HE MESMERIZED worldwide audiences for playing the rugged hero Jack Shepard in the smash TV series "Lost." Now, Matthew Fox vaults into the big screen with two back-to-back major films.

First up in February is Columbia Pictures’ explosive action-thriller "Vantage Point" where he stars with Dennis Quaid as Secret Service agents assigned to protect the American president at a landmark summit on the global war on terror. When the president is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues and disparate lives collide in the hunt for the assassin.

Fox follows that up with Warner Bros.’ high-octane family adventure "Speed Racer" based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida. The film combines revolutionary visual effects and cutting-edge storytelling that have become the benchmarks of the Wachowski brothers’ films ("The Matrix" series).

The actor talks about "Vantage Point" and "Speed Racer" in the following interview:

Matthew Fox: "I was attracted to the project because of (director) Pete Travis. I’m fascinated with the concept of perspective and vantage point. It’s amazing to me how 10 people can look at the same events and depending on the point of view that they’re looking at it from, they can see it differently. I’m constantly trying to remind myself of perspective and how much control I have over how I perceive things. I can’t really talk a lot about the role without giving away parts of the picture, but that was attractive to me as well."

Fox: "Yeah. Pete was really amazing about trying to get us (trained), and those guys are really reticent to talk about their profession. So getting that opportunity was great and Pete really pushed for that to happen and then we had some research materials as well that we studied. And then we had people on the set all the time that were sort of consultants to make sure that what we were doing jives with reality."

Fox: "I’m a cartoon and comic book fan, and I love anime. (But) I didn’t know anything about ‘Speed Racer.’ I grew up without a television. So when I found out that the Wachowskis were doing ‘Speed Racer’ and were interested in me for it, I immediately went on the Internet, and as soon as I saw Racer X, I was like, I think that looks like me. I kinda think I would be a good Racer X. (Laughs) So then I was like, ‘Dammit, I’m going to win this role!’ I went and read for it, and then waited quite a while. It was the project last spring that I was dying to do, and I would have been so incredibly disappointed if I didn’t."

Fox: "Racer X is all about mystery. And it’s all about not just disguise of suit, but it’s disguise of voice –he’s, like, impenetrable. Part of the fun that I had was that I got to be a badass, and work with the most insane stunt guys. I’m proud I did it all. They didn’t double me. The stunt guys were like, ‘’We think you can do everything. Do you want to do everything?’’ ‘’Damn right I want to do everything. I want to do everything to the point where you think it looks like crap. That’s when I need you to step in and help me out.’’ (During) some of it I was just dying. I would do these fight sequences in this leather thing, and the amount of sweat was extraordinary. I was coming home ultra-dehydrated."

Fox: "There’s no question. For me, it’s more about my own quality of life. It’s better for me to do films because it gives me much more flexibility in my life. I love the idea of becoming all-consumed in this one thing for four months, and then it’s done, and I’m just floating around going, I don’t know what I’m doing next. You’re in that process of looking, and then you’re like, Oh, this is the inevitable next thing. Then you dive into that. Also, I love to play new roles. (But) the beautiful thing about ‘Lost’ is that even though I’m playing Jack Shephard, I get all these new things to do with him. It’s not like playing Charlie Salinger on ‘Party of Five.’ It was tough to play that same character for six years because I don’t think I got to evolve that character and play new elements of him and have him be as many different things as Jack Shephard can be."