Moonlight-Detective.com had a chance for a chat with Alex today, catching up on his life post-Moonlight. We’ll have a transcript available later, but until then, have a listen as Alex talks about the end of Moonlight and his concern for the fans; gives us a tiny tease about the new project he’s working on; and even does his own mini-trailer narration for Whiteout.

Alex O’Loughlin Talks with Moonlight-Detective.com
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Many thanks to Alex for taking the time to bring us up to date. We can’t wait to see what’s next!

UPDATED 10.04.08: Thanks for your patience while I got the transcript together. A note about the audio: it’s a really big file, so we recommend downloading it to your computer and playing it rather than trying to play it online. Also, make sure you have both your right and left speakers turned on (and turned up!) because it’s in stereo. If you only have one speaker on, mostly likely all you’ll hear is me talking and who really cares about that?

MLD: So, let’s get this started here.
Alex O’Loughlin: OK

MLD: Get the big thing out of the way, right off the bat.
AOL: Tell me!

MLD: So long to Moonlight.
AOL: (sighs) Yeah. Tough one.

MLD: Yeah. It seemed like everybody involved had to take a couple of months to breathe there.
AOL: Yeah, it was really hard for everyone I spoke to. I mean, first of all, on a strictly survival basis, you know, a lot of the guys, like, my crew, like, it’s been a tough year for everyone. You know, I mean, there was the writers’ strike and everyone was just expecting…was depending on that next paycheck, you know, and kind of living on a week-to-week basis. So it was really tough for a lot of the guys I worked with who didn’t get the acting rates, you know, to just have their job taken away, they all started, you know, they all had to go and go their separate ways and just try to find work wherever they could, but, you know, that was tough for them. Of course the show itself had meant to so much to so many of us that it’s tough to hear those words come from the people – you know, Joel called me and Nina Tassler called me. They both called me really quickly, which was wonderful, but it’s still tough. Especially after only doing one year, you know?

MLD: Yeah, it feels unfinished.
AOL: It feels like we never even got a chance – well, it’s not even unfinished, it feels unstarted. It feels like we kind of just got off the mark and then we didn’t get a chance to stretch our legs and really get to run, but anyway. What are ya gonna do?

MLD: It looked like you guys were setting up for some really interesting developments in season 2. Bringing in more vampires, kind of getting more of a look at Mick’s world versus Beth’s world which is what season 1 was.
AOL: Yeah, we had some really great stuff lined up. You know, the new D.A., Talbott, he was gonna facilitate a lot of really great things as well. You know he was compiling that list. An anonymous tipster had left a list of vampires and he had a file on Mick and there were all sorts of things that were gonna go down. But anyway, here we are. Yeah, it was tough. I kind of had to just get out of town when I found out. I went to Mexico and just sat there for a couple of weeks.

MLD: Not a bad place to recuperate.
AOL: A beautiful place to recuperate.

MLD: Is there a chance that we’ll get, like, a concluding, I don’t know, a movie or a miniseries or a web series or anything, or has there been talk about that?
AOL: Well, initially there was talk about the show continuing on on a different network, and you know people … it just never eventuated is the long and the short of it. And I think the stations, the channels that it would, that we could’ve continued it, you know, that were prepared to wouldn’t have been right for the show. The show, you gotta understand, the show has certain requirements and a certain budget, you know. I mean we were doing everything we could for the money we had, but you can’t, like, you can’t deliver a show that one week has the budget with a certain level of CGI stuff and special effects, and then the next one deliver that same show without that stuff. I mean, it’s not gonna be the same show. So there were lots of things in the way. Um, to answer your question, I don’t know. I don’t think so. You know, I would presume it would involve me.

MLD: I would hope!
AOL: (laughs) And I’m kind off on another track now. So, yeah, I’ve heard no talk of it. Maybe later down the track they’re planning something, but yeah, nothing.

MLD: Yeah. There were just so many questions that arose in those last four episodes that we’d love to see answered, so eventually I hope there will be some resolution for that. But what can you do, right?
AOL: Absolutely. I mean, it’s different because I feel a real affinity with the fans. I’m constantly replying to fan mail, I’m trying to keep my blog up to date, and, you know…

MLD: Yeah, we appreciate that!
AOL: Oh, no, it’s my pleasure. It’s not…I should be doing that, but what I’m getting at is that I really understand. I feel like I have a much clearer idea than maybe the other filmmakers and the other people involved in Moonlight about what the show actually meant to the people that loved it. And it’s been so hard to navigate through the end of all of this and also keep you guys honestly in the loop of what’s going on. And it’s so, just, you know when they said it’s never gonna happen, it’s done, I was just like, “Oh, god, there’s a lot of people who are gonna be really upset about this.” And for me, like, it meant a great deal to me, but the truth is as an actor, you get used to letting things go. ‘Cuz you have to otherwise you’ll be so heartbroken you’ll just die. You know, ‘cuz it always happens to us. As actors we’re always getting rejected, we’re always having things finish, and you have to move on, so I sort of went into that mode. Sort of a survival mode and, “OK, I gotta find another job.” But yeah, I understand. I knew how difficult it would be for you guys.

MLD: It was tough, but I think as a result of this show, even if it ended before the fans wanted it to, you now have many more millions of people waiting to see what you’re going to do next. We sort of discovered you, even though you’d obviously been doing work prior to Moonlight, but something about Mick St. John and your portrayal of him really clicked with a lot of people, so we were so excited when we heard that you do have something else coming up.
AOL: Yeah.

MLD: Is there anything you can divulge about that, or is it still just in the really early stages?
AOL: (chuckles) Well, I, uh, thank for saying all that and it’s been very exciting for me, getting acquainted with my fan base and the kind of… You know, it’s funny, I’ve worked as an actor for a little while now, and then all of a sudden, overnight, I developed 11 million new fans. (chuckles)

MLD: That “overnight success” that took five years?
AOL: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that “overnight success” I’ve been working on my whole life. (chuckles) It’s been great though. And, you know, my next project is… Well, until I’m actually on set, shooting something and making coffee at the craft service truck, it’s, you know, nothing is in concrete. There’s just no guarantee that I’ll be doing anything, but I have an exclusivity holding deal with CBS at the moment, and I’m currently co-creating a show with Simon Mirren, one of the executive producers and head writers of Criminal Minds. We’ve come together and we’re creating and writing a new original series – a new idea, an original series – which we are in “pitch mode” for at the moment. Over the next week we’re pitching to the studio and the network and all the different executives and creatives at CBS and Paramount, Touchstone, ABC Studios. So, it’s good. Hopefully we’re gonna get a chance to shoot a pilot and see if we can get it picked up and move into a series. But at this stage I can’t really tell you anything. I can tell you it’s a one-hour drama and it’s about the redemption of one man and about the redemption of the city that he lives in. But it’s pretty cool. It’s actually excellent. (laughs) If I don’t say so myself!

MLD: (laughs)
AOL: I really like it. I’m really attached to it and our idea and we’ve put so much, Simon and I have put so much hard work and passion and sleepless nights into this that I really feel like we deserve a go just to make, we deserve a go to make the pilot and just to prove if we can do it or not – because I know we can. So that’s been my every waking moment over the last couple of months, just trying to bring this thing to life.

MLD: Well it sounds exciting. Redemption again, huh?
AOL: Yeah, it seems to be a recurring theme in my life. Umm, maybe I should look at that.

MLD: Well, if nothing else it provides for plenty of dramatic possiblilities.
AOL: Exactly. Exactly.

MLD: So maybe we should just leave it at that.
AOL: There you go.

MLD: We don’t need to do the whole armchair psychoanalyzation.
AOL: No, that’s cool with me. (chuckles)

MLD: Yeah. (chuckles) Well that is exciting. So you think we’ll be probably be hearing some more definitive information about it in the next couple of weeks?
AOL: Yeah…. I yeah, absolutely, look *coughs* excuse me. We’ve written like a treatment. I mean we haven’t written the pilot yet, and we need to be given the go-ahead. I mean there is no point in writing a pilot and actually, you know, going through that process in its entirety until you’ve been given the go-ahead by the people you want to make it with, unless you want to write it on spec and try to sell it. Which, um, you need to have a lot of time and it’s, you know, that’s something different. As soon as anybody knows, you’ll know. You know, I’ll put it up on my blog and I’ll let everybody know. It’s, yeah, it’s tough to get through all the hoops that you need to get through to get something, to get an original idea made, without a big name attached to it, you know?

MLD: Yeah.
AOL: So that’s what I am experiencing now. It’s excellent though. It’s great fun. I’m learning a lot.

MLD: And you’re getting a producer credit on this one, correct?
AOL: Yes ma’am.

MLD: Because you get to be involved right from the beginning, and it sounds like it’s as much your vision as it is Simon’s.
AOL: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we’re producing it together, so it’s just…on many levels. So um…but he’s going to be the show runner, head writer, and I’m going to be the, you know, head of the acting bunnies.

MLD: (laughs)
AOL: (laughs) But whatever. If this show doesn’t go ahead, touch wood, then you know, I’m sure that something else will come up. There’s a few other things that we’re developing and looking at for potential rewrite situations and stuff. So there’s a few irons in the fire, but this is our main focus.

MLD: Well it sounds exciting. It sounds like it has been an exciting couple of months for you.
AOL: Yeah, yeah it has.

MLD: Challenging, but..
AOL: Challenging and umm..challenging and frustrating at times, but exciting. But this is like, this world of kind of spending a lot of time at home, and in your own head, and in front of the computer, and, you know, awake at night when everyone else is asleep kind of working away, is a kind of world that I know really well. You know, it’s a world that I’ve been a part of for, you know, even before I became a vampire. (chuckles)

MLD: (laughs)
AOL: You know, it’s just that sort of studying, working, you know, actor sort of between jobs thing, and so I’m happy. It’s nice to be back here, and it’s nice to be so focused on, you know, one thing from this side of the camera before I get back in front of it.

MLD: Yeah, well we’re really looking forward to that. We’ll keep an eye on your blog for the news…the good news, right?
AOL: Yes do. Do, do, do.

MLD: Are you still working with the Red Cross?
AOL: Yeah, I believe we have been doing a bunch of different things, and I believe our time is coming to an end at the end of September. Oh! It is the end September, beginning of October isn’t it? Hey, wow. Wow.

MLD: You have been busy! You might want to turn that calendar page, huh?
AOL: I do. (laughing) I am up to date with things. I did watch the Vice Presidential debate last night, I did, you know…I just forgot it was October. Yeah, it’s October. I just checked again, it actually is. So I think there’s a couple of loose ends that I need to tie up, and a couple of things, a couple of pictures, and a couple of things I still need and want to do for those guys, but I think they’re almost done with me actually. No more vampire, you know?

MLD: (sadly) Yeah.
AOL: That was so wonderful to be, you know, to have any involvement with that. It was such a thrill, and, you know, any way that I can give back at all is great.

MLD: It was really a stroke of genius to mobilize the Moonlight fans.
AOL: It was fantastic. I mean, it was so clever.

MLD: But yeah, if you’re not a vampire any more the ’suck on this’ ads don’t really make sense.
AOL: Kiiiinda yeah, you know.

MLD: Then it just starts getting creepy.
AOL: Then it just starts kinda getting weird and sexual and creepy, and people might sort of, yeah, not respond in the same way they did.

MLD: Yeah.
AOL: Yeah.

MLD: And you also have Whiteout that’s coming out in the spring?
AOL: I do! I do have Whiteout coming out, with Kate Beckinsale and a wonderful cast actually. Gabriel Macht, Columbus Short, Tom Skerritt. A terrific, terrific….a terrifically fun film. We had a lot of fun making it. It was….I haven’t seen it yet. I really look forward to it. They’ve really kept it under wraps, and they’ve gone through a few different changes in the final sort of bit of production at the end there, the post-production stuff, so it’s, yeah, taken a long time to get released. I hope it’s as good as we anticipate it to be. I am sure it will be.

MLD: Can you give us like a quick synopsis of what it’s about?
AOL: Well, it’s based on a graphic novel, so you know it’s totally, the information’s completely available. The graphic novel, funnily enough called Whiteout.

MLD: So are you saying that if I did my research I could figure it out?
AOL: (laughs) Yeah, that’s basically what I am saying – don’t be lazy!

MLD: (laughs) But it’s more fun to ask you!
AOL: Oh no…it’s about um… it’s about a team that live in Antarctica and they, you know, have to get out before the big freeze. There’s a whiteout coming and they all have to sort of shut down and get out of there and um, people start going missing and getting killed. (scary voice) Oooooooooo…..

MLD: Dun dun duuunnnn!
AOL: Dun dun duuunnnn! And the whiteout’s coming and oh my god! More people are going to get killed and dun dun duunnn and you know, Kate Beckindsale is trying to work it out and she’s, you know, pouting a lot and doing the pretty kind of fluttery eyes and then Dun dun duuun! She’s back and trying to figure it out, and the guns and Dun dun duun! And then OH MY GOD!! Dun dun, you know. That kind of thing. That’s sort of it in a nutshell.

MLD: Wow, I think they should just use your explanation to promote the film!
AOL: Well I should have narrated it, is what should have happened….you know, but uh, Joel Sliver wasn’t into it, so whatever.

MLD: Whatever.
AOL: Whatever. (laughs)

MLD: Thanks so much for chatting with us and…
AOL: My pleasure.

MLD: We look forward to seeing what’s next.
AOL: Oh yeah, me too. Yeah. ‘Cuz working is completely underrated when you’re not and you realize it. So thanks.

MLD: Thank you. We’ll talk to you soon.
AOL: Alright, talk to you later. Bye, thank you, bye.