Everybody Hates Hugo - Production

Production

"Everybody Hates Hugo" was the first episode of the series directed by Alan Taylor. Taylor had previously directed episodes of The Sopranos and Sex and the City. The episode was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, the pair had previously written the episode "Born to Run".

The character of Libby, played by Cynthia Watros, was introduced in this episode. Originally, Libby had been written to be in her late 40's or early 50's. Jennifer Jason Leigh was approached to play the part, but it went to Watros instead. When Watros auditioned for the part of Libby, she did not think that she would end up being cast. Once she was, Watros and her twin daughters immediately moved from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Bernard is also introduced in this episode. As Rose is black, the producers thought the audience would expect Rose's husband to also be black, and made Bernard white to surprise the audience. They expected the audience to assume Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), the only black man in the tail-section survivors, was Bernard. L. Scott Caldwell, Rose's portrayer, was unaware of their plans and had been picturing her own husband, a tall black man, when playing the scenes. When she found out Bernard was white she was surprised, but not shocked.

This was the first time in which Raj K. Bose, who played the shop clerk, was credited. Bose had been a background actor on the series, playing a crash survivor and a flight attendant. Bose was originally cast to play the role of Sanjay in the first season episode "Born to Run (Lost)", but was forced to give up the role after he had to teach a marketing class at the University of Phoenix. Casting agent Margaret Doversola later asked Bose to audition for the part of the shop clerk and he got the part.

For the flashback scene at the gas station, the crew rented out a 7-11 for a day. When Hurley drove in, the van was actually being pushed instead of driven to eliminate any sound from the vehicle. However, every time the van was pushed it would stall or the timing would be off. Once that problem had been solved, it started to rain, but eventually it stopped and the crew was able to get the shots before ending shooting at midnight. Hurley's dream scene was shot in the Hawaii Film Studio, where the hatch had been constructed. After each take of Hurley eating food in the hatch, the old food would be replaced with newer food. Garcia did not actually eat all the food though, he would sometimes just chew it and then spit it out into a garbage can. The chicken head that Bose had to wear was extremely heavy, causing actor Daniel Dae Kim to have to hold it up while Bose delivered his lines.