Why The TV Show #Moonlight, Starring #AlexOLoughlin, Mattered

 

The vampire cult hit that was ahead of its time is back from the dead for your binge-watching pleasure.

Originally published in Watch!Magazine, 

By Nate Millado

Posted  May 2019

Before he became Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-0, star Alex O’Loughlin played brooding bloodsucker Mick St. John in CBS’ Moonlight (2007–2008).

The vampire detective drama won the People’s Choice Award—over the more zeitgeisty Gossip Girl—for Favorite New TV Drama.

Alex O’Loughlin stars as Mick St. John, a captivating, charming, and immortal private investigator.

So it was somewhat surprising that after 16 episodes, it was canceled—driving a stake through the hearts of its 7.5 million viewers. But over the last decade, Moonlight has developed quite the cult following and was recently made available by The CW on its streaming service, CW Seed. We pay respects to the dearly beloved one-season wonder.

Vamps Redefined

The first 90 seconds of the pilot perfectly set up its premise—and in turn debunked some old wives’ tales about vampires. During a dream sequence with an offscreen interviewer, the undead private eye says he sleeps in a freezer (not a coffin); doesn’t hurt women, children, or innocents; and is relatively unfazed by sunlight, holy water, and crucifixes. (“And while we’re on the subject, garlic is tasty on pizza,” he quips.)

Alex O’Loughlin gets vamped up in Moonlight.

A Star Is Born

Alex O’Loughlin was easy on the eyes, cracked wise with a dry sense of humor, and did many of his own stunts. So while Moonlight didn’t work out, CBS knew they had a bona fide leading man in the Aussie actor. The network offered him Hawaii Five-0.

Beth (Sophia Myles) and Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin) face the ultimate consequence of a relationship between mortal and immortal when a vampire kills a human in the heat of passion.

Beauty and a Beast

Sure, it was a supernatural series with an occasional case-of-the-week. But at its core, Moonlight was a romance between Mick and investigative reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles)—who wasn’t your typical damsel in distress. Their star-crossed storyline highlighted themes of mortality (Mick is 85 years old but forever 30) and commitment issues (could a human and a vamp really be together?).

Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin) defies the traditional blood-sucking norms of his vampire tendencies by using his wit and powerful supernatural abilities to help the living in Moonlight.

O’Loughlin delivered swoon-worthy lines like, *“Ever since I met you, I’ve stopped using the word never,”* without the slightest bit of irony, and also exhibited undeniable chemistry with co-stars Jason Dohring (Mick’s mentor and friend Josef) and Shannyn Sossamon (his vampire ex-wife/sire, Coraline). The ensemble was just hitting its stride when film and television writers began a three-month strike in November 2007, forcing the show into hiatus only 12 episodes in. The show returned in April and aired a final four episodes.

Former vampire couple Coraline (Shannyn Sossmon)

and Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin).

Fang Girls and Boys

Moonlight diehards were willing to give their own blood to save their show from cancellation. Partnering with the American Red Cross, more than 3,000 fans donated a pint of blood in a nationwide campaign to get the network’s attention.

Gone Too Soon?

Moonlight aired its final episode on May 16, 2008—missing the vampire craze by mere months! True Blood and Twilight blew up in the fall, while The CW’s The Vampire Diaries premiered a year later. “We sort of felt like we were the beginning of this new phase,” O’Loughlin said in a 2010 interview. Had the timing been right—who knows? Fun fact: Moonlight’s working title during pilot season—Twilight.

 

My Thoughts

• Great to see Moonlight still has some life – even 11 years after it got canceled. Just shows you that it was actually a winning show, even if it got mistreated.
• They make it sound so easy – to say that Alex just got offered the role on Hawaii Five-0 after Moonlight got cancelled. When in fact he suffered a lot of heartache and also put his all into the show Three Rivers as well, just to be disappointed again with cancellation, all before he started in Hawaii.
• Great to see that Alex’s hard work over the years, since 2000 when he went back to school to study his craft, got the reward of a successful show. One that is now regarded as the most successful reboot ever. And my hope is that he would be rewarded even more, with even better roles and accolades in the years to come, all for his dedication and leadership during the years on Hawaii Five-0 and the people who work on it.
• And a big Thank You to my partner in crime, Paula, for once again providing us with the best – these brand new Full HD Screencaps from Moonlight

Mick St John – our ‘Beloved Immortal’

 

* Words  “Ever since I met you, I’ve stopped using the word never,” actually delivered by Sophia Myles as Beth towards Mick in Episode 8 of Moonlight and not by Alex.

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#AlexOLoughlin doing TV Guide’s Water Cooler Quiz – 2008

As part of his interview on  TV Guide with John Fugelsang & Teresa Strasser that we posted on a previous occasion (Link), Alex also did the ‘TV Guide Water Cooler Quiz’ with them.

Teresa: Hey everybody, welcome back to TV Water Cooler. Alex O’Loughlin, or as I like to call him Count ‘Hotchula’ from Moonlight is here. Now our interview with a vampire takes a turn to the dark side as Alex faces his worst fear yet, The Cooler Quiz.

John: ‘Renfield’, lights!
[Laughs]
John: That’s my ‘Renfield’ impression.

Alex: Very good.

John: Alex, your character became a vampire in 1952 at age 30.

Alex: Yes.

John: That makes you 86 years old.

Alex: Yes.

John: Isn’t that a bit young for CBS?

[Laughs]

Alex: Is there ….Yes.

John: Correct.

Teresa: Alex, this might be a personal question, but what’s the most delicious tasting blood type?

Alex: O positive.

Teresa: Yes.

Alex: Excellent finish.

Teresa: Nice nose.

Alex: Thank you.

John: Yes the oldest blood type. Recently your character was temporarily made human.

Alex: Hmmm.

John: You’re Australian.

Alex: I am.

John: Couldn’t you do that to Rupert Murdoch?

Alex: OH! He’s a gorgeous man.

Teresa: I agree

John: We’ll accept that answer.

Teresa: I agree, cause you know what, uncle Rupee could buy and sell all of us.

Alex: Rupee.

Teresa: We love you Rupee.

Alex: I love you Rupee.

John: Right.

Teresa: Okay, so you’re on TV Guide’s sexiest list. Who do you find sexy?

Alex: Ahh … My mom is really … have you seen my mom? Have you?

Teresa: We can’t accept that. We can’t accept that.

Alex: Ah …. Seal ….. And I find Seal sexy and Tom Hanks and Heidi Klum and Jack Black.

Teresa: We’ll take that.

John: We’ll accept that. You’re a vampire. Do vegetarians really taste better?

Alex: No.

John: Oh, I’m so disappointed.

Alex: I’m sorry. No.

Teresa: Please say this line, “A dingo ate my baby”.

Alex: “A dingo ate my baby”.

[Laughs]

Alex: I did that in ..

Teresa: Where?

Alex: Nothing.

John: What was scarier, Francis Coppola’s Dracula, or the ingredients in Count Chocula’s cereal?

Alex: [Laughs] The cereal was …

John: That’s correct. Much scarier.

Alex: Thank you.

John: Much scarier

Teresa: I read that you were considered for the role of 007.

Alex: Yeah.

Teresa: What in the world does Daniel Craig have that you don’t?

Alex: I love talking about that. It’s the role that I didn’t get. We should talk about more roles I didn’t get.

Teresa: You know what we could talk about some girls who broke up with you too, later.

Alex: OH!

John: Okay. That’s worse than being undead. And finally, you’re a singer songwriter like fellow Aussies Nick Cave and Olivia Newton.  What’s the name of your favourite song that you’ve written?

Alex: Am I really a singer songwriter? Ah … “Balls” . What’s the name of …

John: What’s the name of your favourite song you’ve written?

Teresa: That was it.

Alex: It’s called …

Teresa: “Balls”.

Alex: “Balls”, I think.

Teresa: Okay, let’s leave it at that. Alex.

John: Okay.

Teresa: Thank you so much, for being such a good sport.

Alex: Thank you.

Teresa: And obviously that song is about Cricket.

Alex: Yeah.

Teresa: Check out the final 3 episodes of Moonlight first season, Fridays on CBS.

John: Coming up, “Lost” teaches us about the secret of the second-hand smoke monsters. What we just uncovered about more of the Island’s secret.

Teresa: But first breaking news on Miley Cyrus controversial photo Is it threatening her Hanna Montana franchise?

John: Balls

Teresa: Why Tom Cruise is bouncing over at Oprah. And how J.Lo is keeping it real. Stick around.

John: Alex O’Loughlin.

Teresa: Alex O’Loughlin.

Alex: Thank you.

Video

My Thoughts:

• In the coming up section right at the end, there was some interesting coincidences that caught my eye.

1. They talk about ‘Lost’ – of course just 2 years later Alex would be working with Daniel Dae Kim on a permanent basis and later many other actors from ‘Lost’ on Hawaii Five-0.
2. And they talk about J.Lo keeping it real – I doubt that if someone told Alex on that day of this interview, that just over a year later (in June 2009) he would be filming a movie with Jennifer, that he would have believed it.

• I found it really funny that they would compare Alex’s singing-songwriting to that of Nick and Olivia – Always wonder where these interviewers or their research people get their info from?
• For those that might not know: “A dingo ate my baby“ is a phrase attributed to Lindy Chamberlain and also to Meryl Streep’s depiction of Chamberlain in the movie A Cry in the Dark (1988) – also known as Evil Angels – about the death of Azaria Chamberlain, an Australian baby girl who died in 1980 at Uluru in the Northern Territory.
• And: R. M. Renfield is a fictional character and an antagonist in Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.

Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors – May 2008

iF Magazine Covers Fangoria’s Moonlight Panel

Alex O’Loughlin, Sophia Myles, & Jason Dohring delight the audience and iF MAGAZINE was there
By SEAN ELLIOTT, Senior Editor

Original article is lost, but this was
Published 1 May 2008

on Moonlight Fan Blog

iF MAGAZINE, as usual, covered the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention and the last panel of the weekend was for CBS’ vampire detective drama MOONLIGHT. In attendance were stars, Alex O’Loughlin, Sophia Myles, and Jason Dohring. The panel was moderated by iF MAGAZINE’s own Anthony C. Ferrante (and also a longtime FANGO scribe) and members of the audience were given a few interesting tips offs, as to what to expect from the last episodes of the first season.

Alex O’Loughlin talked about the remaining episodes and what kind of stories were going to be told to finish out the season. He did say that no storylines will be left hanging if it can be helped.

“There are three episodes left,” he said. “They are more stand alone, because we’re not completely certain about the second season pick up. We can’t afford to start something that we won’t be able to finish. There is the arc that will always be there between Mick and Beth and that comes to a sort of interesting close.”

Sophia Myles commented on Beth’s love of Mick St. John and how she is personally more attracted to Alex O’Loughlin when he is in vampire makeup, and then went on to talk about changes in Beth’s career.

“Beth has fallen in love with his soul and the fact that he’s a vampire is secondary,” Myles explained. “I actually think he’s sexier when he’s got his contacts in and his fangs. She leaves because Buzz Wire gets very tabloidy and Beth’s not interested in any of that, she’s more interested in the hard hitting journalism.”

O’Loughlin did follow up on Myles’s comments about him in vampire face laughing,

“She always makes passes at me when I’m coming out of makeup.”

Jason Dohring also gave the audience some insight into the final episode of the series which will give viewers more of the vampire mythology that has become more and more popular as the season has continued.

“In the last episode we have a vampire conference and there is a problem that comes up that threatens vampire existence,” he says. “We all deal with it in different ways and in different levels of the vampire social spectrum. You’ll see some interesting stuff with that.”

Of course, the one thing the audience wanted to know the most about was the steamy exchange between Mick and Josef in last week’s episode. While both actors laughed off all of the comments about their chemistry and said that it was more than likely a one time thing. O’Loughlin did comment about the raw sensuality of the scene.

“I don’t know about Jason, but when we were shooting that scene I was thinking more about these creatures and what they are and where they come from; the sensuality of them,” he stated. “There really isn’t anything about homosexuality or heterosexuality to them; they’re just these sensual creatures.”

#AlexOLoughlin: Who Is He? – February 2008

Sunday Life,

17 February 2008

 

Who is/was Alex O’Loughlin, at that time?

1. Age:

32

2. Why he looks familiar:

Another NIDA graduate, class of 2000, O’Loughlin starred in 2004’s Oyster Farmer but got his break in the US as the star of Moonlight, a TV series about vampires, which aired on Channel Nine.

“I’ve got a six-year contract [with Moonlight], so I just try to keep my head down. I don’t wash dishes anymore; that’s the main thing”

3. Why you should care:

After the Moonlight pilot aired, producer Joel Silver realised the show wasn’t up to scratch and replaced the entire cast – except O’Loughlin.

“A lot of times you do a pilot … and you know if the pieces aren’t working. And I think they knew right away they had a star in Alex and they just rebuilt around him”, says co-star Brian White.

4. Birthplace:

Born in Canberra but grew up in Sydney

“My parents divorced when I was two. From the age of 10, I went back a forth between the two cities.”

5. Marital status:

He’s been dating Aussie singer and former ‘Neighbours’ star Holly Valance for the past 18 months and says,

“It’s going strong.”

6. Family ties:

“Mum’s a musician. She plays piano and has a beautiful voice, so she understands the creative need.”

But that doesn’t mean she misses he son any less now he’s living in LA.

“Mum lights up when she sees me. Her cheeks go pink – she’s all over me, pulling my hair, pinching my cheeks.”

O’Loughlin also has a sister, 31, whom he describes as a

“multi-talented volleyball player, gypsy chef”.

7. Bitten Young:

“I was in a school play when I was 10 and had fish fingers stuck up my nose and I was wearing these spectacles and making the audience laugh. I remember the rush and I loved it.”

8. Surreal moment:

O’Loughlin was taking a break from filming Moonlight on the Warner Brothers’ lot one day when a cart full of sightseeing women laid eyes on him. “

They started screaming at the top of their lungs – it scared the shit out of me”

9. The move to the US was tough:

“There was a whole year, in 2005, when I wasn’t getting anywhere. I had to sell my stereo and a few other things. I got my motorbike stolen, it was miserable. I was sleeping on a mate’s office floor, questioning my talent – that was really difficult.”

10. Home is where the work is:

“I love the Australian industry but it’s a boutique industry – the US is where it is.”

And while O’Loughlin admits that’s changing, he can’t wait around.

“If I want to buy a house, I’d have to stay in Australia making movies for a hundred years.”

11. Career highlights:

Auditioning for Casino Royale.

“The screen test for James Bond was a real ‘pinch yourself’ moment I’ll never forget.”

12. Inspiration:

“Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing. Ryan Gosling is also an incredible actor; he’s also a friend of mine …. well an acquaintance.”

13. Next:

August Rush, with Robin Williams, is out on Thursday.

My Thoughts

• This is yet another example of the media not always getting it right and that what we read are not all accurate …..
• From no 3: The writer says that after the pilot episode of Moonlight aired, they changed the cast – that original pilot of course never aired and I doubt if it was Joel who made the decision and choice to recast – think it had more to do with the network
• From no. 4: A contradiction between what the writer states and what Alex say in his comment: The writer says that Alex grew up in Sydney – but Alex himself says that he only started to move between the cities when he was 10. So more accurate would be, that he grew up in Canberra with mom and only started to visit his dad in Sydney when he turned 10.
• From no. 2: For people who say that when an actor signs a contract for a specific time, that the series will last for that long – Alex had a 6 year contract for Moonlight – the series lasted 16 episodes.
• From no. 10: Well, Alex was in the USA for 5 years, when he bought his house in Hawaii. (substantially less than that 100 years it would have taken him in Oz – sounds like he made the right choice then. 🙂 )
• Just some trivia about Brian White who played the detective on Moonlight – he had a guest appearance in Hawaii Five-0 in Epi 5:02 as the kidnapper.

 PS. The pictures are from Moonlight Episode 5 and the original pilot, which never aired.

We are still in big awe of Gabi´s (aka Fever´s) generosity for allowing us to share her unsigned copy of the original Moonlight pilot. We have uploaded it to our FB, so you can view it here

Thank you, Gabi ♥

Scan

Pic for the day – Mick, the best vampire

I still think our vampires were the best btw, and I’ll fight to the death on that one