Interview Profile: 'MOONLIGHT' STAR ALEX O'LOUGHLIN

Interview Profile: 'MOONLIGHT' STAR ALEX O'LOUGHLIN WANTS FANS RABID FOR MORE EPISODES

The sexy Australian actor says the season will end but leave us wanting more

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By SEAN ELLIOTT, Senior Editor
Published 11/20/2007

CBS has a certified hit with their genre drama MOONLIGHT. The series is already building up a strong supportive fan base and a loyal following that was just waiting for the next well-put together vampire show to hit the airwaves. Of course, now with the Hollywood writers’ strike putting a crimp into things the future of all television is looking a bit murkier than it was before.

Alex O’Loughlin plays a vampire named Mick St. John, a Los Angeles detective who is more in touch with his humanity than a lot of his vampire brethren. He gets his blood from a fellow vamp at the local morgue and generally tries to do something positive with his immortal gifts. His greatest hurdle is overcoming his attraction for Beth, played by British actress Sophia Myles, and not allowing his feeling for her to get in the way of doing what is right and not dragging her deeper into his world. O’Loughlin took a few minutes out of fighting the good fight to fill iF Magazine in on where the series is heading, and why he’s so pleased to be a vampire on prime time TV.
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iF MAGAZINE: Can you give us any teasers as to how Coraline’s return is going to continue to effect Mick?

ALEX O’LOUGHLIN: I probably should mark my words and be careful about how much I say. [Laughs] What I can say is that Coraline is never too far for too long. Will you be seeing more of her? The answer is yes.

iF: What about Mick made you want to play this character?

O’LOUGHLIN: I really like his humor and that was the first thing that came off the page. First of all as an actor, you read scripts everyday and you read people’s interpretations of characters everyday, and some are more filled out than others and some are one-dimensional. Some characters speak to you more than others do. This character; I got him, I understood his motivations and his passions and why he is conflicted and why he thought was funny was funny. I just got him right away. I guess it all boils down to empathy. I had empathy for him and thought I could understand him so I thought I could justifiably play him.

iF: David Greenwalt was with the series briefly, did he make any large contributions that you could comment on, either with the series or with your character in particular?

O’LOUGHLIN: It’s a little difficult to answer that question, because the crossover of before David, introducing David, and then letting David go all happened pretty suddenly. David wasn’t onboard with us for that long, but he was onboard to make some differences. It’s not that he made any fundamental changes to my character, because nobody does that but me. He did help us in the time we were in the transition phase from the original pilot presentation through the re-casting and into the new MOONLIGHT. He helped us find what the new show was going to be. It wasn’t that different from the original concept, but he was there when we all came together and decided boundaries and lines and rules. It was a relief that he was on the same page that we were with the show not being about mythical books, and monsters and troll, but rather that it was about modern day vampires that come from a long lineage of first generation blood over the last fifteen hundred years. That’s it, it’s about vampires.

iF: Being from Australia do you have any difficulty with the American accent episode after episode?

O’LOUGHLIN: I don’t find it difficult. I’m actually surprised at how little I have to ADR for accent. Sometimes I’ll slur my words or the mic won’t pick up the sound, but it’s not usually because of the accent. I’ve been studying acting for quite awhile now and I’ve studied acting specifically since I was a little boy. When I was a boy I used to be fascinated by people that made different sounds. I used to guffaw at a Scottish accent, and any time I heard anybody from Edingburough or Glasgow I would just roar because I thought it was the funniest thing in the world. To me, it’s always been like music, which I also love, that’s the way I’ve approached it. Bearing that in mind and coupled with the fact that I was raised on American television, in Australia my generation was raised on your TV. All the hit shows over here went over there. My stepfather is Canadian as well, so I’ve always been surrounded by the sound, so I don’t find it difficult. I really enjoy it, and I stay in it while I’m working and on set.

iF: What is your favorite thing about playing Mick in general?

O’LOUGHLIN: He’s a pretty exhausting character to play; I have to be honest with you. As I’m talking to you, I’m standing here covered in blood and mud and I’ve been up since 4:30 this morning and I’ve had my hands inside another man’s stomach tying off his thoracic aorta out in the middle of nowhere. So, the situations this guy gets himself into, I read the script and say, ‘Oh for God’s sake Mick why don’t you just go on holiday!’ Can’t you go sit in a hut somewhere for a week? But, my favorite thing about him is his ability to overcome extreme drama and duress and not lose sight of the lighter side of life. It’s essentially stemming back to the humanity that he clings to which is centered in his heart. So without sounding sanctimonious or sentimental, I love this character because of the size of his heart.

iF: Most of the vampires we see are new vamps with the exception of Josef and Coraline. Will we be seeing more of the ancient vamps as the storyline continues?

O’LOUGHLIN: We sure are. Before the end of this round of twelve shows, you’re going to meet some extremely old and extremely powerful vampires. You’re going to meet some of the linage from the bloodline that Coraline and Mick are from. You’re going to learn as well, where we come from and where Coraline and therefore Mick come from. We’ll examine the bloodlines and show more mythology. We have a procedural element in the show and always will have a procedural element in the show and that’s established. Now the mythology and the true fans stuff is going make the fans go nuts. I’m a vampire fan and there’s some really juicy stuff coming up in the next few episodes.

iF: Do you have an upcoming projects?

O’LOUGHLIN: I have AUGUST RUSH coming out for Thanksgiving. I have WHITE OUT with Kate Beckinsale, a Joel Silver film, which is coming out next summer for a 2008 release. At the moment I am reading scripts, but it’s a tentative time with the current climate in Hollywood and no one is sure what direction they will be going after Christmas. It’s all sort of up in the air, which is disheartening if you let it in, but we’re all keeping our fingers crossed. I am reading some scripts and there’s some good stuff out there, but I’m not attached to anything yet.

iF: Since the writers’ strike is causing disruption in pretty much everyone’s filming schedules, are you going to be able to satisfy fans with any kind of resolution for the first story arc, or is it going to be left dangling?

O’LOUGHLIN: Oh yeah we’re just killing everyone. Ooh maybe I shouldn’t have given that away. [Laughs] Nah, I’m just kidding. I am not going to conduct this character and myself as if we aren’t coming back. As far as I am concerned we are coming back, even though I can’t get an answer out of Nina Tassler [CBS President]. We don’t know what’s happening. People are going to be totally satisfied and salivating for MOONLIGHT to come back. We’ve got a few epic things that wrap this end of the series. It’s and ending with no finale and an ending that leaves us dying to know lots of stuff. There are a couple of points that happen that change the course of things, but the world won’t let MOONLIGHT fade away after this. The fans will be rabid and demand a pick-up.

iF: Are there plans to elaborate on the Mick and Josef relationship?

O’LOUGHLIN: There are certainly plans to do that. That relationship, because it was pre-established, and they’re great buddies and that’s the way things are. Little pieces of information are released along the way. The way we met and that storyline we don’t touch on until we come back. Again, there are portions of it that come out in stories dealing with Coraline and Beth and you will learn more. I think you’ll be satisfied with everything and how we are wrapping up.

iF: Will Mick and Beth ever get to take their relationship to some kind of new step above what they have right now?

O’LOUGHLIN: Something is coming up in number eleven, that effects the way Beth feels about Mick and maybe effects the way Mick feels about Beth. Part of me feels that if anything happens between them, the show is over, but then again I’m not the creator. To me the unrequited love aspect of this show and the ROMEO AND JULIET mirror that we provide is an essential part of the drama and the tension. In Mick’s mind there is no way he could ever cross that line despite the flesh being weak and despite the depth of feeling that he has for this woman. In his mind that would be the ultimate sin. It’s awkward because he looks at her through paternal eyes, but he also wants to sleep with her, so that’s pretty weird. You never know and I get surprised from script to script. I don’t they should ever be given that luxury. Re-read ROMEO AND JULIET and see if you don’t cry when they kill themselves at the end. I’m not saying what we are dealing with is comparable to Shakespeare. [Laughs] But, if you’re not putting the big ideas on TV who cares? If it’s not about that one great love, then who gives a f**k?

iF: There’s a lot of stunts do you do your own?

O’LOUGHLIN: I do all of my own stunts. No, seriously, I do have a stunt double because there are certain things they won’t let me do. They won’t set fire to me and they won’t let me jump off a building. There are some stunts that it’s impossible to get insurance to let me do. For the most part, I do about 75% of my stuff. I have my own harnesses and pads and I’m trained in stunt work so I love it. The other thing is they don’t have to shoot around a stunt double, they can just shoot me and it makes the show better.

iF: When CBS originally announced this show it was supposed to be a procedural with vampire elements, but now it seems far more genre based. Does that change of direction please you?

O’LOUGHLIN: I’m thrilled. I couldn’t give a f**k about the procedural. Sometimes it’s interesting, depending on the day. The bottom line is if I wanted to do CSI I would do CSI. The bottom line is this is a character driven drama that has a procedural element and is based in a genre. The procedural element is fun if it’s used correctly, but if it is overused it becomes something else. I think from a fan point of view it’s disappointing when people get lazy and they know that is going to work and it’s going to require less effort and so they just go with it. I think what the guys have done with MOONLIGHT has been great and they have put in the effort to balance it out. We’ve had some great procedural stuff and some great cases and we’re getting to know these characters more and more and getting to care about them more. As we going we’re getting deeper into the mythology and the blood and guts of it, pardon the pun. So, I’m really pleased with how it’s shaping up.


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Vous avez vu la partie sur Beth loool

Citation :

It’s awkward because he looks at her through paternal eyes, but he also wants to sleep with her, so that’s pretty weird.

¤Veronica¤ a écrit:

Vous avez vu la partie sur Beth loool

Citation :

It’s awkward because he looks at her through paternal eyes, but he also wants to sleep with her, so that’s pretty weird.

héhé

Citation :

and any time I heard anybody from Edingburough or Glasgow I would just roar because I thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

hihi je pense pareil ! et accent écossais miam

merki pour l'itw Véro

Wep!!!
A oui l'accent écossais mdrr trainspotting!!!!! Loool

Yep, Ewan (McGregor)

Je dérive de sujet, je sors

OUi je l'adoore aussi!
Bon revenons au sujet Je l'addoooore aussi Alex loool

si quelqu'un pouvais me faire un résumé de l'interview ça serait sympa car moi et l'anglais c'est pas trop ça