Alex O’Loughlin and Gabriel Macht talking to Brian Collins on Bloody Disgusting com – 2009
Brian: Hi I’m BC from Bloody Disgusting.com and we are in the Whiteout freezer truck. It’s currently 23 degrees in the truck. They offered me a parka. I said, “No, fuck it, I’m from Boston, let’s just go”.
About to talk to Gabriel Macht and Alex O’Loughlin, stars of the new movie, Whiteout. Check it out.
Brian: Right, so I wasn’t really looking; did you actually take part in this 300 club∗ thing? I just looked at Kate.
Alex: I did. Yeah, it was a good time. Good time. It was cold. Minus 30 plus. Minus 30 something and that was my first day of shooting actually. So I hadn’t met any of the crew yet. And it’s quite …
Gabriel: That’s why judge you throughout the whole ….
Alex: It’s why they judge me and became my friends, and thought me courageous and brave.
Gabriel: Yes.
Alex: And hold me in a light like … not unlike a hero. Like Alexander the Great. Who I might add, I’m named after.
Gabriel: Oh, about that.
Brian: Fair enough.
Alex: Think about it.
Gabriel: Quick, quick…
Alex: I just answering. I’m just taking it as they come, you know. So yes, I did do to that. In the first day of shooting, I …. I …. I took my pants of.
In fact I took everything of, except for a hat and a pair of boots and I ran across the ice many, many, many times. And it is …. You know, it’s pretty like, you get …. It is a 150 crew members around and it is like “How’s it going fellows? I’m Alex. Nice to meet you”
Brian: And you were doing good, you didn’t have to? Cause you weren’t in the movie then.
Gabriel: I had a no-nudity clause.
Alex: No-nudity clause.
Brian: Now have you guys read the book before, the comic?
Gabriel: Yeah.
Alex: I can’t read.
Brian: Did you read it before like you signed onto the movie?
Gabriel: I actually … I think I got the script. I read the script and I raced out to go get the comic. And I read through that and I was looking for my character throughout the entire book and I didn’t find him. And realised that, I’m a woman in the graphic novel. That they made into a man in the film.
Alex: Which is …. if you think about it, maybe something you can take to therapy. And talk about why perhaps they cast you. I’m just saying.
Brian: Let’s talk about doing the three-way sort of like the fight scene. How much stunt doubles did you have or was it all you? You were so covered, I could not even tell who was Kate and which one was one of you guys.
Alex: Yeah, you realise how important this sort of … the costume design is. When …. because the differences. I mean you could ….. when I saw the film I was okay. Maybe I am close to it, but I sort of … I could not see who is who. But in the moments that we want you to know exactly who it is, you do get it. So that was where that came into play.
But, we had stunt people … we did a lot of our own stuff. It wasn’t that difficult, I mean. It was physical, but it wasn’t like … It wasn’t huge leaps and stuff. And so we did pretty much all of it. It was good. I enjoy that kind of physical interaction. I mean, it is a real … it is an easy and obvious way of expressing what’s happening.
Gabriel: What I like about the stunts, is that it’s an honest approach to what would potentially happen with a guy with an ice-pick you know. There’s nobody is like scaling walls, you know. There’s no extreme CGI fighting and you know, it isn’t superhero stuff. It was cool to be in that..
Video:
∗ The 300 Club is the name given to those who have endured a range of temperature of 300° Fahrenheit (166°C) within a very short time. The practice originated at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica.
Participants in the 300 Club wait for a day when the temperature drops to −100°F (-73°C) for more than a few minutes, generally in the winter.
Those taking part first warm up in a sauna heated to 200°F (93°C) for as long as 10 minutes. Then they run naked in the snow to the Ceremonial South Pole, running around it in the −100°F weather. After this, they usually warm themselves back in the sauna again, often with the aid of alcoholic beverages.
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 