TV Guide’s TV Watercooler
with John Fugelsang & Teresa Strasser
John: Welcome back to the Watercooler. Now that was a clip from CBS’s cult favourite “Moonlight”, starring this man, Alex O’Loughlin. Welcome.
Alex: Thank you.
Teresa: Okay, so in that clip we just saw, it’s become clear that your character was a vamp, then a human.
Alex: Yes.
Teresa: And then had to go back to being a vampire?
Alex: Back to being a …… That was a very breathy piece of acting there, wasn’t it?
John: Very breathy, yes.
Teresa: I thought so.
John: So is he a vampire? Or just confused?
Alex: He’s a ….. Both. He’s a very confused vampire. He’s now a vampire again. He was a vampire who, who, who … for a long time, who wanted the mortal coil back. That’s the only thing he wanted. And he finally found a way of getting that.
And then he was put in a situation where he had to choose between that and becoming a vampire again or the sake of …. For the life of someone he loved.
John: Were you surprised that the show, this intense and this violent, developed such a big cult following?
Alex: Ah…… I’m always surprised at … you know, if anything I’m involved with, has any fans whatsoever. [Laughs] You know you never …. You never sort of ….. I don’t, I don’t …. Like I see fans and Tom Cruise together. And I see fans and other… but yourself you don’t.
But the genre itself is a …. You know I’m a fan of the genre. So I understand that. So I think the genre itself, as long as you do it with some sort of margin of truth, will always have a following. It will always have people behind it ….
Teresa: As far as the vampire genre goes, I mean this is obvious, but there is an inherent eroticism to almost anything to do with vampires. And that’s true on your show as well.
Alex: This is weird. Cause I don’t know…..
Teresa: You know what I’m saying?
Alex: Yes, I do. Absolutely. And that scene …. that scene is a really good example of, you know, of that eroticism. And that sort of sensuality within the genre. Within these creatures.
And that it’s not about heterosexuality or homosexuality. It’s not about that. You can’t pinpoint it. It’s not just about the unabashed sort of way that they move through….
Teresa: There’s a lustfulness.
Alex: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And its present, you know we’re talking about H.P. Lovecraft and you know Anne Rice. And it’s present in all vampire literature.
John: That’s what I like about it. It takes the best of Bram Stoker, of Lovecraft, of Anne Rice and a lot of the good vampire stuff we have seen and it really up-to-dates it. And it makes for compelling TV.
And the fan base has been really devoted, even rabid for this. Now there was a blood drive in Massachusetts for the show?
Alex: Yeah, in Massachusetts. Yeah, there was a blood drive here. There was ….. there’s been blood drives around ….. there’s one in Florida. They’re all over the place.
So the fans are getting on board and we’re …… It’s such a great idea. That was fan …. initiated by fans. That was fan incentive. They got on board. And they got like…. They called me and said, “Alex, will you be part with this blood drive?”. It was such I great idea…. I thought …. Absolutely.
And it’s good too to be able to….. You know, I’m so busy with the show. You know when you’re a lead on a one hour drama on network TV, you don’t even see your family, you know…. and to be able to….
Teresa: I’d like that problem….. what?
Alex: No, but it’s great to be able to do some community stuff as well.
Teresa: Well you were on TV Guide’s list of sexiest stars?
Alex: I know…..
Teresa: I don’t know if you know this?
Alex: Yeah, I do.
John: What a drag.
[Alex laughs]
Teresa: Yeah.
John: That’s awful. That’s awful
There you go right there. That’s a very sexy photo. Look at that.
Alex: Where? Where?
Teresa: It’s just the photo session.
John: There you can see it…
Alex: Oh my god. What’s happening?
John: How does it feel, as a man…?
Teresa: To be sprayed down?
Alex: It’s weird
John: … to be sprayed down?
[Laughs all around]
John: Now how do you manage it, as a serious actor, when you’ve got to do this kind of hype? When you’ve got to do the sexy star photo-shoot, while still maintaining your integrity?
Teresa: I think he’s managing just fine, when if I’m looking at the footage….
John: Absolutely
Alex: Yeah, we don’t have to play….
Teresa: Yes we do.
Alex: We don’t have to play that footage ….
John: Sorry
Alex: Oh yeah … it’s on a loop
Teresa: The way you pull your shirt aside….
John: Some very rabid women working in our control room.
Alex: So that loop is just going to play for the rest of the interview.
John: For sure.
Alex: Hey, that’s fine.
Teresa: We have other fans. And they have written us from the World Wide Web. Obviously, you have a huge presence there. We have a blog, a Moonlight blog.
We asked some of your devoted fans to submit questions to you. Like could you pull your shirt to the side and spray yourself down?
Teresa: That was my question. Okay. Here are some of their best questions. Okay, are you ready?
Question: “Will we find out that Mick has some vampire powers we didn’t know about before?” That’s posted by Endlessdeep.
Alex: Good question. I hope so. You know Mick is now, you know, after we saw Episode 13, he’s now of two bloodlines. He’s of the Coraline-family, French bloodline. Which is a very pure bloodline.
And know he’s … has Josef’s blood as well. So there’s kind of this hybrid thing going on. So that may…. that may…..
John: We have a question from RFox161: “I love Moonlight. My question is … Did Mick know that Coraline was a vampire when he married her? He must have, right?”
Alex: NO, he didn’t. No, no, he didn’t at all. That’s, that’s the whole…. You know, that’s the whole issues with women thing. Trust issues.
Teresa: No, I wondered that too.
Alex: He doesn’t have issues. It’s not what ……
Teresa: Sure there’s no intimacy issues?
Alex: Abandonment, intimacy …..
Teresa: Right
Alex: There’s all kind of things going. Because he didn’t know at all. It was a great surprise to him. And so, I mean, in all seriousness. He kind of felt a little let down on their wedding night.
John: Abandonment and being undead can do that.
Alex: Yeah, well you think you’re going to get one thing, and you get another….
John: Yeah, well that’s marriage.
Alex: That’s right, that’s marriage.
Teresa: The next… alright. Onto the next question. I’m about to get married, so don’t ruin it for me. Onto the next and last of your questions. “How uncomfortable are those vampire teeth? When you close your mouth, do you stab yourself?” Posted my Patmc.
Alex: No, I don’t actually. They’re great. They have … They take impressions of our. We take head casts and they take impressions of my teeth and they’re fitted perfectly, so that I can actually …. they fit to my bite. And I can bite down. And I can perform all kinds of lewd acts.
John: Well….. And speaking of lewd acts. Stick around because when we return Alex O’loughlin is going to the dreaded cooler quiz. Will TV … well it’s hard to say this, but will TV’s sexiest vampire ..
Teresa: You said it.
John: Give us some good sound bites? Stay tuned.
Teresa: Get it? Bites..
Link to the Video:
My Thoughts
- I never thought Moonlight was excessively violent – especially not in comparison to other vampire shows.
- We will do the Quiz in a different post 🙂
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 