On the Set of Moonlight – Part Four
Alex O’Loughlin and Sophia Myles are much better looking in person than on television. It’s not like they’re trolls in Moonlight or anything, but the camera dulls them. They did a round table interview together during the internet press day last week, which was held in a vacant room of Linda Vista Hospital in East LA, with a floor so sticky and disgusting, it made my bathroom floor look positively sparkly.
O’Loughlin (vampire Mick St. John) and Myles (reporter Beth Turner) were so personable and funny; it’s clear that there is a genuine chemistry between them.
Alex O’Loughlin: Soph and I became buddies straight away as people. We have the same sense of humor and we know some of the same people in London. There was a familiarity straight away.
Sophia Myles: And there was a camaraderie because he’s from Australia and I’m from England and we’re both foreigners here. It was a real comfort. It would have been much more daunting to come here and play an American on an America television show if everyone else was American. But, we really do get on. I would choose him as a friend. God, if he was an @$$hole, with these kinds of hours! Can you imagine if I were a bitch? This show would be a nightmare! It must be hell on earth to work on a television show where people don’t like each other.
[nms:cbs moonlight,4,0]
Myles and O’Loughlin also talked about some of the differences between working on American television versus in England or Australia, and I learned something about nipples on American prime-time television.
Nipples are bad.
SM: There was one episode where I shoot someone in the head. And I got the next episode and there was no court case or emotional break down. That was the one issue I had because I don’t want to glamorize violence. I said that if anything like this is going to happen again, it must be properly thought through and discussed on a human level because I don’t want to just look sexy holding a gun and shoot someone and get away with it. That’s wrong. And, funny thing here, I’ve noticed a difference between here and the UK. In England, and pretty much all of the movies I’ve done, I have had to fight with directors to keep my clothes on. In this show, you can’t even show a bit of nipple that’s cold under a t-shirt. They make me stick these sort of gel things over them. They are so prudish about nudity here, it shocks me. And now I’m ready to get them out! You can show a nipple being sliced off in an act of violence, but you can’t show one being licked.
AO: I myself get very nude and kill people in every episode and have absolutely no issue.
SM: He does get to take his shirt off a bit. He’s always topless.
AO: I’m taking it off right now.
SM: You have this image obsessed culture but at the same time you’re not allowed to show anything, so what’s the point? I’m not saying like get them out completely.
AO: There are always dilemmas. You can’t say ####, ####, ####. You can’t say Jesus or God. I can’t damn you to hell.
SM: But, you can kill someone.
Moonlight has had a number of problems since getting off the ground: showrunner David Greenwalt left in July and Chip Johannessen stepped in. The entire show, with the exception of O’Loughlin’s role, was re-cast in June. But, O’Loughlin and Myles say that Moonlight is a great project that has surprised them.
AO: I love the vampire genre and I love that we’ve been able to manipulate it a little bit while staying true to it. And I love that the show is done in a modern day film noir style. It’s gonna be really satisfying.
SM: It’s got a real soul to it. I did not know what the hell I was getting involved with with this show. They gave me 24 hours to make a decision. I really didn’t know, but there was something that made me want to be part of this adventure. Until we kind of give birth to it next week, we don’t really know what we’ve got. It’s such a wonderful crew, and we’ve lucked out that we all get on so well. It’s a fantastic atmosphere.
AO: Initially, I was concerned about CBS being the snooze station.
SM: What does that mean?
AO: They’re renowned for putting boring sh!t on TV. It’s true! I’m talking about the last ten years of CBS. But, now Les Moonves is there and things are changing. It’s sexy. It’s not gratuitously violent, but the action is pretty radical. I’m really surprised they’re letting me do the stunts I’m doing. It’s awesome stuff.
SM: What we can hope for is with each episode we want the audience to be on this journey with us.
There is a romantic aspect to Beth Turner and Mick St. John, but there is still a vampiric ex-wife in the picture, played by Shannyn Sossamon, who joined us separately in that sticky hospital room.
About her character’s relationship with Mick, Sossamon said, “The dynamic is not what you’d expect, which is the sort of like the bitchy ex-wife has come back and is pissed off that Mick is having this new connection with this girl and tries to get him back or get revenge. But, that’s not even close. It’s actually weirder, different and darker. The angry ex-wife is the obvious way to go, and I’m glad they didn’t go in that direction.”
Sossamon is enjoying playing a vampire, although she isn’t a superfan of the genre. “I’ve only done one scene where I was in the full [vampire] mode,” she said, “and I love it. It suits me very well. It’s feels quite natural in the sense that it’s passionate and dramatic and dark and I like that. I enjoyed doing the vampire fight [in the first episode] even though it was really rushed, but I got to go vampire crazy. ”
Mick, on the other hand, doesn’t really go vampire crazy. O’Loughlin explains why.
“I feel like things could unwind quickly for Mick,” he says. “It’s like watching an alcoholic come off the wagon and hit a bar for a night then wake up in a pool of sorrow and get back on the wagon. I can see something like that for Mick with his vampire desires and urges. He’s been experiencing this for 60 years and every day he gets up and suppresses that urge. Everyday he’s a reluctant vampire and controls this monster within him and pursues other monsters, which in his mind’s eye helps detach him from the monster he truly is.”
You know what else is a monster? Me, wandering around the airport at night looking for coffee after an internet press day in Burbank and finding that every place that could possibly sell me coffee is closed. I was reduced to lurking in a snack shop sniffing out chocolates trying to figure out how much I’d have to eat to get the same amount of caffeine I’d get from a cup of coffee.
I’m not so great at math, so it was time to board the plane before I figured out that equation. If you happen to know, could you send me an email?
Moonlight premieres on CBS this Friday, September 28th, at 9 PM Eastern and Pacific.
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My head? Wants to pop right off my body right now, I am so annoyed – re: nipples. Gel caps for Sophia, a tighter shirt for Alex. I’m honestly surprised I survived that pilot with both of my eyes.
Sigh. Alex and Sophia sound like cool, funny, level-headed people. Seems unfair, really.
I was horrified to hear about gel caps for nipples. This country is obsessed with boobs, but God forbid the shape of one makes an appearance on a network television show that most people who have a problem with that sort of thing probably won’t even watch unless they’re looking for evidence to support a family values boycott.
Ooooh. Scary nipples. . .
Well, you know, nipples indicate boobs have a purpose other than being fleshy orbs to fill bikini tops. You’d think family values groups would be glad for the nod to the utilitarian – oh, no, wait. Breasts are globes of temptation – and nipples are the cherry of evil on top! Silly me.
Moonlight is the best show and deserves a second season, so please bring back our Moonlight, I want more of Mick and Beth, and Josef, Ben Talbot, Logan, Gullermo, Carl, Coraline, Lance also!!!!!!!!!!!!