We continue our series of ‘behind the scenes’ trivia from Alex’s movies, with some facts from
The Invisible….
For those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, Alex plays the boyfriend of the lead female character. He is a thief on parole….
• The movie is a remake of the original Swedish film of the same name, which in itself is an adaptation of the novel “Den Osynlige” written by Mats Wahl.
• The Invisible initially had an R-rating because of its dark themes. By making some minor changes, director David S. Goyer got the MPAA to give the movie a PG-13 label.
• A storyline about Pete stealing Nick’s money to get out of town was cut out of the movie as it was considered to be superfluous.
• The black car that Marcus is working on in the shop when Annie calls him is one of the three Blade cars, a modified 1968 Dodge Charger. It was purchased by the sound recordist who worked on the Blade productions as well as The Invisible.
• Writer Christina Roum on Alex O’Loughlin’s portrayal of Marcus in the scene where Detective Larson visits him at the garage where he works as a mechanic:
“I think Alex’s performance in this scene is really remarkable, because he’s a tough guy and he’s going to do some really bad things in this movie and yet in this scene I’m kinda rooting for him.
I was so happy with his performance, because he’s vulnerable and that makes you believe the things that he does, like betraying [Annie] the way that he does, because he’s fighting for his life.”
• Director David S. Goyer on Alex O’Loughlin’s performance:
“It’s also kind of impressive because Alex is Australian with an extremely thick Australian accent and people don’t realize that.”
• The daytime scene on the walkway was filmed over a period of five days. On the days the close-ups of Marcus were filmed, the sun was shining brightly, so those shots had to be digitally reworked to match the look of the other shots for the same scene.
• For the scene on the cliff, the safety fence was removed. The only thing keeping Alex O’Loughlin and Margarita Levieva from plunging to their possible deaths if anything went wrong was a safety wire attached to their ankles.
David S. Goyer says of the actors, “They were fearless”.
There is one part in the film where Margarita Levieva’s character, Annie has me at gunpoint on the edge. When she kicks me off the small edge, she actually did that! I had a wire on me. The take that they used was actually when I almost lost my balance, so that was fun.
– Alex O’Loughlin, Hollywood the Write Way,
14 October 2008
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 
MARCUS!!!!! RAWRRRR!!!
Christina Roum is one smart woman! She was absolutely right! Never read this, thanks FOYeur!
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Reblogged this on alixia94's Blog.
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I love that buzz cut! You go, Boy!
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I loved this movie as part of it was filmed in my old home town of North Vancouver, and the scene of him on the cliff was familiar to me. He has the nicest face, long eyelashes, gorgeous eyes and a perfect nose and chin. Someone else said it best rawwrrr…
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Being a 70’s long-hair-loving kinda gal, extreme buzz cuts are problematic for me. But I’m minded of when “12 Monkeys” came out, and the director said about Bruce Willis shaving his head, “Bruce doesn’t have a skull; he has architecture.” That’s what’s needed for so little hair to work, in my opinion, and it’s why it works here: Alex has architecture. His skull is very well-proportioned, and here his neck was still somewhat slender, so the thuggishness of the tight cut is mitigated by that as well as his extraordinary prettiness (which works against type and helps humanize Marcus).
Plus, a personal highlight for me is that swallow tattoo. I’m fascinated by it in every shot where it’s visible, because it draws my eye straight to one of my very favorite spots on a man’s body: that space just behind and below his ear. I’ve never met a man who wasn’t sensitive in that spot – it’s very sensual. To place a tattoo that points right at it is a great subliminal tease, as it exposes a very vulnerable spot to scrutiny. (And with that buzz cut, his whole neck is open, and the skin there is particularly silky – yum yum yes please.)
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Yes, this short cut wouldn´t look this good on just anybody. With Alex it just emphatizes his natural perfect head shape, and neck.
Also brings out his facial perfection, straight nose and big eyes. It´s ridiculous how good he looks as Marcus! I always want more of him in this movie.
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By the way, Paula, I actually AM working on that analysis I mentioned the other day. I should have results in a week or two. (I’m hoping to provide screen grabs for illustration, as well.) What fun!
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Love ALEX to bits in everything but this.!!! I don’t even find him attractive because the character he plays is SO loathsome. with not ONE redeeming quality.I suppose it is really a GREAT compliment to Alex’s acting skills that I hate Marcus as much as I do!! He played a sad sick man in FEED flawed by his background!! Marcus CHOOSES to be evil . and unlike poor beautiful Vincent has NO remorse.
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“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” – Jessica Rabbit
Heehee.
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I LOVE this character. He is a total shit, and Alex plays that. Yet he is a sexy damn shit. One of those bad boys so many of us women get into trouble for…this was such a real character!
Alex seems to credit this role as his first real break in Hollywood. So love it for that too. 🙂
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I just watched this movie again last night, and I must say I like Marcus. Yeah, he’s something of a s**tbag, but he’s not evil or horrible. I’ve known guys like this – a wrong turn in youth puts them on a path that’s EXTREMELY difficult to get off of, especially in the US. Once you get a record, forget it. Most of the better things in life will be denied you, and it’s very, very hard to become “respectable” again. Marcus’s trajectory is completely believable to me, and if things had been a little different, he might have been a decent fellow. As it is, he tries with what little he’s got, but life traps him anyway. Life feeds on life, and we’re all part of the smorgasbord.
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Omg Ladies. MEN who abuse use and try to kill their woman -1
Abused women -O.
Tell me Serai Just what Makes Marcus not EVIL or Horrble.?
One of my sisters best friends and her 3 year old son was strangled by their husband/father. I suppose he wasn’t evil or horrible either!! Watch the film again. Marcus thinks only of himself not his lover just like Ted Bundy and OJ Simpson– both extremely handsome men who killed women Like Marcus!!!
I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU BUT i WANT TO COMPREHEND JUST HOW YOU COULD ADMIRE SOMEBODY LIKE THIS IN REAL LIFE????
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Hm. Maybe you should try not to take things so personally.
1) I don’t approve of violence between people, but let’s not pretend that the girl wasn’t eagerly courting it. She was clearly trying to get him to start something with her, and she knew very well exactly how to achieve it. He clearly wasn’t interested in getting violent or in betraying her, until she made it inevitable herself.
2) She was threatening to send him back to jail, thus ruining what little of his life he was able to reconstruct after getting out. That’s deliberate, cruel, and vicious. He didn’t start any of this – SHE DID. And she did it knowing his circumstances and knowing how easy it would be to ruin him. When you use your knowledge of another person to threaten and goad him into violence, whose fault is it?
3) I just watched the movie. I saw a young man terrified for his safety and life lash out to remove the ONE THING threatening them. I also saw a nasty, violent teenager USING her youth to get away with criminal acts and dam near sociopathic behavior, without even the sorry excuse of drug use to make her seem even slightly sympathetic.
4) I guess I’m more interesting in storytelling, character integrity, and the understanding of characters as real people and not just Big Scary Stereotypes than some. As I said, I’ve known men like Marcus, whereas you seem never to have met anyone like him. Making the enormous assumption that there is no reason whatsoever for him to be the way he is – I can’t imagine doing that.
5) One more thing – sympathizing with a serial killer who literally slashes women to death, but not being willing to give a break to a working class guy struggling to save his own life when confronted with what is clearly a lunatic out to destroy him? Another thing I can’t imagine, sorry. What in the world could possibly inspire you to side with a bloodthirsty monster but not with an ordinary young man caught in an impossible situation?
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Serai ,please don’t prejudge or assume that I know nothing of real life. My late sister in Law was married to a very violent “Gangbanger” who beat her black and blue even when she was pregnant with his twins and my sister was almost destroyed by her boyfriend who stashed his drugs and money in her condo unbeknown to her of course, until she found them returned them to him and threw him out As for “Vincent ” My family in England had reason to very afraid of men who stab women. I am TERRIFIED of knives.So NO I don’t like “Bad Boys” even make believe ones
My comment also was not directed specifically at you I said “Ladies”
I know how many of you love “Bad Boys”. I don’t but hey live and let live and I think that for the sake of this loving site and our “OHANA here we should draw a friendly line in the sand and stay peaceably on our own side. i will if you will o k??
BTW Take Marcus with my love BUT I get Dr Andy!!!!!!
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So you’re making assumptions about a film character based on your experience. So it’s reasonable for you to do so, but not me? How interesting.
I’m sorry your sister had a hard time with a royal f**khead, but that doesn’t change the fact that not every guy who goes to jail is worthless and evil. Not every guy who gets out is a danger to society, Not every guy who gets desperate and lashes out is doing so because he’s a vicious thug.
And most of all – and I say this being a staunch feminist of nearly fourty years duration – not every woman is utterly innocent. Yes, violence is inexcusable. But so is goading a man into it, or making threats to have someone else jailed for something she did. Or beating someone to death – which, by the way, the GIRL did. Marcus didn’t kill ANYONE. But she did. And then tried to drag him into it, knowing that even a whisper of criminality would land him back in jail. If you’re going to make excuses for a person like that, then there’s really nothing more to say, because then you’re just siding against someone out of sheer physical prejudice. (“He looks evil therefore he must BE evil – even though I don’t know anything about him.”)
Last note: next time you watch a movie, think more about what’s NOT being said, what’s NOT being shown. Because reading between the lines will tell you an enormous amount. Here’s an example: Marcus tells the girl to leave the jewels. She sneers at him. He tells her again. She laughs. He gets desperate. She taunts him and leaves. Did he beat her? No. Did he attack her in any way? No. Did he get his gun and go after her? No. He could have (who would have cared if he did?), but he didn’t. So why did you come to the conclusion that he’s a violent animal who abuses women, when he consistently *fails* to do that until it becomes clear he’s fighting for his life. That may sound like a thug to you, but it sure doesn’t to me.
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Once again we are reminded that real life plays a big part in our opinions even on fictional characters. I can look past lot of the nasty character stuff on screen but for sure it would be different in RL
Arguing with emotions is perhaps futile.
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*grin* Indeed. Though I will say I’m not one to make assumptions about another person based on external indicators. I’ve known way too many tattooed, dangerous-looking people who turned out to be perfectly sweet, and too many nice-looking “decent” people who turned out be vicious and untrustworthy, to decide that because a person looks like someone in my past, they’re necessarily going to be the same. I guess I just can’t wrap my head around that kind of personal prejudice.
But hey, like the man said, for people who like that sort of thing, I guess it’s just the sort of thing that they would like.
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