Articles 2008 - 2009

January 2008

Source: from Cleo Magazine online

He's got a supporting role amongst a phenomenal cast of the new film August Rush (in cinemas now) and plays the lead in the US TV series Moonlight (which airs on Channel Nine). Plus, he's dating the gorgeous Holly Valance.

How often do you get back here?

"I get back as regularly as I can. This year's been good because I've had a couple of times where my family have actually come out to LA which is the first time. I moved there three years ago and was commuting back and forth for a few years before that. So this is really the first time I've had my peeps over there and it's just lovely to show them where I live and all that sort of thing."

How hard was it when you first hit LA as an actor?

"Pretty hard. For the first few years when I was going back and forth, that's one thing, because you've always got a return trip in your back pocket so you can go back anytime. But it's frustrating and such hard work, there's so many people you have to meet. It wasn't till I packed the final bag and took the one-way ticket and made the final move. The first year was very difficult for me and there were a lot of times in the first year when I wanted to shut up sticks and leave. My car got written off and my stuff got stolen I had in storage, which was pretty valuable and all this stuff happened and I was thinking, ''What am I doing? '' So there were a couple of times where I was thinking of pulling the pin but the people around me, my mates over there and my mates here, kept reminding me that these are really the months that determine the man you are. It paid off."

What was it like to get a part in a film (August Rush) with such an amazing cast?

"I read that script and I knew I had to be a part of it. I know that sounds corny, but I was like, ''I'll kick down doors to get something in this'', because it was such a wonderful script. Kirsten Sheridan, the writer-director, her father Jim Sheridan is one of my all time favourite directors who's an absolute genius. I also have a real affinity with the music [that is part of the storyline], it's not something I'm really good at but it's something I really love. And I ended up playing my own guitar in the movie and I learned every song we ever played. I started out going for the lead, which was Jonathan Rhys Myers character, but in the end I'm not a name and they needed a name to fill the lead. I put so much into these auditions and I recorded two songs and played them in there and did three pages of thick Irish brogue singing, so it was quite a production to get a gig on, but once I got the role Kirsten and I became mates pretty quickly and she developed a role and made it about three times the size it was and really fleshed it out for me. It was tricky, because I had to accept a local hire which is a kind of contract with Warner Brothers where I had to find my own accommodation and being in New York for four months, you do the math, you don't end up making money doing a film like that, but to have it on your résumé, these are the sacrifices you make."

Is it frustrating that it takes so long from filming to release in projects?

"I like theatre so much because there's that immediate satisfaction and that immediate acknowledgement. From two minutes of walking on stage there will be an audience to respond and you'll see the tone of the audience. It's a whole other animal then when you film. All this time passes and you grow as a person and you change as a person so much. So it can be a little daunting in that respect and then you've got obligations when it first comes out to go and back it up and do promotion. I try to see everything I'm in once, but I'm not comfortable doing it. I find it excruciating."

What do you like about LA?

"I really like the weather, because I can ride motorbikes all year round."

Are you a motorbike addict?

"Yeah, I am. The studios hate it. That's just something I've always loved."

Do you have a favourite place?

"I've got a lot of favourite spots. I love being close to so many different getaways — it's like Australia in that sense. I had some family over at my joint a couple of months ago, which is in the West Hollywood Beverly Hills area, and we got on the freeway and in an hour and a half we were in the most beautiful alpine country in Lake Arrowhead, in the middle of the lake fishing. Then we got in the car a few days later and we were all rugged up because it was snowing. Drive a bit more and we were in the middle of the dessert and floating round the pool — it's mad to be able to do that. "But it has taken me a long time to get used to the way LA is you know because there's heaps of surgery, heaps of sex and there's so much on show. Whereas Australia's different, we don't subscribe to that bullshit. I found it quite confronting, but I'm at the point where you just plug in for it."

Is it hard seeing Holly in kissing scenes?

"You don't wanna see someone you love intimate with another person. I mean, it's a crap situation, but it's part of the deal. You really have to grow up with that stuff quite quickly. It's a strange teenage angst you get. Like, ''Get your hands off my girlfriend''. But it's natural. I'd be a bit concerned if I didn't feel anything. The thing is, you have 50 crew members around you, a boom up your *** and a camera up your nose so, you've got to keep it in perspective and not sweat it too much."

How would your friends describe you?

"My friends would say I'm dependable, a joker, intelligent. I'm multi-talented, probably because I'm so ADD. I can also be quiet."

January 11, 2008

by Liz Walsh

Three years ago Aussie Alex O'Loughlin, now 31, moved to LA to find work. Today, he's firming as one of the hottest new stars on US TV, as his pilot vampire show Moonlight storms the small screen. He says he had to leave Australia for work.

"Quite frankly, I couldnt survive as an actor, I was sick of waiting tables and pouring beers, digging holes on building sites," he says.

It was a gamble that paid off.

Now showing on Channel 9 here, O'Loughlin is hoping the romantic thriller will be picked up for another season. Moonlight, also starring Sophia Myles, above, and Shannyn Sossamon, tells the struggles and hardships of vampire detective Mick St John, played by O'Loughlin. O'Loughlin moved to LA with girlfriend Holly Valance, left, and he says he's slowly adjusted to life in LA-LA land.

"The transition took me about a year," he says.  "I found it difficult to adjust to LA life. But I've got a great life here now ... and I'm working which makes a big difference."

Does he ever get overwhelmed by how far he has come?

"Not really," he says quite philosophically.  "Only because it's been such a long road for me. I've worked every day for this. The last 12-13 years has been a constant battle...I don't take it for granted."

O'Loughlin says despite his character being a vampire, there is a lot to like in Mick St John. 

"What I like about Mick is hes a victim of circumstance," he explains.  "He was made into a vampire against his own will. Over the years he decided to use his powers for good and become a private investigator.  He's someone who always tries to do the right thing. But he's also flawed. I think he's a character we will all relate to at some stage, because he's a heart-centred character."

O'Loughlin says the vampire genre has not only fascinated viewers in the years since 1990s cult series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.

"Let's go a little further back," he says.   "Let's look at history over the last couple of thousands of years.  What is it about creatures that consume human blood to exist?  And why is it if there was no truth behind the myth, that so many cultures all over the world as far back as we can trace, have stories about it?  There's such a mysterious, sensual element. I think we live vicariously through vampires."

Despite all the blood-sucking O'Loughlin says it's  "so much fun playing a vampire.  But life on set is full of long days and very often nights.  The longest I've done is 21 hours on set," he says.  "Every day is a long day. I think we average 16-17 hours. Life on set is all about the show."

O'Loughlin says he is yet to hear whether Moonlight will be signed on for a second series, and with the writers striking, the future is uncertain.

"This writers' strike has us stitched up," he says.   "But I've done my job and hopefully it's good enough to get another series.  Hopefully these writers will come out of this strike sooner rather than later and we can all continue working."

So how would OLoughlin describe the show in five words or less? He thinks before replying:  "Dark, funny, sexy, intriguing and a guilty pleasure," he says.

Well, that's really eight words… but who's going to argue with a vampire?

February 17, 2008

The next new wave

Source: The Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia)

Alex O'Loughlin

Why he looks familiar: A NIDA graduate, class of 2000, O'Loughlin starred in 2004's The Oyster Farmer but got his break in the US as the star of Moonlight, a TV series about vampires, which aired on Channel Nine. "I've got a six-year contract [with Moonlight], so I just try to keep my head down. I don't wash dishes any more; that's the main thing."

Why you should care: After the Moonlight pilot aired, producer Joel Silver realised the show wasn't up to scratch and replaced the entire cast - except O'Loughlin. "A lot of times you do a pilot ... and you know if the pieces aren't working. And I think they knew right away they had a star in Alex and they just rebuilt around him," said co-star Brian White.

Birthplace: Born in Canberra but grew up in Sydney. "My parents divorced when I was two. From the age of 10, I went back and forth between the two cities."

Marital status: He's been dating Aussie singer and former Neighbours star Holly Valance for the past 18 months and says, "It's going strong."

Family ties: "Mum's a musician. She plays piano and has a beautiful voice, so she understands the creative need." But that doesn't mean she misses her son any less now he's living in LA. "Mum lights up when she sees me. Her cheeks go pink - she's all over me, pulling my hair, pinching my cheeks." O'Loughlin also has a sister, 31, whom he describes as a "multi-talented volleyball player, gypsy chef.?

Bitten young: "I was in a school play when I was 10 and had fish fingers stuck up my nose and I was wearing these spectacles and making the audience laugh. I remember the rush and knew I loved it."

Surreal moment: O'Loughlin was taking a break from filming on Moonlight on the Warner Brothers' lot one day when a cart full of sightseeing women laid eyes on him. "They started screaming at the top of their lungs - it scared the **** out of me."

The move to the US was tough: "There was a whole year, in 2005, when I wasn't getting anywhere. I had to sell my stereo and a few other things. I got my motorbike stolen, it was miserable. I was sleeping on a mate's office floor questioning my talent - that was really difficult."

Home is where the work is: "I love the Australian industry but it's a boutique industry - the US is where it is." And while O'Loughlin admits that's changing, he can't wait around. "If I want to buy a house, I'd have to stay in Australia making movies for a hundred years."

Career highlight: Auditioning for Casino Royale. "The screen test for James Bond was a real 'pinch yourself' moment I'll never forget."

Inspiration: "Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing. Ryan Gosling is also an incredible actor; he's also a friend of mine ... well, an acquaintance."

March 2008

Starlog (#363) pp. 14-17

The Inner Monster: It's Moonlight time when Alex O'Loughlin patrols the shadows as LA's latest vampire detective

by Bill Florence

Alex O'Loughlin has been a fan of the vampire mythos for as long as he can remember, which makes his role as bloodsucker private eye, Mick St. John on the CBS series Moonlight a perfect fit. "I've always loved the idea of vampires and immortality," the Australian O'Loughlin says during a rare break on the set.  "I love The Lost Boys and Bram Stoker's Dracula and the work of Anne Rice. I don't know if I would want to be immortal, but the thought of the infinite excites me. It also haunts me in a way.  My father, who teaches physics and astronomy, has given me ideas about the expanse of the universe that have haunted me for years and made me get in touch with my own mortality."  In Moonlight, Mick relies on his special skills as a vampire to tackle crimes involving both the living and the undead.

O'Loughlin, 32, was drawn to the series by not only its vampire motif, but also because of the strength of the show's pilot script, which the actor says was particularly well-developed. "I read a bunch of pilots,"he relates,  "Good writing stands out easily from bad writing every time. The more material you read, the more quickly good stuff jumps off the page at you. The Moonlight pilot had a great script that was well-constructed and balanced. The concept was really cool, and the characters were already fully developed. I understood Mick St. John, his motivations and where he comes from morally and spiritually. When you have an understanding of a character as quickly as I did, you know you can get down to the important work sooner rather than later."

The actor was gratified to find that subsequent episodes maintained the same integrity.  "I feel the show is getting better and better," he declares.  "The difficult thing about the pilot was establishing our mythology and our rules. There was a good deal of exposition for the audience to digest before we could move into the storyline. I think we did that pretty successfully in 44 minutes, but the nice thing about moving away from the pilot was that we could start to focus on specifics.

Night Patrols

O'Loughlin says he and his alter-ego share a common understanding of irony, which is "a big foothold for me into the character. Mick has a dark sense of humor, too, which I really like. But beyond that, he and I are quite different. Mick is tougher than I am, and probably a little smarter, too. Im just a guy who's lucky enough to do what he enjoys for a living.  I think I'm more gregarious than he is. Mick is much more alienated from the world than I am. I have lots of friends and loved ones that I spend time with. Even though he's a humanist, Mick doesn't necessarily like people. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but the fact is Mick is a loner, and I, myself, am not."  Chuckling, O'Loughlin adds, "It helps that I can go out much more in the daylight than he can. I can go to the beach - and it won't kill me!

Imbuing characters with inner conflict is key to making them interesting, OLoughlin maintains, and the outwardly cool, internally tortured Mick is a perfect example.  "He's enormously conflicted. He's a monster who is terrified of the monster within himself," OLoughlin reflects.  "Mick is a relentless vampire who is, at the same time, a humanist. He hates what he is. Mick is in a perpetual state of highly controlled denial about his vampire nature. He became a private investigator to rid society of predators like himself. Mick feels that each predator he gets rid of gets him closer to his former humanity, but unfortunately, that's not necessarily the case. Even though he appears controlled and graceful most of the time, he's in utter turmoil."

A big part of the problem for Mick is that he's in love with a mortal woman, reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles) -- a love that, while not unrequited, is fraught with complications. Mick has been watching over Beth ever since he saved her from a dire mishap when she was a little girl. Now, she's an adult - and his peer - which changes the nature of his feelings for her. Unfortunately, the last woman Mick loved, Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon), turned him into a vampire on their wedding night. So Mick is a little leery of getting too close to Beth. He's afraid she'll get hurt - maybe even at his hands. And if he does manage to resist turning her into a vampire like himself, the passage of time will ultimately tear them apart. What's more, Beth already has a boyfriend, Josh (Jordan Belfi).

Moonlight surprised many viewers, and O'Loughlin himself, by having Beth learn that Mick is a vampire in just the second episode, Out of the Past.   "That was a shock to me, initially," O'Loughlin admits.   "No one told me that was coming. I read the script, and I was like wow, you guys have made some pretty big decisions in the writing department! I would say that episode is probably my favorite to date, along with the fourth one,  Fever.  The climax of  Out of the Past where Beth learns Micks secret, was enormous for me.  It was really exciting how she finds him, and he has no choice but to show her what he really is.  We're on episode nine right now, and I've realized that Mick's revelation in number two has shortened the process for us to get to important plot issues, which are coming your way soon. Beth's discovery of Mick's true nature also raises the stakes in a way. Yeah, the cat's out of the bag, but now there's new drama and new conflict for Mick. Beth knows this much; now, she wants to know more. Where does it stop? Soon, she'll want to participate in his adventures. The revelation definitely complicates things.

Night Shoots

Many feel that Moonlight's strength, at least in the early episodes, lies in the sizzling on-screen chemistry between Mick and Beth. O'Loughlin acknowledges the point, and says working with Myles is as effortless as it is enjoyable.  "Sophia and I have a fantastic chemistry on screen, and we're great friends outside of work, too," he proclaims. "She's amazingly talented, smart and, of course, beautiful.  Sophia is an avid professional who brings so much to the character of Beth. It's truly a pleasure to work with her. She doesn't mess around. Sophia is always prepared.  The chemistry between the two of us is an absolutely key element of the show's success. Sometimes you put two people on screen together and there's nothing much going on. But sometimes people pair really well together, and I think that's the case with us. Again, it's complicated, because Mick has gone from a paternal role with Beth to a sexual, romantic role. And there's another layer of conflict for him - and for Beth eventually - if she ever finds out the true nature of his presence in her life." 

Interestingly, O'Loughlin says the vampire Josef (Jason Dohring) is "my favorite character on the show. I really enjoy Jason as an actor, and as a person, too. He brings to Moonlight a touch of comic relief and a different feel. There's a little shift of gears every time he's on that helps me push through from one episode to the next. I love how Josef is so unashamedly hedonistic. He has been around for so long and done so much, Josef has been to so many different countries, he has fed on countless people and slept with countless women, and he just doesn't have anything left to prove. I think he's hilarious.  Josef has a strange set of morals - well, he doesn't really have any morals at all. Call it a strange set of beliefs for getting through life. And he's getting through life just fine. Even though he conflicts with Mick almost all the time, they're still best buddies. In fact, they're important allies for one another. Neither one could ever dream of not having the other in his life, because they're essentially each others only true friend."

Despite the great time O'Loughlin is having making Moonlight, working as the lead on a TV series isn't without it's hardships.  Asked what has been especially challenging so far, he pauses a moment and when the answer comes, it's hardly surprising.  "The hours," he replies.   "The workload and the pressure are quite challenging. I've come to the conclusion that I will never work harder than this as an actor -- unless I'm doing a war film for Oliver Stone somewhere in the Vietnamese jungle, it's boot camp and he's making me sleep in the trees and not allowing me to eat at all.  I think this is about as hard as it gets. You know, we do have trailers and great food and all the rest of it, but the hours are pretty enormous. This past weekend, for example, I got home at about 8:45 a.m. Saturday, then had to be back on the set at 5:45 a.m. Monday.  I spent most of that free time catching up on sleep.  It's crazy.  I find myself sleeping in a corner of the studio from time to time, just to catch 20 minutes here and there."

By comparison, working with Moonlight's special FX is no big deal.  "The vampire eyes are contact lenses, and the vampire teeth are molds made to impressions of my own mouth," O'Loughlin explains.  "The teeth snap in and out pretty easily, and they're extremely realistic. I do go through them, though. Occasionally, I get pretty heavily into character, and I'll bite down on them, or I'll get punched in the mouth or fall on my face and break them.  It takes me about an hour to get into full vamp mode," O'Loughlin continues.   "When we do the morphing on-screen, that's a process which involves greenscreen and slates both with and without me, and I have to keep the same position. It's pretty standard procedure for the show to morph me from normal to vamp, but it's time-consuming.  As the actor, I have to remain patient and let everyone fuss about and do their job frantically around me, while I stay in character and in the moment. But I'll tell you, mate, once I put those teeth and eyes in, it's like Im wearing a mask. It completely shifts me away from who I am. Mick St. John as a normal guy, before he vamps, is one character, but Mick St. John in full vamp is another beast altogether!"

Night Moves

O'Loughlin has only been acting in film and TV since 2004, but Moonlight isn't his first turn in a genre project. In 2005, he co-starred in Man-Thing, a poorly received movie adaptation of the Marvel comic.  "[Director] Brett Leonard is a friend of mine," O'Loughlin states.  "He's a very passionate filmmaker who makes a certain kind of movie for a certain kind of audience. He takes a film that you really need x amount of money to make, and he makes it for half or a quarter of that.  The bottom line is: There are certain things you need to have money for, like good music and good production values.  Man-Thing was one of those films that needed to be bigger. It probably needed a (big-name) star as well. Having said that, we also didn't have the greatest script. It was about a swamp creature, and we didn't have enough money to do it right. But I don't worry about it. That was my first sort of  big feature." 

That same year, O'Loughlin landed a role in the critically acclaimed Australian mini-series The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, a biopic about one of the first successful escapees from the Australian penal colony in the late 1700s. While not SF, the project -- which also starred Ramola Garai, Sam Neill and Jack Davenport - left an indelible mark on O'Loughlin, who earned a Best Lead Actor nomination from the Australian Film Institute.  "That was a wonderful learning experience," he remarks. "It was a tough shoot, mate: four months on the water, with children, in the Australian sun, in convict boats, and wearing convict clothes. We pulled out all the stops. It was wonderful being part of something that actually happened. I tried to do a huge amount of research on my character, Will Bryant, but I hardly got anywhere with it, because there's very little information about him out there. My main concern was that I was representing someone who was a real person, and I wanted to bring a voice and a heart and a brain to him. Not too many people in America have seen that show."

As O'Loughlin prepares to return to the Moonlight set, the subject of his flawless American accent on the show comes up.  "I've always been fascinated with accents, ever since I was a kid," he attests.  "I grew up with American television, and I've lived in LA for a number of years now, so it isn't that hard. But I constantly work on it."

So whats going to keep viewers turning in to Moonlight each week?   "The show has lots of integrity," Alex OLoughlin sums up.  "The approach we're taking is that it's a human show that just happens to be full of vampires. I care about these characters and the more people tune in and stick around, the more theyll care too."

March 8, 2008

Article from Australian magazine, News Weekly

After years of hard slog, Aussie actor Alex O‘Loughlin is finally making headway in Hollywood. Sydneysider Alex stars in the TV drama Moonlight, in which he plays a reluctant vampire and detective Mich St John. He also has a part in new film August Rush opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Keri Russel. The 32-year-old chats to NW about his rise to the top, girlfriend Holly Valance and his turn in a tampon commercial…

SO YOU MADE IT!

[Laughs] It‘s taken me a while, I‘ve been living over here for three years full-time, and I‘ve been going over there for six, seven years. It takes a while to climb the greasy pole of Hollywood, as they say. You get up a bit and then you slip back down, that‘s what it‘s like. You take two steps forward, three steps back. But you just chip away until you get there.

PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THE "AUSSIE FACTOR" IN HOLLYWOOD - DO YOU THINK THEY REALLY STILL CARE?

Yeah, I absolutely think they do. I think Aussies are looked upon as a mystery. There‘s a universal feeling in America that Aussies have something to offer that‘s different. I don‘t know if it‘s true or not! We‘re very fortunate to be brought up the way we‘re brought up. Although certain aspects of it can be frustrating - the tall poppy syndrome is alive and well - it actually breeds a certain level of humanity. I think we have a really good work ethic - we don‘t sit around and moan we don‘t have the right flavoured candles in our trailers. The things you hear, it‘s like, are you kidding? You‘re overpaid as it is, just show up and get on with it.

WHAT WAS WORKING WITH JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS LIKE?

Johnny and I play brothers [in August Rush], and we lived together for the duration of filming in New York. Johnny and his real brother Jaime - he‘s in the movie as well as the drummer of the band we‘re all in - and I all lived together and we had a blast. It was great being surrounded by Irish accents, too. We just tore the p**s out of each other the whole time, we had a great repartee and they have a great sense of humour. Jonathan is really well-read, a really smart guy.

HOW HAVE YOU FOUND THE RESPONSE TO MOONLIGHT?

A couple of people have approached me on the streets [in Melbourne] and they said they really liked it, and I‘m really glad. I‘m sure it‘s going to find its audience, it certainly has in America.

PLAYING A VAMPIRE, A LOT OF THE SHOW IS FILMED AT NIGHT - HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT?

In television this is about as hard as it gets. It‘s a one-hour drama - I‘m number one on the call sheet. The show is about a bunch of different characters and different things, but essentially it‘s about Mick St John, who is my character. It‘s make-up heavy, it‘s special-effects heavy, I do most of my own stunts and we shoot at time so… We get a half-hour lunch break each day. People think it‘s a glamorous industry, [but] it‘s not. It‘s a lot of hard work. But network television at this level, I‘ve never experienced anything like it in my career. It‘s just like 'Oh my God‘. It‘s quite astonishing how much of your life it takes. So you‘ve really got to fight to keep some resemblance of normality outside the show.

HOW DO YOU DO THAT?

You really just have to roll with it. You‘ve got to go home and take your shoes off and have dinner and try to relax – or have breakfast depending on what time you‘re getting home! Just try to make every hour count with your people and for yourself.

THERE WAS A RUMOUR THAT YOU WERE THE SECRET LOVE CHILD OF BON SCOTT, THE LATE LEAD SINGER OF AC/DC.

Where did that rumour come from? That just knocked me.

THERE‘S ALSO ANOTHER GUY CLAIMING THAT HE IS BON‘S SON…

It‘s the same photo they used to compare me. And this other dude – he looks nothing like me! I was looking at it going [to actress/singer girlfriend Holly Valance] "Hol, I could be Bon Scott‘s son," and then she said, "No you couldn‘t, you don‘t look anything like him." This other bloke, maybe he is, good luck to him! [Laughs] -

IT MUST BE BIZARRE FOR A RUMOUR LIKE THAT JUST TO COME FROM NOWHERE.

It is bizarre, man. But it wasn‘t malicious, it was almost cool. Kind of mysterious. My Dad was cool as a cucumber, Mum was a little hurt. She was a little offended but she got over it. It‘s just ridiculous.

HOW DID YOU AND HOLLY MEET?

We met through a friend in Hollywood… And we got on very well and we‘ve been together ever since. I don‘t like talking about it too much – but I want to say that we‘re happy.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING ASKED TO AUDITION FOR JAMES BOND?

It was a couple of years ago now… They flew me over and looked after me very nicely for a week and cut a couple of suits for me and cut my hair and did a couple of scenes. To be honest, I knew I wasn‘t going to get Bond, I‘m too young… You never know, in a few years maybe…

DO PEOPLE IN THE STREET EVER SAY  "MOUSEY, MOUSEY" TO YOU, IN REFERENCE TO THE TAMPON AD YOU STARRED IN?

So funny, man. Not recently, but that was a big favourite of a lot of people for a long time. One of the first times I was approached on the street in Australia – I‘d done some movies here and some theatre – somebody came up to me and went, "Do I know you?", I was like, "I don‘t know", and he‘s like, "What do you do?" And I said, "I‘m an actor." I‘m waiting for "Oh, I saw you in this movie", and they go, "I got it! Tampon boy!" And I go, "Yep, that‘s me, tampon boy." I‘m quite endeared to that little commercial.

April 4, 2008

Have Dinner with Moonlight Star Alex O'Loughin

Source: Kristin Interview from EOnline  http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b4231_have_dinner_with_moonlight_star_alex.html

OK, so that title up there may be a little cruel and misleading to any fans who thought it a real invitation to have a romantic picnic in the sand with Alex O‘Loughlin. (I‘ll pause while you visualize...and wipe your drool.) But in the Q&A that follows, you can have the next best thing (maybe?): A cyberdinnertime-chat experience with Alex, who called just moments ago, while chomping down a salad during a five-minute break on set. (Did you hear the one about TV leads being busy?) More importantly, as you may have heard, the fans of CBS‘ Moonlight are a wee bit...impassioned. And by "wee bit" I mean they are willing to give their own blood and have coordinated a truly heartwarming (see what I did there?) philanthropic campaign to help support the series, via a blood drive with the American Red Cross. Read on for Alex‘s thoughts on the fandemonium, the prospects of season two and what‘s in store when Moonlight returns to CBS on April 25...

I heard you were so moved by the fan blood drive, you want to take part?

Alex: Oh yeah, I‘m a part of it. I‘m hopefully gonna be spokesperson for Red Cross at some level. But I‘m absolutely being a part of it.

How does it feel to know your fans care that much?

Alex: It‘s just so great. Even more so than them caring about the show is that such initiative is being used to participate in a community service at such a selfless level. I think it‘s such a great idea, and it‘s such a wonderful project and I‘m thrilled to be a part of it. And then on a show level, it‘s thrilling to know that people care about the show as much as I do.

How are you feeling now about the chances of another season?

Alex: Before I tell you that, I‘m going to apologize because I‘m eating a salad while I‘m talking to you.

No problem. I know your schedule is very busy, what with you being in every scene. And it‘s nice to know you really eat unlike your alter ego.

Alex: I eat real food so Mick doesn‘t have to. As for another season, I think it‘s difficult to answer, because CBS is so unpredictable in how and why they make the decisions they make. Which is why no one, not even the other networks can second-guess them at this time of the year before the upfronts. Personally, I think it‘d be a smart business choice to pick the show up, because we have such a rabid fan base and people will tune in to watch.

Is it hard not knowing?

Alex: As an actor, I can‘t ever afford to second-guess anything, because more than often, I‘m wrong, and it hurts too bad. I‘m so invested in this show. I‘ve put a lot of love and a lot of heart and a lot of thought and a lot of creative and emotional energy into this piece, and I don‘t want to go anywhere.

The fans would agree. What can you tell me about what we can expect when the show comes back?

Alex: Sex and drama. Lots of sex and drama. Sexy sex and sexy drama. We‘re just finishing up episode 14, which leads to 15 and 16.

Does it feel like you‘re ramping up toward the season finale?

Alex: Yeah, things are getting bigger. It doesn‘t feel like a finale. It feels like a beginning. I don‘t feel like we‘re riding for the end. We are at beginning of something huge. I haven‘t read episode 16, which is our final installment, but I‘ve just finished 15, and it‘s fantastic. It‘s so full of life, it‘s awesome stuff. It‘s got some incredible flashbacks, and it‘s got some Mick emotion that will knock everyone out of their socks. It‘s got a whole bunch of stuff that will really rock the fans.

You and Sophia (Beth) have such great chemistry.

Alex: We‘ve become great friends. She‘s a terrifically committed actor, and she‘s a ball of fun on set. She‘s outrageously funny herself and loves to be a part of the gag. She‘s just a real team player. You‘ll always find her hanging out with the electrics or hanging out on the curbside laughing with the wardrobe and having a great time, as opposed to, like, stuck up in her trailer. She‘s not that person. So it‘s great working with her. We‘re having a blast.

April 25, 2008

Alex O'Loughlin

by Eirik Knutzen

Source: Copley News Service

His suitcases packed, Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin was ready to set course last year for Boucherville, Quebec, in a New York minute. He was all jacked up for "Whiteout," an action-thriller set in Antarctica starring hot Brit actress Kate Beckinsale as a U.S. marshal tracking a stone-cold killer. But a few days before heading toward the North Pole (a fine substitute for the South Pole), O'Loughlin received an urgent call at his Los Angeles home from one of his TV agents: Heavyweight executive producer Joel Silver and the entire CBS Network's drama series development team in L.A. desperately wanted him to test for the lead - as a 90-year-old trapped in a 30-year-old body - in "Moonlight." Intrigued by the pilot script dealing with the eternal life and times of the charming, bloodsucking private eye Mick St. John, O'Loughlin was anxious to chat with them, too.

An intelligent man with a conscience and strong sense of justice, the gentleman vampire always uses his supernatural abilities to assist the living rather than write them off for lunch. St. John was "turned" on his wedding night by the sexy Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon), apparently grounds for divorce in most Western countries. But his ex-wife is still hanging around 60 years later (both still physically unchanged), hoping he will forgive and forget.

By the time O'Loughlin, 32, returned from the far north last summer, "Moonlight" was in full production on a Hollywood back lot. And the cast suddenly included Jason Dohring as Josef Konstantin, a happy-go-lucky vampire hedge fund trader (once wealthy) and Sophia Myles as Beth Turner, a blond, ambitious Internet investigative reporter.

O'Loughlin - "chipping away at Hollywood" since 2002 and L.A.-based for the past four years in order to stay close to the mecca of the international film and television industry - is still playing out a string of amazing luck since creating a buzz for his work in the modest-budgeted Australian movie "Oyster Farmer" in 2004.

Sometimes he didn't get the girl, but association with several showbiz power players kept O'Loughlin's name in the media, including hooking up with Martin Campbell, the director of "Casino Royale" with Daniel Craig as the latest incarnation of James Bond. Just before the 007 yarn went into production, O'Loughlin was asked to meet Campbell at his Sony Studios offices in L.A. "I thought he was going to ask me to audition for the villain or some other character - I certainly had no idea that he had me in mind for the (James) Bond role," he recalled. "After explaining the whole story, he invited me to go with him to London, where I spent a week being fitted for wardrobe and screen testing. "It was an extremely exciting time for me as a young actor," he continued, chuckling. "I felt as though I was doing a good job and handled myself professionally. I didn't hear anything from them for a couple of months after that, so I shot a film called 'The Invisible' in Canada.

Over breakfast in a Vancouver cafe, I spotted a fellow customer eating pancakes reading a newspaper with a large photo of Daniel Craig and a headline that read, 'Bond Revealed.'" The whole Bond experience was a big, wonderful journey, according to the lean, 6-foot-2 actor, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. Naturally, his ego was bruised for a while, but he got over it without major psychological scars. "But I'm afraid it killed my mother," he laughed. "She always thought I'd be a great Bond."

But O'Loughlin took some comfort in an award-winning effort in an Australian miniseries called "The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant" before Bond and a seven-episode recurring bit as Detective Kevin Hiatt - a recent member of the L.A.P.D.'s Strike Team - on "The Shield" afterward. A major break.

Born in Canberra to a nurse and a teacher, O'Loughlin and his older sister (a professional volleyball player), grew up in Sydney. Not particularly career oriented, he became a plumber's apprentice. "It was a terrible job and I didn't last long," he recalled, laughing. "At the same time, a friend of mine in Sydney encouraged me to become an actor. He kept saying that I was a natural storyteller and loved to show off anyway. My mate finally got to me so badly that I lost about three weeks of sleep over it, then finally realized that acting was the only thing I really wished to do." Three years later he graduated from Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art and made his professional screen debut in 1998 doing a guest shot on an Australian TV series that no longer exists. And now he is reaching for the brass ring in the U.S. along with his Australian girlfriend, singer-actress Holly Valance. Valance's debut single "Kiss Kiss" became No. 1 on the pop charts in Australia and the U.K. in 2002 and a three-year gig as Flick on the series "Neighbours" helped make her bulletproof at home.

"It's just a matter of time before you hear about Holly in America," said O'Loughlin. "She can do anything."

April 25, 2008

PopWatch Duel: 'Moonlight''s Alex O'Loughlin vs. Jason Dohring

by Mandi Bierly

In honor of Moonlight's return tonight with the first of four new episodes (Fridays, 9 p.m. ET/PT, CBS) we sat down with Alex O'Loughlin (left) and Jason Dohring (right) at New York Comic Con and asked them to each name five things that should live forever in pop culture. (They play vampires on the show. Get it?) Dohring's worried that O'Loughlin sealed the win with his first choice, but we think we've got ourselves a fair fight. Their responses...

Alex O'Loughlin

1. Velcro. I think we all know why Velcro is as great as it is. It's just terrific. You can stick an entire dining set to the roof. Very versatile: Shoes, nappies... sex toys. Whatever you need.

2. Monkey (aka Monkey Magic). The greatest thing that ever happened to television. It's a Japanese show [dubbed in English] about these characters Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, and Tripitaka, and they fight wars against demons. Monkey was born in an egg on a mountain top, and he rides a cloud, and he has a staff that he keeps behind his ear and grows to full size. It's the best show ever. I thought I was Monkey when I was a kid. He wears this gold crown, and I'd wear one and stake vampires.

3. The Adidas shell toe triple stripe classic. Great sneaker. Get a pair. In any color you want. I prefer the black stripe on the white shoe. I'm shootin' for an endorsement deal. Go Adidas. Did I say "Go Adidas?" Adidas. Adidas. Adidas. Go Adidas.

4. The iPhone. It's revolutionized the way we live. It's a great Internet tool in your pocket. It's a global tool. I take my iPhone everywhere.

5. The mullet. I grew up in a mullet kind of world, a mullet-y school with mullet-y friends. I had several mullets over the years, so I have a longstanding personal relationship with the mullet and I'm ready to mullet anytime. I can mullet right now. RIGHT NOW.

Jason Dohring

1. Designer shoes. Look at these f***in‘ shoes. [Points to his sneakers.] Gucci shoes. I got into designer clothes, dude, and once you get into it, you can't go back. I started kinda working out, and you wear a designer shirt, and you're like Dude, this feels like it wants to fit to your body. So, like, I don't have to work out as much, but it still looks good. It's great.... Alex is gonna take me shopping later today, and I'm really excited about that. Apparently, he has a pair of Paul Smith flower shoes that he just bought, and he can actually pull them off 'cause he's Australian, you know, and they kinda do things that we don't do here in the States. I'm trying to get some fashion tips.

2. Love and morals. I was just thinking that I'd put a couple things on here that I thought were real. If those go out, our society's gone, dude. You wouldn't have families. It sucks to see so many people break up. It doesn't set a great example for people.... Love, even as friends — how enjoyable is a great conversation with a friend? There's nothing better, dude. You can buy all the whatever you want, but sitting around with a cigar and chattin' with my boy, here, is a really good time. We film till really late, so we'll sit around on the WB lot at 2 in the morning, when nobody's there, and just look up at the WB sign and go, "What the f--- are we doing here?" It's beautiful.

3. Scratch 'n Sniff stickers. That was from when I was a kid. The grape ones, man, I was really into those. I think those are dead, so let's bring 'em back, boys. And you had all the blond jokes about them, as well. "How do you a kill a blond? You put a Scratch 'n Sniff sticker at the bottom of a pool." [Silence] That was kinda lame.

4. The banjo. No, I don't play, but if you've ever seen a guy play the banjo or a fiddle really well, man, it's cool stuff. You wouldn't have Deliverance without the banjo. [Hums]

5. Veronica Mars. Unfortunately, it didn't last forever, but it seems when you walk around a place like Comic Con that it does. Art's the kinda thing that stays with people. You emotionally invest people and you emotionally invest yourself in something, and then it lasts. That's pretty amazing, actually, isn't it?

April 25, 2008

by Bill Harris

Calgary Sun (Alberta)

Alex O'Loughlin plays a vampire in Moonlight, so it wasn't a stretch to assume he also had been on the Highway to Hell.

But contrary to persistent rumours, O'Loughlin -- whose show returns with a new episode tonight on CTV and CBS -- has insisted he is not really the son of deceased AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott.

"It started with a friend of mine calling me, my best buddy (in North America) actually, and he was very upset," said O'Loughlin, was born in Australia, when asked last year about the rumour that -- much like a vampire -- refuses to die.

"He said, 'Do you have something you need to tell me?'

'I WAS SHOCKED'

"He told me to go and Google-search my name, and the rock band AC/DC, of which he's a giant fan, and apparently according to the rest of the world and several big newspapers back where I'm from, I'm the son of the late Bon Scott.

"I was shocked, and then I was thrilled. I rock. Secretly I rock all the time."

Bon Scott died in 1980 at age 33. O'Loughlin was born in the mid-1970s, so the biological math could add up.

O'Loughlin actually was enjoying the notoriety, until his mom called.

"She was very upset at having been labeled a groupie, and therefore a hussy and a harlot, which isn't true at all," O'Loughlin said. "My mom is a very wonderful woman and very respectable.

"So I suppose it's probably a good time to say, since (Scott) has passed on and he can't speak the truth, that I should speak for Bon and say that I'm pretty sure he's not my dad."

Pretty sure? Well, that's just vague enough to fuel imaginations.

Certainly Moonlight has fueled some imaginations since hitting the airwaves last fall. While the ratings have been mediocre -- Friday is a lousy night for TV, after all -- the show has acquired a staunchly loyal cult following, and the creators hope to expand that fan base with four new post-strike episodes to complete the first season.

Moonlight follows Mick St. John (O'Loughlin), a charming and immortal private investigator from Los Angeles who defies his blood-sucking tendencies by using his wit and supernatural abilities to help the living. Moonlight also stars Sophia Myles as Beth, Jason Dohring as Josef and Shannyn Sossamon as Coraline.

The previous episode of Moonlight left off as Mick discovered Coraline's secret to being human, which left him to decide whether a chance at mortality was worth the steep price he would have to pay.

In the episode tonight, which is titled Fated to Pretend, Beth is kidnapped by a suspect in her boss' murder case and Mick is forced to decide whether saving her is worth sacrificing being human again.

ISN'T SURPRISED

O'Loughlin isn't surprised there are so many vampire tales still on TV and in theatres these days, since the dream of immortality lends itself to 21st-century plastic-surgery culture.

"It's certainly pertinent to what's going on in today's society with vanity," O'Loughlin said. "A lot of it is sort of drummed up and kept alive by the media and by us, by our demand for magazines. But also, a lot of it was born from the industry we're working in.

"(Mick) is 90 years old and he's still sort of ruggedly handsome, he's still youthful and his skin is still youthful and his eyes are still bright. But it's something that he struggles with. It's not actually something he ever really gets to enjoy."

In other words, it isn't as much fun as being the son of the late Bon Scott.

O'Loughlin's real father is a teacher at a private school in Sydney. But hey, there's no sense in letting the truth get in the way of a good pop-culture legend.

May 4, 2008

by Kate O'Hare Zap2it

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin, star of CBS' Friday-night vampire drama "Moonlight," is sitting on the set on a March evening at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. -- and he's enjoying the view.

And no, he's not looking at his co-star, lovely British actress Sophia Myles, who plays his so-far-platonic human love interest, Beth.

He's looking at a silver sports car up on a rig for the night's filming.

"I love the car," he says. "Oh, my God. I don't (get to drive it), actually. I would very much like to. It's an Audi R8. (It's got) 500 horsepower, turbocharged V-8. It's pretty fantastic."

After some further chat about cars and motorcycles (which includes a brief primer on Spokey Dokes, apparently a popular bicycle-spoke accessory), the conversation drifts to O'Loughlin's classical education and what that has to do with playing Mick St. John, a vampire private eye in Los Angeles.

Naming "Hamlet" as his favorite Shakespeare play, O'Loughlin begins to see some parallels between Mick and the indecisive Dane.

"There's absolutely a little Hamlet in Mick. Don't worry about that. There absolutely is, in the loss of his family, the 'to be or not to be.' There's a lot of Hamlet in there."

As to who is the equivalent of the ghost of Hamlet's murdered father, which haunts him in the castle parapets, O'Loughlin thinks of Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon), the vampire who seduced the then-human Mick, then turned him into a creature of the night.

"Coraline," he says. "Coraline is the ghost."

Then he thinks of Josef (Jason Dohring), the young-looking but very old vampire who is Mick's best pal.

"Josef may be Horatio ... you know what, hey! Josef is not as reflective as Horatio. This is interesting. I wonder if Shakespeare is turning in his grave that we're drawing conclusions."

May 8, 2008

Alex O'Loughlin on the set of Moonlight

by Christina Radish MediaBlvd Magazine

Australian actor Alex O‘Loughlin first came to the attention of American audiences when he was added to the sixth season of the Emmy-winning police drama The Shield. The CBS television series Moonlight marks the 31-year-old‘s first turn in a leading role, as private investigator Mick St. John. Captivating, charming and immortal, Mick defies the traditional blood-sucking norms of his vampire tendencies by using his wit and powerful supernatural abilities to help the living. Bitten 60 years ago, and forever 30 years of age, Mick develops a distinctive bond with ambitious investigative reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), even though their differences keep him from pursuing his feelings for her.

The actor took a break while filming Episode 15 to speak with MediaBlvd Magazine about the relationship between Mick and Beth, and where he sees the show going in Season Two.

MediaBlvd Magazine: Were you a fan of the vampire genre, before this show came your way?

Alex O‘Loughlin: Absolutely, yeah. I‘ve always been enamored with the shameless sensuality within the genre, unlike any other genre. And, also, the shameless excess to which these creatures live, and how deeply vampires feel, sensoraly. Their senses are heightened. If you were to compare a vampire to an animal, I would think it would probably be a cat, on a lot of levels, with the touch and smell. They‘re so sensitive, especially when they morph. I‘ve always loved that. As a kid, the head of my bed was underneath a really big window and, where I grew up, you could see the stars really clearly. I used to lay on my back and look up at the stars. From the moment I learned the concept of infinity and I could grasp it, I struggled with it. The stars used to keep me awake at night, to the point where it was very difficult for me to get up and go to school the next day because I‘d just be doing head miles about this thing, called infinity. How can it never stop? How can it never end? What do you mean it doesn‘t have an end? And, even if it does have an ending, what‘s after that? I‘ve always been fascinated with the concept of infinity and immortality -- that you would go on forever, regardless of what happens in the world. It could be post-apocalyptic and everything‘s dead, except for you.

MediaBlvd: Will viewers get to see Mick in combat in Episode 15?

Alex: Yeah, you see Mick in heavy combat with his best friend. A lot of this episode is based around that, and based around the fact that Mick may have family ties out there today. It‘s pretty interesting stuff.

MediaBlvd: Since Episode 15 will have flashbacks to Mick during the war, what was his title?

Alex: When he went in, Mick was a medic with basic overall training. As we will see in this episode, some of his other firearm training is honed, in the face of battle, which is the reality for so many soldiers at war. A lot of my friends have been to battle in Somalia and the Gulf War, and they go in specializing in one area, and they come out knowing a whole lot more about a lot of other stuff because of what happens in the moment. That‘s some of the stuff that we‘re dealing with, in Episode 15. I‘m really excited about the episode.

MediaBlvd: If Mick was a medic when he went into the war, he was already dealing with blood as a main thing in his life, before he became a vampire, wasn‘t he?

Alex: Yeah, absolutely, except it didn‘t quite have the profound affect that it has on him today. If you go back to Episode 11, when Josh‘s life finished and Mick tried to save him, he‘s pretty good at turning it off and dealing with what he has to deal with, but there was so much blood. The urge to do what comes instinctively and naturally to him now was right at the surface, the whole time. But, he was no stranger to blood and bloody parts.

MediaBlvd: Knowing that he‘s got the medical background, how do you think that affects what he does now?

Alex: Personally, you make all sorts of character decisions that never necessarily make it to the final cut of a show or a film. But, one of the things I‘d done a lot of thinking about was that, in the many years that Mick has had, and before he became a private investigator, in that transition time for him, which was a number of years, he may have gone off and actually done a lot of research and gotten really well educated in blood. Mick has got such a strict set of morals. He doesn‘t kill for pleasure anymore. He gets his blood from a blood bank. He‘s structured this way of living and this way of existing, as a vampire. It sits more comfortable with him than what is instinctive to him. When he‘s consuming blood, he knows all about the cells and about the structure of blood, whereas a lot of vampires may not know that.

MediaBlvd: Do you enjoy doing the stunts on the show?

Alex: It depends on if they work or not, and how much they hurt. I don‘t do them all myself. I have a very, very dedicated stunt team, who do a lot of work. I do a lot of my own stuff. In the first 12 episodes, I did more than I‘ve been doing in the last few weeks, simply because I don‘t have the time. We‘ve got a number of different units shooting and we‘ve got a little more money, so we can afford to shoot at the pace that we need to. So, if they need me on Main Unit and the stunt is being done on the Second Unit and I just can‘t be there, then I have to let it go. But, I really love doing that. I‘ve got a harness that I use for wirework, when Mick goes up in the air and does big jumps, and stuff. I really like the fighting stuff. And I really enjoy being part of the choreography of that. I see it as a dance. My character should inform the way we choreograph the fights. I find it exhilarating.

MediaBlvd: Are you happy with where your character is at, on the show?

Alex: When you do a pilot and they fire everyone but you, you learn to not have any expectations, whatsoever, because surprises are inevitable. So, I‘ve tried to maintain that with an open mind, as we‘ve gone along. I‘ve made suggestions, some of which have not really been applicable, and others have been integrated into the story and into the show. Yeah, I am happy. I don‘t know how we‘re still going. There have been so many reasons and times for the show to be cancelled -- monetary, political, all sorts of things. The fact that we‘re still going, with everything that‘s gone on with the strike -- we lost so many episodes there -- is testament to what we have here with Moonlight, with the cast and crew, and the fans. I am happy with where Mick is, where we find him, and what we know about him with the back stories we‘ve been able to introduce. But, a lot of shelved ideas can still come to fruition in the second season. I think we‘re in really, really good shape.

MediaBlvd: Can you talk about your working relationship with Sophia Myles?

Alex: I work a little differently, on some levels, when I‘m doing film, as opposed to when I‘m doing television, because television doesn‘t stop. It‘s just a part of your day-to-day life. When you‘re doing a film, that might be the case for three months, six months or eight months, but there‘s a finite beginning, middle and end. You know the arc of the story, you know how you‘re going to tell it, you tell it and you go home. Television just keeps going. Sophia and I spend a lot of time together and we‘re great mates. She‘s really fantastic to work with. I‘m Australian and she‘s British, and we have similar sensibilities and a similar sense of humor. We grew up with the same TV. We have a lot in common. She‘s easy to get along with, which makes a big difference, when you‘ve got to spend 18 hours a day with somebody. But, as far as our relationship goes, in comparison to Mick and Beth, it‘s very different. There is no tension between Sophia and I. We‘re colleagues. We‘re not lovers. We have our separate lives. People talk about on screen chemistry. We work together, and those two characters have this really fantastic chemistry. I see it, when I watch the show back, but it‘s not tangible in real life. When you put it on film, it‘s there.

MediaBlvd: Where would you like to see Mick go in Season Two? Should he and Beth get together?

Alex: The minute he and Beth actually get together and consummate their love, it‘s a different story. At the moment, we still very much have the Romeo & Juliet thing going on. When this show was pitched to me, they said, "It‘s about a vampire P.I.", and I was like, "Really? This should be good."  And, I read it and it‘s about so much more than that. It really deals with the big ideas. I think it‘s got elements of Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet, and a lot of big stories that have already been told. That element will no longer be there because it wouldn‘t be unrequited love anymore. It would be consummated love and, therefore, we‘d be headed in a different direction. Having said that, if that does happen, I‘m sure we‘ll deal with it and it will be interesting, no matter what. I don‘t know if that‘s what I want to happen. I really like the dramatic tension that is there because these two haven‘t had that physical and spiritual connection yet. Where do I want this show to go? Really, the limits to the storytelling possibilities for us are the limits of our imaginations because the ideas are so immense. We‘ve got so much flashback stuff to do. There are pieces of jewelry that Mick wears, that he‘s worn since the beginning of the show, that we haven‘t talked about yet, but come from different stories as well. There was all the bloodline stuff in Episode 12, and the fact that Mick comes from French royalty, essentially. Now that he‘s re-turned in one of the new episodes, there‘s another bloodline involved in Mick now. Does that make him more powerful? Does he have new skills that he doesn‘t know about yet? Is he going to re-realize himself, on another level? I‘ve got lots of ideas. I walk into the writer‘s room and they go, "Oh, God!"  There are so many ways that we can go with this. I just hope we get a Season Two because of the possibilities. We can go anywhere.

MediaBlvd: If you were ever turned into a vampire in real life, do you think you‘d be more inclined to follow Mick‘s path or Josef‘s path?

Alex: I don‘t know. I‘m a bit of an epicurist. I like nice stuff. I‘m happy to have nothing, as well. I grew up without very much. But, when I do have stuff, I like it to be nice stuff. I‘m a bit of a snob. And so, I think I‘d fit in just fine. I think it would probably be a combination of both. I think I‘d go the Josef path, and then I‘d be racked with shame and guilt. But then, I‘d do it again, for eternity. I think that‘s a fair guestimation of what would happen.

MediaBlvd: Fans have been donating a lot of blood to the Red Cross, in an attempt to help get the show renewed for a second season. What do you think of their efforts?

Alex: We‘re working towards making me a spokesperson for the American Red Cross, which I certainly hope happens because I‘d love to be involved in any sort of organization or charity that helps other people, whether it‘s non-profit or otherwise. The fans have instigated it. They are so pro-active. I‘ve never seen anything like it. Before Moonlight, I hadn‘t been the lead of a TV show. I haven‘t had a fan base like this before. I have fans that have seen my work in independent film, but I‘m new to this. It‘s quite overwhelming, not only witnessing, first-hand, the amount of people and how much they support the show, but watching their behavior and seeing them actually participate and step up. It‘s great. Any time any of us get the opportunity to do any sort of philanthropic work, we should take it.

MediaBlvd: What inspired you to become an actor?

Alex: I don‘t remember it, but my grandmother, who‘s 93 years old, told me that when I was just speaking as a toddler, about 2 or 3, I told her, "Gran, I want to be an actor when I grow up." So, apparently, it‘s always been there. I did some plays and stuff, in elementary school and during my primary schooling, that I really, really enjoyed. But then, I didn‘t think about it for the longest time. When I was 18 or 19, I was showing off, one day, in front of a group of my friends. A good friend of mine pulled me aside and said, "You know, you‘re an actor, and if you don‘t do anything about it, you should be ashamed of yourself."  When I thought about it, I realized that he was right. I‘d spent my life, to date, walking out of cinemas and theatres, and away from performances, feeling a strange, nostalgic, empty, sick feeling, and I could never explain it to the people I was with. It was this thing that isolated me from people. And then, it all just clicked into place. And so, from that moment, I pursued it and I haven‘t looked back.

MediaBlvd: What is your greatest fear?

Alex: People. What we‘re capable of is terrifying. It‘s a wonderful world that we live in, but it‘s not in the best shape. Presently, and the state of things to come, is dependent on people and the decisions they make. We, as humans, haven‘t exactly got a good track record, making good decisions on behalf of people on the planet. I‘m always watching what we do, as a race. You watch CNN and you read the papers, and it never ceases to amaze me. Art imitates life, more often than not. Often, I‘ll make a choice as an actor, and then, after making that choice, based on what would actually happen, I realize that I can‘t put it on screen because no one‘s going to believe it, so I have to modify it.

August 15, 2008

Alex O'Loughlin signs talent deal with network

Source: Zap2it.com

Mick St. John won't be returning to CBS, but the actor who played him just might be. "Moonlight" star Alex O'Loughlin has signed a talent holding deal with the network that also includes studios CBS Paramount TV and ABC Studios. The one-year deal was done with the intention of finding a new series project for the actor, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Producer Mark Gordon (" Grey's Anatomy," "Criminal Minds"), whose company is based at ABC Studios, will develop the project around O'Loughlin. The deal also allows O'Loughlin to pitch movie projects to CBS Films.

"Moonlight," as has been well-documented, drew a highly passionate fan base to CBS last season that followed O'Loughlin's vampire Mick and his romance with mortal woman Beth (Sophia Myles). Passion aside, though, the audience -- a shade over 7.5 million viewers per week, according to Nielsen -- wasn't big enough for CBS to renew the series for a second season. CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler is an avowed fan of O'Loughlin's, however, saying at the TCA press tour last month that a lot of the response to "Moonlight" was "actor-centric." O'Loughlin's credits also include a season-long stint on "The Shield" and the films "August Rush" and "The Invisible."

Source: TVSquad.com

Moonlight is history, but Alex O'Loughlin is still in demand. The actor, who garnered a huge fan base playing Moonlight's good guy vampire Mick St. John, returns to TV this week. O'Loughlin will guest star as a conflicted serial killer on CBS's Criminal Minds on Wednesday.

For O'Loughlin fans, the guest appearance is only a tease. What they really want to see is their favorite Aussie actor starring in a new weekly series. They might get their wish if CBS picks up Three Rivers, a drama pilot starring O'Loughlin as an organ transplant surgeon.

I got a chance to speak with O'Loughlin this week. We chatted about his new projects, his love for the vampire genre, and how Mick St. John could totally kick Kate Beckinsale's ass. Click through for the conversation, plus preview images and video from the actor's appearance on Criminal Minds.

Moonlight got the axe, but you've landed a high-profile guest spot on CBS's Criminal Minds and you're starring in a new pilot for the network, Three Rivers. How does it feel to be so in demand at a major network?

It feels good, Mike. It feels good. I mean, as an artist, you spend a lot of your life maybe not working and training, reading and really trying to further yourself. And the reality is a lot of us never really get to make a living at it. So it brings me great joy to be in demand. It's a lovely feeling. I've worked hard for a long time to be able to choose what I want to do ... It's a lovely feeling.

You play a serial killer who's possibly seeking redemption in Criminal Minds. Can you draw any parallels from that character to Mick St. John from Moonlight, or is this something completely different?

It's definitely different, which is what drew me to the part. With Mick St John, the only thing the two have in common is that they are both in control of what they're doing, but Mick was more in control than this guy. This character has a crippling case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which now runs his entire life. He's had to stop working to maintain his anxiety, and it takes him all day and every moment to control it. And the killing is part of that as well. It's a form of control for him, and yes, he is seeking redemption.

Yeah, I actually had it. I think a lot of us have a certain degree of it, I know I do, but I'm not crippled by it. When I was a young boy in elementary school I was quite a blatant example of a child with OCD, and I remember how it used to make me feel and how difficult it was. I also did a lot of reading and I studied the effects of OCD on children and how it continues from childhood to adulthood if left untreated.

Well, I don't get star struck by many people, but I'm completely star struck by this guy. I love this guy so much. He's become such a great friend of mine. He's a rock star, he's a hero, and he's so cool. I spent many hours shoulder to shoulder with him in the operating room, and I've never met anyone like him before. I've really been affected by him. He's a great source of inspiration to many people. He gives life to people, and he's a wonderful, funny guy and really enjoyable to be around.

Three Rivers can be called a "show about doctors," but it seems to be more than that. What's unique about this project?

It's not a show about doctors, it's about transplant surgery, and it's called Three Rivers because it takes place where the Allegheny River and Monongahela River meet with the Ohio River in Pittsburgh. And it's also called Three Rivers because it's about three perspectives of transplant surgery: the recipient, the donor and the surgical team. That's what unique about it.

Do you think it will appeal to Moonlight fans?

I think it's going to appeal to a lot of people. It's a different genre. I love the vampire genre, though. I always have. Actually, I want to recommend a film, Let the Right One In ... It's directed by Tomas Alfredson.

I've seen it. It's great.

You've seen it?

Yeah, I liked it.

Oh, it's f*ckin' brilliant. Yeah, I'm a huge vampire fan, but (Three Rivers) is a different show, and I love it. It's really smart, it's grown-up, it's clever, it's funny and sensitive, it's got everything.

You've been involved with a few causes, like the American Red Cross, that seem to stem from the roles you take on. What are your hopes or goals for Three Rivers, not on an entertainment level, but on a social or awareness level?

My hope is to become involved with Donate Life America or an equally large non-profit organization to educate about organ donation. I want to be in a position where we can leverage the philanthropic aspects of what we do with TV spots, PSA's and campaigns.

You have a few big movies coming up, including White Out with Kate Beckinsale, who was in the Underworld films. Did you two trade vampire stories on the set?

A little bit, yeah. It was more like, "Who was the better vampire?" I was the better vampire! No, I was the better vampire! No, I'm a boy, I was better and I'm stronger than you!" (Laughs) We went back and forth, and I think she finally said, "You're an idiot" and walked away. But the bottom line is Mick St. John would kill what's her name, I don't even remember her name, from the (Underworld) movie! Mick St. John would kill her!

So you're obviously a big fan of the vampire genre. Is there any chance you'll return to genre television or maybe do a genre film anytime soon?

Sure, why not genre film? Why don't we do a big film? I'd love to do more genre work. I don't know about anytime soon, but it's not out of the question for me.

Audiences really responded to your onscreen relationship with Sophia Myles on Moonlight. Any chance you might work with her again?

Yeah, maybe. There's nothing set up, but she's a friend, and you never know. It's a small world and we have a scarcely small acting fraternity, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. She's great.

We look forward to seeing you on Criminal Minds next week. Anything you want to say to your fans about the show?

Tune in. Come on! Show up! It's a good episode. I think you'll like it.

April 29, 2009

Source: TVAddict.com

While it may not be the MOONLIGHT revival that fans were hoping for (or to be more specific, that one really dedicated fan who is single-handedly keeping the "Save MOONLIGHT" campaign alive by inundating my email box with bi-weekly emails), star Alex O‘Loughlin is making a return to the small screen this evening on a very special, not to mention intensely creepy episode of CRIMINAL MINDS. And here to talk about tonight‘s role with your very own TV Addict, in between shooting his new CBS pilot (THREE RIVERS) and his upcoming romantic comedy opposite Jennifer Lopez is the immortal one himself, Alex O‘Loughlin.

Alex O'Loughlin: Yes and no. It was a tough show for everybody in a sense that it was a high maintenance girlfriend. You love her, she‘s great in bed but it takes so much of your time to appease her [laughs] that you‘re left going, "Okay, is this worth the end result." From the very beginning, there were huge amounts of changes: Five different showrunners, from the early days when it was Twilight we fired everyone, recast the show, reshot the pilot, called it MOONLIGHT, changed the showrunner. [Producer] Joel Silver and the network were butting heads constantly about the creative direction of the show. It was a lot of stuff to deal with behind the camera, maybe too much in fact. But to answer your question, I was surprised we were canceled because it was doing so well.

On tonight’s CRIMINAL MINDS, you play Vincent, a serial killer who couldn’t be more different than MOONLIGHT’s Mick St. John. How did this guest appearance come about, and did you purposely look for a role that was Mick’s polar opposite?

Alex: In terms of CRIMINAL MINDS specifically, the writer, Simon [Mirren] is a great friend of mine, and he said, "listen, I‘m writing a role with you in mind. Would you read it," and I did and the rest is history. I love playing different roles, the more variety the better. Once I‘ve played a role I don‘t want to play it again.

Was there any apprehension about playing a serial killer?

Alex: No apprehension because as far as I‘m concerned Vincent is a redeemable character. When I first read the part, I could see how sympathetic he was. In terms of how I prepare, obviously not by going out and slaughtering anything. My main preparation with this character was the obsessive compulsive stuff because that‘s the thing that rules his life and keeps him doing what he does time and time again. His OCD is at the core of his physical being.

A lot of your scenes are with a young actor [Jake Cherry] who plays Stanley. Before accepting the role did the old Hollywood adage about not working with kids or animals ever cross your mind?

Alex: (Laughs) That‘s the old rule man, no kids or animals! But I love working with kids, I‘ve never not enjoyed it. But then again maybe I‘ve never had a bad kid. The thing about working with children is that there are no walls there, no barriers between you and their vanity. When you‘re working with adults, we all have vanity, narcissism, whatever we have that has to do with our ego can potentially get in the way of our work. With kids there is a purity and an innocence regardless of what character they‘re playing within them. And so to tap into that is just extraordinary to work with because it‘s so true.

What can you tell fans about the THREE RIVERS [the pilot that Alex O'Loughlin recently shot for CBS]?

Alex: Set in Pittsburgh, it‘s a medical drama told from the perspective of the organ donor, the organ recipient and the surgical team. So every episode, someone may live and someone may die. Meaning the stakes are very high.

Alex: Very good question and yes it is hard, it is daunting I got to say and I don‘t think any actor would disagree with me. Once you‘ve done a couple of films, I think the whole idea of being a movie star — well I don‘t know about the ‘star‘ thing — but the idea of working regularly in feature films, that‘s my dream. To go from one character to the next and get to tell a million different stories, that would be wonderful. I‘d love to be able to do that. But the thing about television is that the job security, you cannot beat. I‘m a family man and I have to think that way. But I definitely do get scared I‘ll get stuck in one character and never find my way out. That other people aren‘t going to trust me that I can‘t find my way out to find one of their characters. So there is that. That being said, after experiencing what I‘ve experienced on both THE SHIELD and MOONLIGHT there are also joys and benefits to playing a character for a long time because you discover things and get to live out things you discovered about the character. There have been so many times in my life when I‘ll finish a play or a film and a week later I‘ll wake up and say, "Ah f*ck, that‘s what I should have done with that scene, that‘s the missing element." And so in TV you get to live that out and discover so much more it‘s great. But it‘s definitely a catch 22 situation.

Have you started shooting The Back-Up Plan?

Alex: I start shooting in about a minute!

Aside from the opportunity to work with Jennifer Lopez, what attracted you to the project?

Alex: Nothing, just J.LO … No, just joking. The film is great, it‘s funny, well written and I‘ve never really done a lead role in a romantic comedy over here yet in America. Also, the director‘s a pal, the great Alan Poul, who has a really smart clear vision for the film. And Jennifer being attached didn‘t hurt.

October 12, 2009 09:22 AM EST

Alex O'Loughlin Fever!

by Megan Walsh-Boyle  (TVGuide Magazine online)

Is it just me, or does cute and flirty Dr. Reed have a thing for Dr. Andy Yablonski (Alex O'Loughlin) on Three Rivers? And why wouldn’t she? He's the sexy rebel surgeon type ladies have been falling for since Dr. Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H (hey, Hawkeye was a Casanova at the 4077!)

Anyway, Dr. Reed turns to Andy for help when an 18-year-old comes into the ER with major breathing issues. The young woman is a cancer survivor who is in dire need of a double-lung transplant, which she doesn’t qualify for since she hasn’t been in remission long enough. No fair at all, which is why Andy pushes for an exception to hospital policy, but is met with resistance from board members, who feel he’d be wasting the lungs on this girl. But Andy doesn’t know the meaning of “no” and figures out a way to save his patient’s life: He’s going to fix her up with damaged, unwanted lungs—and earn bonus points in the process with Dr. Reed! (How long before she’s paying him house calls?)

But for one life to be saved, another needs to be lost—enter the picture hit-and-run victim Daniel, who is brain dead and an organ donor, which doesn’t surprise his mom, who sobs he was a “good boy.” Awww, poor mom…is delusional! Daniel wasn’t a “good boy”—he was a murderer according to a Boston police detective, whose investigation delays Miranda from getting the lungs and a kidney back to Three Rivers ASAP. After finally getting the clearance to retrieve the organs from Daniel, Miranda, David and newbie Ryan Abbott arrive in Pittsburgh only to be caught in a traffic jam due to a bomb threat. Can’t a transplant team catch a break? At this point, Ryan makes up for his lack of medical training by talking the team into a police transport back to the hospital just in time to save the day for both Andy’s double-lung transplant and Sophia’s kidney patient.

Miranda should be feeling pretty pleased with herself, but the two lives she helped don’t make up for the one she couldn’t—her heart patient (played by “hey, that guy” actor Brett Cullen), who suffers a stroke and dies. Andy tries to make her feel better with a couple of cold brewskies on the rooftop. Call him Dr. Smooth! At this point, we learn that probably every patient of Miranda’s who is also a dad will affect her personally—this time, she relates to the fact that her dead heart patient had a son who he was estranged from, just like she was estranged from her father when he passed away. But who needs a therapist when you can spill to your doc buds over a few cold ones?

So, two episodes in, and my question is do you want to spend another Sunday night chillin’ with Andy and his posse of lifesavers?

October 14, 2009 12:00am

Article from: Courier-Mail.com.au

Colin Vickery


AUSSIE actor Alex O'Loughlin's career has cost him his relationship, but it has brought him the starring role in new US medical drama Three Rivers.

O'Loughlin and Holly Valance split last February after four years together. The writing was on the wall when O'Loughlin was starring in cult vampire series Moonlight. He had spent years trying to ignite his US acting career and wasn't going to let the chance slip.

"I'm usually feeling wiped out and I've not seen Holly all week. It's a pretty full-on life, but what do you do? I love my work and there are sacrifices," O'Loughlin was reported as saying in 2007.

The consolation for O'Loughlin's relationship break-up is playing leading transplant surgeon Dr Andy Yablonksi on Three Rivers.

The drama goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons. It is high stakes - a race against the clock where surgeons are the last hope for their patients.

O'Loughlin's character is based on real-life heart transplant surgeon Dr "Gonzo" Gonzalez-Stawinski.

"When I was first handed the script I knew it would work but I wasn't sure I was the right man for the job," O'Loughlin admits.

"It is one thing to play dress-ups and have a great time and shoot guns (on shows like The Shield and Criminal Minds) but with this script I was playing a real character and it involved real stories.

"For me, whenever I play a role I try to immerse myself in it but this seemed so immense to get to any sort of level of honesty and truth. I didn't think I could pull it off."

O'Loughlin is known for his modesty. He once said: "I do not think I'm a great talent. I think I'm a medium talent, but it's about perseverance."

He only had the confidence to play Yablonski on Three Rivers after he spoke to Gonzalez-Stawinski.

"We spoke on the phone for hours and then he asked me to come and stay at his house," O'Loughlin says. "I saw nine open heart procedures with him. We got on straight away and now he's a friend for life."

O'Loughlin's mother is a nurse and he can remember following her on her hospital rounds but he readily admits he did not know anything about medicine before Three Rivers.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Gonzalez-Stawinski was a life changing experience for the actor.

"After I spent my first 10 hours in an operating room watching a man being brought back to life, I sat in my hotel room for three hours and felt this deep sense of regret that I was watching my calling (medicine) before me and that I'd taken the wrong direction (acting) in my career," he says.

"I got to know people who were sick through no fault of their own and now they are dead and all they wanted was a bit more of life - simple stuff like the chance to water the garden.

"I also realised that physicians have the capacity to love the unloveable. The most awful person you can imagine could be lying on the hospital bed and the physician will say to them 'everything will be OK'.

"Learning to get in touch with that part of me as a young alpha Aussie male has been a struggle and one of the greatest experiences so far in my career."

O'Loughlin's Hollywood success is an inspiring example of the power of persistence in the face of rejection and doubt.

"It's been a long journey but I've maintained a positive outlook and it has paid off," he says.

"There was a point four years ago when I was living on my mate Sam Gould's couch for over a year - so long that my back went out. I had my swag with me and I had to move on to the floor.

"At that point I'd run out of money. A Ducati motorcycle, the only thing I owned, had been stolen and the insurance money had run out and I couldn't get arrested in this town (Los Angeles)."

ALEX O'LOUGHLIN MOONLIGHTS ON 'THREE RIVERS'

The star of the beloved vampire series MOONLIGHT talks about playing a surgeon on the new CBS medical drama

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN, Contributing Writer - ifmagazine.com
Published 11/27/2009

http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=3604

In the 2007-2008 TV season, Australian actor Alex O’Loughlin warmed a lot of hearts as Mick St. John, a vampire who’s a Los Angeles private detective by trade, in the CBS series MOONLIGHT. The show didn’t draw the ratings the network had hoped, but they felt they were onto something with O’Loughlin. Consequently, the actor is back to handling hearts in a more literal manner, heading up the cast on CBS’ medical drama THREE RIVERS as Pittsburgh cardio-thoracic surgeon Andy Yablonski.

The actor confirms that CBS indeed wanted to stay in the Alex O’Loughlin business. "I had a holding deal with CBS," he says. "There were a couple of options on the table and I was most comfortable and it made the most sense to go in that direction, because not only am I deeply appreciative to the company and [CBS Entertainment President] Nina [Tassler] and everybody involved, but I love those guys a lot. We’ve been through a lot together. If someone believes in you that much for that long, it really stands for something, and here we are."

Since nobody can say for sure what vampires are like, playing Mick St. John allowed some latitude. However, since surgeons exist in the real world, playing one has required a lot of preparation, O’Loughlin notes. "I do as much research as I can."

"I immerse myself in the role as much as I can, I just want to take on as much information and knowledge as I can possibly take on before the cameras roll, because I’m not a surgeon. I’m about as far away from a surgeon as you can get, but I did as much as I could," he adds. "My role is very similar to a guy called Dr. [Gonzalo] ‘Gonzo’ Gonzalez-Stawinski. He’s a cardio-thoracic surgeon who works out of the Cleveland Clinic, which is a prestigious cardiac institute, and I spent a lot of time there when we were shooting in Pittsburgh, I got in the car and I drove to Cleveland or I got on a plane and I flew to Cleveland, and I did that as many times as I could to do his rounds with him, sit with him, pick his brain, watch him, be with him all day and all night, as much as I could, and I also spent a lot of time in the operating room, scrubbed in and watching what was happening.”

What surprised O’Loughlin most about his experiences watching the cardiac surgeons? "How desperately obsessed I would become with medicine, because I love it, and how quickly that would happen," he replies. "I should’ve been a doctor. I’m so boring. I found out that my father wanted to be a cardio-thoracic surgeon. It was something he was obsessed with as well. He’s thrilled that I’m doing the show, but we weep together about it, the loss [of medicine in] our lives. I’ve seen all the procedures now [except] the heart transplant, that’s the one thing I haven’t seen, but I’ve seen pretty much every other operation [that can be done] on the heart. I actually want to become a spokesperson [for organ donation], like what we did with the Red Cross [with MOONLIGHT."

O’Loughlin says he actually practiced performing some medical procedures to get into the mind set of the role. "The cutting is not the difficult part," he says. "The suturing, or the sewing, is the difficult part. And yeah, I practiced. Gonzo had all sorts of routines laid out for me. I practiced on gauze and on doorknobs and tying knots and suturing."

Did any of O’Loughlin’s subjects develop infections? "Any doorknobs?" O’Loughlin laughs. "I don’t know, I never checked back on those patients. I’m not too bad, actually. And of course, [there was also work with] pigskin and then the latex models that we used at work.”

The medical jargon can also be challenging, O’Loughlin acknowledges. "You study and read a lot and practice, ‘Hypotropic myopathy, hypotropic myopathy’" he says smiling. "When I first read the pilot, I had lunch with Lina and with [executive producer] Carol Barbee, and [they] had to kind of talk me into it. I was so nervous, because if you take it seriously at all, it’s such an enormous journey. I don’t have any training in medicine and there’s so much to learn, even just to get off the ground to be convincing when you say the words."

THREE RIVERS focuses on organ donation. O’Loughlin says that he’s been signed up as a donor for years, but working on the series has increased his appreciation of the phenomenon.

"When I was younger, in my late teens, it just seemed like the cool thing to do," he says. "What I have learned actually on the show is that there’s a lot more to it than just checking a box and putting a sticker on your license. There are a few other things you need to get in order, I believe, if you want that to happen if, God forbid, anything happens to you. I don’t have any religious bans or anything that stop me from doing that."

What does O’Loughlin like about working in television?

"I don’t!" he quips. "That was a joke, but some days, when you’re doing ten pages of dialogue, when you’re working for eighteen and nineteen hours and forgetting to eat because you’re so tired, when it gets there and everyone’s tired and you’re breaking things and you’re forgetting the lines and you feel like an idiot and you don’t feel like you’re truly representing your character – you have those days, like in any job, and I don’t like TV on those days. What is it [that’s good] about TV? I approach it the same way I approach film, there’s just a lot more work to do on each day. It’s my medium for storytelling at the moment, and that’s where I live. Well, I live in film as well, I live in both of them. A film schedule is much more luxurious and I sort of grew up in the theatre, and so the beginning and the end – you have an arc, you know where you’re going, you know where you start, you know where you finish and at the end of the night, you’re done. And if you’re Hamlet, you’re dead. You go home. You go to bed. That’s the great thing about film, but it’s also the sad thing about film. You know, you end up with that heartache [when filming ends], like when you finish a good book and you don’t want to shut it, and you get that sort of sick feeling and you have the heartache. That’s what happens when I finish a film, every time. TV keeps going and going, and that’s the magic of TV."

There have been some film projects before MOONLIGHT began production for O’Loughlin. He co-starred with Kate Beckinsale in the thriller WHITEOUT earlier this year and adds, "I just finished a film with Jennifer Lopez called THE BACKUP PLAN, it’s a comedy about love and marriage in reverse. I think it’s going to be good."

O’Loughlin says he hopes his MOONLIGHT fans will follow him to THREE RIVERS.

"Well, of course," he says. "I’d be deeply saddened if they didn’t. But I guess I would understand." He adds that he’s putting the word out. "Come with me to THREE RIVERS, everybody, come with me."