families, so we hang out and do gatherings every weekend. We'll go swimming at Matthew's place, or watch movies at my house or we go bowling. We enjoy each other's company." Monaghan found that by the eighth episode of production, he and the troupe were "in the zone." Getting a handle on his own character, Charlie, wasn't too difficult, he adds, considering "Lost" co-creator/writer J.J. Abrams rewrote the part for him. "When I went and met J.J. at first, the character of Charlie was a 45-year-old man who'd already had his career," he recalls. "Then when I went back in a week later, they started to restructure Charlie into a 28-year-old guy and I think they just allowed my personality to become a part of Charlie's." Monaghan went through a surprisingly low period after completing "LOTR." He moved to L.A. - where he loves to surf - and found himself unable to land a job, without an American bank account or credit, without a car. Things picked up after he changed management. He was looking for more film work when "Lost" came his way. The former roommate of Mackenzie Astin (brother of his "LOTR" costar Sean Astin), Dominic was living alone in a Hollywood Hills house when Hawaii beckoned and he uprooted once more. From the ground-breaking, history-making legend in its own time, "Lord of the Rings" trilogy to playing a character specifically created for him on a show that turns out to be one of the season's only hit shows ain't bad a' tall, says Monaghan. "Life is sweet. My biggest satisfaction is being able to work - and if you can work and feel like you're doing something significant as well, it really doesn't get any better than that." 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