Can a serial killer played by Alex O’Loughlin slake his thirst for murder?
The star of TV’s too-short-lived Moonlight talked to TVGuide.com about his compelling guest spot on CBS’ Criminal Minds. Plus: Why Alex O’s fans should give his new medical drama a chance.
TVGuide.com: Where have ya been, man? We had a long stretch there, after Moonlight went bye-bye, where the fans were missing you terribly.
Alex: Yeah, I didn’t work for like 10 months.
I went back to Australia for a minute, and then I went and sat in a forest for a couple months and got my thoughts together. I did a bunch of writing….
Essentially, I went into a bit of a tailspin and left the country, to Mexico, out of phone range. I was kind of upset.
TVGuide.com: Well, nearly a year later, not a week goes by that I don’t get a Moonlight fan asking not if, but when it is coming back.
Alex: [Laughs] You know, the other day I was in Pittsburgh shooting [the CBS pilot Three Rivers], when this girl comes running up to me.
Before I could finish ascertaining what I thought was going to happen, she pounced through the air, like a tiger, and landed on my chest with her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.
After I got her off and thanked her for the hug, she demanded to know when Moonlight was coming back.
TVGuide.com: And you had to break her heart.
Alex: I had to taser her…. No, I had to tell her that I didn’t think it was [returning].
TVGuide.com: Exactly what measures were taken to possibly save Moonlight?
Alex: I don’t know exactly what happened after they cut it. I know they talked to CW, they talked to TNT … a bunch of people.
TVGuide.com: Is there anything you can share about what was going to happen next on the show?
Alex: What I do know is that there was going to be some really cool stuff going on with Eric Winters’ character, [the ADA] who was gathering the list of vampires.
TVGuide.com: Turning to the April 29 episode of Criminal Minds: [Series creator] Ed Bernero told me that your serial killer reaches out to the BAU for “help” — and he put “help” in quotation marks.
Alex: There are a few twists, and I can’t tell you what they are. But the thing that I love about this episode is that we find a very disturbed character — a guy whose life is run by obsession and by compulsion, and he can’t stop this pattern of killing.
But he wants salvation. He finds a child, and the child represents perhaps the last bit of innocence within himself.
This is what I drew from the character when I first read the script, and I hope that’s what we see when the show plays.
The episode was written by a friend of mine, Simon Mirren, who is very, very talented.
TVGuide.com: Paget Brewster told me that you had the women on the set all atwitter.
Alex: Oh, boo. Come on. I must have missed that! [Laughs]
From Paget Brewster’s interview:
TVGuide.com: Have you shot the episode with Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight) yet?
Brewster: Oh, Alex…. Alex sets all the girls into a twitter. Various departments were vying for Alex‘s attention. We just finished that this past Saturday morning, at 5:30 am.
TVGuide.com: Did Prentiss get a “moment” with Alex?
Brewster: No, No…. Prentiss had no moments with Alex! [Laughs]
He’s a cutie-pie! There’s a little kid, Jake Cherry (Desperate Housewives), in that episode, and he’s amazing too.
All our guest stars are extraordinary, which we need to remember. We’re there every day, and we have long-standing jokes with the crew, so we need to remember there is someone standing next to us, acting [as if] they’re about to die or their child has been murdered.
They’re working up all this emotion, and we’re hiding fart machines from each other. We’re the most childish set, and we love it!
Back to Alex’ interview…….
TVGuide.com: You went from taking lives on Criminal Minds to saving lives on the CBS drama pilot Three Rivers. Sell me on the concept.
Alex: It’s set in Pittsburgh, where the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers meet, and it’s told from three perspectives — the organ donor, the organ recipient, and the surgical team.
That of course means that in every episode, someone dies and someone potentially lives, so it’s always very high-stakes.
The show is really well-written and smart and sensitive. It’s a beautiful little hour of TV.
TVGuide.com: I just know that some of your Moonlight fans are concerned that the premise, on paper, doesn’t sound dynamic enough for their Alex O’Loughlin.
Alex: It’s absolutely dynamic enough. I plead with my Moonlight fans to give this show a chance if they let me give it a chance.
I can’t do Moonlight again — it’s finished.
The bottom line is that my true fans will follow me where I go.
TVGuide.com: I take it that your Three Rivers character, Dr. Andy Yablonski, is not Australian.
Alex: [Laughs] No, he’s not. They offered me the role, and I was like, “Can I at least audition as an Australian?” “G’day! Do you need a new heart?”
TVGuide.com: And they weren’t buying.
Alex: No, they weren’t.
TVGuide.com: Was Three Rivers the first project that CBS sent you as part of your talent deal with them?
Alex: No, no. They had a bunch of other things.
TVGuide.com: Did they try to add you to any existing series?
Alex: Mmmm…. There was talk about a couple bits and pieces that we didn’t take seriously.
TVGuide.com: When are you doing that Jennifer Lopez movie, The Back-Up Plan?
Alex: That films in like two weeks. She plays a 40-year-old girl who hasn’t found the one and wants to have a baby, so she gets artificially inseminated.
Then she meets the guy of her dreams — and that’s me.
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 
Thanks for the interview. The timeline confuses me a little though. When they filmed ‘The Back-up Plan’ the pilot for Five-0 was already done. At least that is what Alex said in an interview on the set of TBP. That means Three Rivers was already cancelled. This interview was conducted in April 2009? But wasn’t H50 filmed in Feb 2010? And TBP premiered in April 2010. Ugh, nothing really fits.
Anyway, thank you for giving us these interviews, I love reading them again.
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I think you got a bit confused with the TL of filming and promo’s for TBUP. 🙂
TBUP was filmed in June/July 2009, after he did the pilot for ‘Three Rivers’ in March or April 2009 – not sure now which month.
He started filming Three Rivers directly after filming of TBUP ended in July 2009.
He did promo’s and Premieres for TBUP in April 2010, after H50 Pilot was filmed in March 2010.
This interview was done in April 2009
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Just got the correct date – On his MySpace on 27 March 2009, he confirms that he is in Pittsburgh filming the pilot for Three Rivers.
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Thanks for the timeline.
But I have a video interview, done on the set of TBP where Alex was asked about the filming of the H50 pilot. And he said something about having the bruises to prove it, but he was not allowed to talk about it yet.
That’s why I’m still confused. LOL Will search for the bit and see if that was actually on the set or for the promo tour. Will get back to you then. 😉
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Reblogged this on alixia94's Blog and commented:
Moi, j’adore
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Great interview…and he is definitely the man of my dreams!
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Thank you SO much FOYeur darling for this amazing “Blast from the Past’.
I think like most of us I. I first discovered Alex in MOONLIGHT and fell madly in love with MICK ST JOHN, After that I bought everything available that he had done so far and of course i have got everything since including Season 4 of HAWAII FIVE-0
. Alex is amazing in his talent and looks in all of it but it seems to me{. and I hope you and the other girls here will give me feedback on this} that Alex was never more beautiful as he was as DR ANDY YABLONSKY in THREE RIVERS/ I don’t know if it was because he became obsessed with the goodness of the character he played, his friendship with DR Gonzo or his devotion to Donate Life but his beauty seemed almost other worldly. He seemed Luminous, Perhaps the lighting techs on set were told to light him that way?? Who knows?? Whatever it was every time I see a picture of “DR ANDY’ or watch THREE RIVERS again i am always moved and totally transfixed by his angelic gorgeousness,.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and all the lovely ladies who make this site so much fun and so entertaining
XOOX
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Sorry for not coming back sooner to share my thoughts about what you said about Andy now. Been thinking about it a bit, wondering if I should give the long or the short version of my thoughts? 😀
Firstly I think you assessment about how Alex saw the role and how that made him “shine”, are spot on. To him the show was more than just another show, but an opportunity to make a difference in the world.
But I think he was not only beautiful in the show as Dr Andy, but also in his public appearances – he was just radiant.
I think of all his TV roles, and although he was supposed to carry the show, he had the least stress while filming Three Rivers. With Moonlight he worked too hard and carried too much of the weight of the show and also the loss of his beloved Mick – he gave a lot of himself there. At present with H5-0 he again carries too much of the responsibility. And we saw at the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012, where he had to turn with where that stress took him.
As Dr Andy he mostly worked inside and did not have to do a lot of hard physical stuff – the exact opposite of his role as Steve. And although he did some of his stunts in ML, it was not as much as present and he also worked a lot indoors.
I think his personal life at the time in 2009, was also less stressful. As a working actor, being a bachelor with no demanding GF or the stress of being a fulltime live-in parent together with a very demanding job and long hours away from home.
He also had lots of fun events to attend and could have some fun at them, without too much personal stress of being the main attraction. He looked gorgeous at all of them.
I think he was also in a very healthy period of his life – training and being beautiful while filming TBUP. And I am not a 100% sure, but I think he also managed to give up smoking for a while, while he was working on Three Rivers. Some days I really feel sad that I did not know about him at that time.
So I guess that was my long version of my personal opinion. Of course he was gorgeous before that time and at present as well, but differently so (if that makes any sense at all 🙂 )
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Your Comment is wonderful and it does make perfect sense and what you said about his health. His stress free life and his involvement with DONATE LIFE makes perfect sense as well Thank you so much for such a nice reply and have a very Happy New Year dear FOYeur I look forward to many more of your great “finds” and amazing blogs in 2015
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I loved the interview from the past as well. I on the other hand just started with watching season 4 of Hawaii five-0. As soon as I did I had to watch his past shows or movies. He is such a talented actor. I wish I would of watched him from the begining. Thank you so much for sharing this part of him .
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I have read nearly all of these old interviews more than 3 years ago, when I started following Alex’s career (also wish it was earlier than that). For me they tell a small part of the Alex story, and they help to understand and adore him even more. I just felt it is the best way of sharing Alex with other fans. And there is so many more of it to be posted.
I hope it is developing into being the best place to find what he had to say to the press and in that way share himself with the fans. 🙂
Glad you enjoy it.
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Both you and Pommienana, were so right with what you said about Alex. I have found that through all his movies, that he has evolved so much to become a truly fabulous actor. He takes on every one of his roles, personally. I don’t find many actors doing that, today.
I totally adored Mick St.John, I think about how good he was as a tortured vampire. Then I look at Dr. Andy and knew he was meant to play that role, bringing up a new hero, to fight for human life, with organ transplants. To which I personally have been involved.
Hawaii Five-O is a good platform for Alex, where he can save the Hawaiian lifestyle from evil, corrupt bad guys.
I just love Alex in anything. He is a fine, committed actor. ❤️
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