Whiteout 2009 – #AlexOLoughlin & Gabriel Macht – (Transcript)

Another short video from back in 2009 of Alex and Gabriel, talking about there characters in Whiteout.

Gabriel Macht (“The Spirit”) and Alex O’Loughlin (TVs “Moonlight”) join Kate Beckinsale in the new thriller “Whiteout”. Moviehole caught up with them both recently.

Original Source: Moviehole
Date: 3 September 2009

Question: Can you describe your characters? Who is Robert and who is Russell?

Alex:  Russell is an Australian pilot who’s based in the same base we meet all the characters, where they all live. He does fly-outs. He moves gears, scientific equipment, people, food and supplies. They have a string of pilots working down there. They sort of run their own schedule. As long as they get the work done, it doesn’t really matter.

He’s an Aussie lad, he’s a bit of a womanizer, he’s got all these sort of fronts, that’s his way of portraying himself that is, that keeps everyone at arm’s length, because essentially he has, like all the characters in the show, another agenda. He has an MO. In this very close-knit community, he does his best to keep everybody as far away from his business as he can.

Gabriel Macht: My character’s name is Robert Pryce. I am an ex-Marine special forces soldier, now working for the UN. I come in about a third of the way through the film.

You see the character poking around at a murder site, and the U.S. Marshal doesn’t quite know who he is and what his motivation is, but you soon learn to know that he’s just there to try and solve the murder along with her. And then further along we go, we see that he’s got some other intentions going on. So, as an audience member, I think we… He’s another character that’s placed in this puzzle of trying to solve what, what’s going on in this film.

The action takes place in Antarctica and obviously, you couldn’t shoot there, but you did shoot in a very cold place, what was that experience like?

Alex:  We shot in northern Manitoba on the frozen lakes, which is about three hours north of Winnipeg. And it was cold. It was minus forty, minus fifty. We spent the first couple of weeks there, and then we went to Montréal and we spent a few months in the sound stages and did all the internal stuff we needed to do.

The great thing about doing all the exteriors where we did them in the conditions that we did them in, is that, essentially, that’s very close to the conditions where this film is situated and where these people live and have to survive. And it changes how you feel. Your blood pressure drops, you get dizzy, euphoric, and the simplest tasks become difficult. You can’t see the horizon for the edge of the ice, and so you can get disorientated very quickly. So it was very helpful as an actor.

Alex O’Loughlin as Russell Haden in Whiteout

Gabriel: Yeah. You know, on Lake Manitoba, it was freezing. It was fifty below. But we shot a large portion of the film in Montréal on the sound stages, and so still having to wear that extreme weather gear was very hot. It was actually one of the hottest films I’ve ever worked on.

I did a western, years back. You had to wear a lot of wool and long sleeves and vests and overcoats, but this, you’re wearing extreme weather gear and… we were sweating, and having to act cold, so I think we did a pretty good job by hopefully getting across that we were in a freezing environment. Whereas, we only shot about two-and-a-half, three weeks up in Manitoba, where it was actually that cold.

Question: I hear Kate Beckinsale has a great sense of humour. What was it like working with her?

Gabriel:  She’s terrific. This film is very heavy and serious in its approach to the storytelling. And, in between takes, she’s just making the whole crew and all of us laugh. She really keeps a light, you know… Levity, you know. She’s just very playful and extremely quick-witted and a real leader, so she’s cool.

Alex:  Yeah. The lead actor of a film sets the tone for the film and sets the tone for everybody, and she set a great tone.

Link to Video

 

Trivia

• In the Western that Gabriel talks about, the 2001 movie, American Outlaws, his co-stars included Scott Caan and Terry O’Quinn, who of course became Alex’s co-stars on Hawaii Five-0.

#AlexOLoughlin & @GabrielMacht – 2009 Interview for ‘Whiteout’ (Transcript)

Alex O’Loughlin and Gabriel Macht – Interesting to look back at the days before they both starred in two hit TV shows. Alex as the lead actor on Hawaii Five-0, with a 240 episode run and Gabriel as lead on a 136 episode run of Suits, with the difference being that Gabriel ended up also as the executive producer of his show and being able to steer the direction of his show.

This is only one of the few delightful interviews they did together for the movie Whiteout.

 

 

For Collider

by Steve ‘Frosty’ Weintraub

8 September 2009

Interviewing two people at the same time is hard. The reason is, when you’re interviewing just one person, you can focus all your energy and questions on that individual. But when you have two people ready and willing to answer questions, you’ve got to come up with stuff they both can talk about and you never know if they’re going to play off each other.

Sometimes you only have the time to ask one question because they’ll keep going on and on. Trust me, it’s a challenge. Thankfully, when I sat down to speak with Alex O’Loughlin and Gabriel Macht for their new movie “Whiteout”, not only did they play off each other quite well, we had enough time to ask some individual questions.

So if you’re curious what making “Whiteout” was like and what they have coming up, take a look at the interview after the jump.

Also, since it’s not online, Gabriel revealed that he’s been cast in Edward Zwick’s new film “Love and Other Drugs” opposite Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Transcript:

Alex: It’s not attractive.

Gabriel: Just don’t pick on your teeth. They are alright.

Steve: What we were discussing prior to the camera rolling – Food, in-between interviews. What’s your personal favourite?

Gabriel: Of?

Steve: Food?

Gabriel: Food! Uhm, actually … what’s my personal favourite. I was talking about this the other day. [To Alex] You might get a kick out of it. Crumpet, with some margarine and Vegemite on it. It’s actually…

Alex: Oh!

Gabriel: Yeah.

Alex: The word crumpet made me laugh. When you say it… crumpet

Gabriel: Sorry.

Steve: Okay, well

Alex: ‘Cos, you’re kind of crumpet. You don’t have crumpets here.

Gabriel: No, they’re  … the closest thing is an English

Alex: They’re the greatest thing. They’re an Ozzie thing.

Gabriel: My wife is Aussie, and …

Alex: There’s the connection right there.

Gabriel: And the Vegemite, or the Promite

Alex: Vegemite… Promite is good too?  But crumpet is a … how would you describe it? It’s kind of … It’s like a muffin, but it’s kind of got holes in it. They bake it and then they stop baking it. So, then you reheat it, and it’s kind of doughy, holey, crispy on the bottom. Oh. It’s delicious.

Gabriel: It’s really nice, yeah.

Alex: Can’t get them here, though.

Steve: I was going to say, I like… I like muffin tops. You know muffins?

Alex: It’s another… Well, yes, it’s a different thing, but it’s similar … it’s in the same land. You would find the crumpet and the muffin top, living in the same land.

Gabriel: They’re cousins  …. they’re cousins.

Alex: Absolutely. At least.

 

Steve: I suppose I need to ask you a question about the movie at hand, or…

Gabriel: Oh, please don’t.

Steve: [Laughs] I guess we can talk about  …no, no, no … I’m going in. When … when you … obviously, you knew this was going to be a physical shoot, when you were going in. But how did it compare to your preconceived ideas of what it was going to be?

Alex:  I don’ think you can prepare yourself for minus 50 degrees, you know. I mean, you can’t … I’d never been in that … unless you had been there I suppose. But you can’t … you think you have an idea of, “I’ve been in the snow before” I’ve done this, I’ve done that … No man.

You know, it shuts down. Your body shuts down. Your mind changes. You know, your rhythm shuts down. Your breathing patterns change. Everything shifts. And so, it’s … it’s .. it benefits … for me it benefited my performance and my experience as an actor in the film, because I was subjectively experiencing the climate as a character. But, you know, I don’t think …

Gabriel: You see your blood pressure actually drops, right?

Alex: I think so.

Gabriel: Yes, so if your blood pressure is dropping, it’s sort of the antithesis of what you need to do as an actor. Because …

Alex: Which is like…

Gabriel: Which is such an intensity that you need to sort of create. And so, that’s a challenge actually. I forget about that.

Alex: Yeah.

Steve: Well, there was a lot of challenges, when I was looking at the notes. With the filming in the show in the show and filming at the sound stage. What was the hardest thing … and I rarely ask this, but what was the hardest thing that Dominic asked you guys to do, in the shoot?

Alex: Getting naked and running across the ice, when it was minus 35.

Steve: Really?

Gabriel: For me …

Alex: Yeah, dude. Didn’t you see the movie?

Steve: No, I did.

Alex: I was, yeah …. I was part of the Polar Bear club.

Gabriel: In the very beginning, there’s 20 guys, for 3 minutes there…

Steve: I …

Alex: You were so overwhelmed by courage … the courageous act …

Steve: The male nudity, just makes me, you know…

Gabriel: Look the other way, right?

Alex: I understand.

Gabriel: You were waiting for me to come on stage.

Steve: It’s not…

Gabriel: Because, I had a no-nudity clause.

Alex: I understand.

Gabriel: [Laughs]

Steve: [Laughs]

Steve: Okay, I’m going to switch subjects, because you guys obviously been answering about, Whiteout all day. Okay, but you both are involved with a lot of other stuff. Is there any that you want to, sort of mention to your fans, of what you have coming up?

Gabriel: I have, three movies coming out next year.

Alex: Really!

Gabriel: Yep. I’ve got a movie called “Middle Men”, which is about the internet porn business in the late ‘90s. Which is a great comedy-drama, crime-drama. It’s a lot of fun.

Steve: I’m in.

Gabriel: Written and directed by the guy who wrote, “Midnight Run”, George Gallo. So, it’s a lot of fun. And then I’ve got an independent film…

Alex: Well, we need to get to mine, so …

Gabriel: …with Rebecca Hall …

Alex: Let’s wrap this up.

Gabriel: And Amanda Seyfried in. And then I’m going to do the next Ed Zwick film, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria …

Alex: He is busy.

Gabriel: So, it should be fun, yeah.

Steve: I’m…

Gabriel: This guy doesn’t have anything coming out.

Alex: Nothing. I’m on a new…

Gabriel: What’s your back-up plan for that?

Alex: Oh, very funny. I’m on a new almost very, very hit TV show. Almost, which will be called Three Rivers. About organ transplant medicine and organ transplantation. And, I have a film coming out with Kate Beckinsale called, “Whiteout”.

Gabriel: You’re in that?

Alex: I am. And I also…

Gabriel: Did you wear a hood all the time?

Alex: Yeah, I’m not telling. And I sort of have a film with Jennifer Lopez, coming, called The Back-Up Plan. You should stay tuned.

Steve: I understand. I’m definitely getting the signal. So, listen folks, thank you so much.

 

Link to the video:

 

Some thoughts:

• Of course, blood pressure actually goes up and not down, in extreme cold, as they mention here. And because of it, your heart rate also excellerates.
• Interesting trivia, is that James Caan was also in the movie Midnight Men with Gabriel.

#AlexOLoughlin Best Hair – It’s a Poll x2

We have not done a poll for a long time and I got this titbit from a post on Moonlight Fan Blog.  I thought we could use it as a starting point for a poll. Unfortunately I could not locate the original EW post about it anymore, but here is what I found on the blog.

On the PopWatch Blog, Michael Slezak asked Entertainment Weekly’s readers to nominate the best and worst TV hair. Of course…. Mick was not only nominated, he was selected as a winner.

It seems as if Alex was not only seen as one of the sexiest stars on TV in those Moonlight days, but that his hair was well liked as well. This made me think that we should ask how the fans feel about his hair in the various roles over the past 15 years. (not all the roles are included)

Here is our first poll. Take a look at Alex’s  hair over the years before Hawaii Five-0. The hair from which role do you like best? (Remember, it is about the HAIR 😉 😉 )

 

(1) ‘White Collar’ Blue hair (Alex in 2003 as Ian Mack in an episode of this TV series)

(2) ‘Oyster Farmer’ Hair (Alex as Jack Flange in this movie filmed in 2003)

(3) ‘Black Jack Sweet Science’ Hair (Alex as Luke Anderson in this 2004 TV Drama)

(4) ‘Mary Bryant’ Hair (Alex plays Will Bryant in this TV Drama that was filmed during the last 3 months of 2004)

(5) ‘Feed’ Hair (Alex as Michael Carter in this movie filmed in the beginning of 2005)

(6) ‘The Invisible’ Hair (Alex as Marcus Bohem in this movie, filmed at the end of 2005)

(7) ‘August Rush’ Hair (Alex as Marshall Connelly in this movie, filmed in 2006)

 

(8) ‘The Shield’ Hair (Alex as Kevin Hiatt in this TV series filmed in 2006)

(9) ‘Whiteout’ Hair (Alex as Russell Haden in this movie filmed in 2007)

(10) ‘Moonlight’ Hair (Alex as Mick St John in the TV series filmed from August 2007 – April 2008)

 

(11) ‘Criminal Minds’ Hair (Alex as Vincent Rowlings  in an episode of this TV Series)

 

(12) ‘The Back-Up Plan’ Hair (Alex as Stan in this movie, filmed in 2009)

(7) ‘Three Rivers’ Hair (Alex as Andy Yablonski in this TV series, filmed in 2009)

You can vote for the 3 hairstyles that you like best

 

• And here is our second poll. Take a look at Steve McGarrett’s hair over the years. The hair from which season do you like best? (and again just a reminder that it is about the hair 🙂 )

‘Hawaii Five-0’ Hair

Season 1 Hair

Season 2 Hair

Season 3 Hair

Season 4 Hair

Season 5 Hair

Season 6 Hair

Season 7 Hair

Season 8 Hair

Cast your vote for your favourite Steve-hair season here:

Hope you enjoyed all the ‘hair’ pictures …….. 😛

Whiteout – #AlexOLoughlin and Gabriel Macht – Sept 2009

The leading actors talk the extreme Manitoba weather, plus O’Loughlin touches on “Moonlight”

with Hit Fix

[Clip from the movie Whiteout]

Reporter: First of all. Thank you guys for sitting down. I’ve got to say, you are a traffic magnet sir. It is amazing how Moonlight is of the air for a couple of years, and it’s still got a very rabid active fan base

Alex: Yes sir.

Reporter: What is it that keeps that fan base so … so energized and alive?

Alex: I think the character of Mick St John in Moonlight was …. I mean it was …. I have never invested more into a character in my career. I loved him so much and I really put that character together and I did a huge amount of work on that, you know. And in the face of adversity we had 4 show runners and it was just a … It was sort of destined to die a death at some stage.

I am surprised we kept it alive as long as we did. But the fans were there with us, you know what I mean. And I kept them posted. I tried to blog them as much as I can, you know. I tried to interact as much as I can in my busy life. And I’m inclusive and I love them for everything they do. And so … I don’t know, maybe that got something to do with it.

Reporter: Gabriel, obviously this is adapted from the Greg Rucka graphic novel and you’ve had experience working with translated comics to the screen before for The Spirit. You had Frank Miller who is obviously such a strong voice with you on The Spirit, was Greg around on Whiteout?

Gabriel: When production is collaborative a lot of people are asking questions, and Greg came down actually just to hang out on the set and , you know we found that he was sitting in video village in the back and we’d be talking about dialogue and “Should he say this” and “Maybe he should say this”.

And the producers would throw in their 2 cents and then all of a sudden I was like “Guys, Greg is right here. Why don’t we ask Greg?”, you know.

And he came out and he is the most knowledgeable about it all. So it was actually a pleasure to have him on set. He was there quite a bunch and I think he contributed just some terrific stuff to the movie.

Reporter: Now obviously when you’re working on that’s set in as extreme a physical location as this. And you are shooting in a place like Manitoba, there’s not a lot of acting. You guys a physically in these environments.

Does that … do you find that that helps, that it then when you got to Montreal and you are on the sound stages having that memory, is a big part of that?

Alex: Yeah, it’s a good … It’s an excellent point. It is something we’ve been speaking about today. You are absolutely right. It was smart the way we did it. We shot the exteriors and we got to know the environment and we spend actual time in minus 40 and minus 50. When we are on the sound stage we can, you know, it is already in your body.

But I mean it plays ….. Antarctica plays such a character in the film. I mean, it’s a very real living breathing dangerous character. You know it is dangerous, if not more than the villain of the film who is taking all these lives, you know. So it’s a ..yeah, yeah, it’s …. that in essence is the spirit of the picture

Link to Video

Alex O’Loughlin and Gabriel Macht with BloodyDisgusting.com

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.