In an interview with MTV News, Alex O'Loughlin is asked if he feels Moonlight's fate would have been different had it debuted during the current Vampire frenzy. He even jokes that sometimes he sees his own moves when he watches other vamp shows & movies.
'Moonlight' Star Alex O'Loughlin Wonders If 'Twilight' Could Have Helped Save His Vampire Series by Terri Schwartz
Just when you thought you didn't have enough vampire-related pop culture floating around this summer — what with "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" opening on June 30, the third season of "True Blood" and ABC's new "The Gates" — the CW made an announcement that excited some and shocked other when they decided to air reruns of CBS's short-lived "Moonlight" after summer reruns of "The Vampire Diaries."
The announcement came only a few weeks after we sat down to talk with "Moonlight's" leading man, Alex O'Loughlin, to chat about his romcom "The Back-Up Plan." What with vampires being all the craze nowadays, we figured we would talk to him about his own pre-"Twilight" fanged drama, not knowing how timely the conversation would soon become.
"It's a really cool genre," Alex told us about being a part of a vampire show. "I loved the Anne Rice books when I was younger. I sort of had an idea of the character before I even read the script, I had my own vampire in my head and when I read the 'Moonlight' pilot, my character in that genre, I was like, dude, I know you. I knew how I was going to do it."
Despite a fan base that really supported the show, "Moonlight" was canceled by CBS after its fourth episode back in 2007 and only lasted one season. The show was much more traditional than "Twilight," meaning its vampires were susceptible to sun and silver and slept in coffins. While other shows like "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries" have been able to make that classic formula work, its arguably because "The Twilight Saga" revitalized the genre.
"The vampire sort of flavor comes in and out of the entertainment world every so many years. We sort of felt like we were the beginning of this new phase," said Alex when we asked him if, had "Moonlight" debuted after "Twilight" got big, the show would have lasted longer. "I don't know what those answers are, but I loved 'Moonlight.' I put a lot into it and I got a love of amazing fans who still write to me and still rewatch [the show] — we only did a year, you know but they were very invested in the characters and the story. I just don't know, it's speculative. But I thought it was a good show!"
With our culture so infused with vamps, its hard for their not to be some overlap in style and substance, and Alex joked that sometimes he feels that actors or writers have borrowed from him and "Moonlight." "I have vampires in my head all the time," he said with a laugh. "I'm like, 'Hey, I did that before you! That's my move!
Of all the vampire shows and films out now, Alex shared that "True Blood" is his favorite. "It's more than a vampire show," he said. "I like what Alan Ball has done for the show and all of the characters and stuff. The setting is great." And, though Alex's next project is working on the very unsupernatural remake of "Hawaii Five-O," we're crossing our fingers he could potentially make a fanged cameo on one of our favorite vampire shows some day soon.
Edi Gathegi is the Vampire Laurent in the film, Twilight. He spoke to MTV Movies about the hotly anticipated sequel, New Moon, in which he will return to play the character. In the interview, he confesses to watching fan videos on YouTube. One in particular caught his eye. It features Moonlight's Sophia Myles as the Twilight series' Vampiress Irina. Those who are familiar with the Twilight books know that Irina is Laurent's love interest. Yet another vamp role for our Sophia?!?!? I thought Edi's comments about her were very sweet. :) I've highlighted his praise for Sophia below. What do you think about the possible casting? Oooooooo.... also, above I posted the "Life of Irina" fan video he mentioned. Mary Beth has created a YouChoose poll asking for your opinion ~ http://www.youchoose.net/campaign/sophia_myles_for_new_moon_irina
'Twilight' Actor Edi Gathegi Talks 'New Moon' Love Interest By Larry Carroll When last we saw "Twilight" vampire Laurent, he had aided the Cullens, turned his back on his fellow nomads and vanished into the woods of Forks. Now, with a new director and a much-anticipated sequel just weeks away from filming, Edi Gathegi is eager to channel his character's evil side — and find true love in the process. "It was a tiny little independent film — did moderately well in the box office," Gathegi laughed when he stopped by the MTV News studios for an exclusive interview to discuss "New Moon" and his latest movie, "My Bloody Valentine 3-D." Asked how his life has changed in the seven weeks since the vampire flick's record-breaking opening weekend, he grinned and said: "I've gotten a lot of MySpace requests." Gathegi has also been spending a lot of time on YouTube and is particularly fond of a fan-made video that uses footage from various movies to continue Laurent's journey. "Yeah, I saw that," Gathegi said. "These fans are so passionate that they will spend time in their homes, editing splices together, because they're so in love with the story." And, speaking of love, any good Twilighter knows that in "New Moon," Laurent meets Irina, a Denali sister whose actions will impact the future movies. That YouTube video casts "Tristan + Isolde" beauty Sophia Myles as Irina — a choice that would greatly please Gathegi. "She's a good choice. I could be happy with that," he said of the 28-year-old Brit. "I like her work. ... Now I'm not going to be able to get her out of my mind for that character." Of the soon-to-be-cast role, Gathegi said Irina should be "extremely vulnerable, as I think that's what leads her to make the choices that she makes. She should also be hard-headed. Vulnerable and hard-headed. But I think those are things that a good actress can do, so type-wise, I don't even know. I don't even think people saw me as Laurent for a while. So just let the best actress win, I say." Speaking about his castmates, with whom he'll soon be reuniting, Gathegi said, "It's a 'Twilight' family. We were together for press junkets and tours, and this has been eight months together, ever since we shot in March. We've just been with each other constantly. And then we're going to go into the next one, and then they're going to do [parts] three and four, God willing. These are, like, lifelong friends at this point." Just moments before the interview, Gathegi's phone went off. When the actor started laughing and showed us the caller ID, we saw that it was the one-and-only Taylor Lautner on the other end. "Taylor and I are going to his parents' place for dinner tonight — and then go to the gym," he said, adding that the duo were getting together to celebrate Lautner's recent re-signing as Jacob Black. "We're going to celebrate tonight. ... You should see this kid! He's jacked. He's taking it seriously. "We've worked out in every city on our tour," Edi said of his 16-year-old spotter. "If you see him, you'll know immediately. This kid is so strong right now, it is unreal. He has achieved with his body what people with steroids cannot achieve. The only way I can describe it is that God has given him this time for this growth spurt and this body right now." As for the rest of Laurent's "New Moon" arc, Gathegi said he's looking forward to "being fully bad. Not just halfway bad. I like the transition from being conscious and compassionate, to ['New Moon' when Laurent realizes] that's too difficult. I've got to be a vampire." Commenting on the directorial musical chairs, Gathegi said he has yet to meet the new man in charge of the series, Chris Weitz. "Catherine [Hardwicke] was a doll. I loved that woman. I think she made the decisions she made for her reasons," he said. "Now I'm looking forward to the future. I'm looking forward to working with Chris. I think he's very capable. He's got that experience with huge pictures, with 'The Golden Compass.' He's going to make it beautiful. I loved 'American Pie,' so his track record is very promising for me. And I heard he's great with actors. I think 'New Moon' is going to be really good. ... He's up to his neck in things to do, so he's not concerned with [meeting with the returning actors yet]. We'll meet on set." As for the moment, Gathegi said only half-jokingly, he's just trying to get a script to read. "I'm going to fire someone, because Robert [Pattinson] read it. He's like a supporting role in the freakin' film!" the actor smiled, threatening to call Mr. Pattinson on his cell phone. "Nah, he's in London now. I don't want to make any long-distance calls. I'm cheap." http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1602816/story.jhtml
