Moonlight Meets Shakespeare

In this lighthearted interview done during the shooting of episode 14, Click of the TV show Moonlight in NewsOK (published May 9, 2008), it’s all about cars and Shakespearean tragedies.

‘Moonlight’ Actor’s Musing: To be or not to be in Love

By Kate O’Hare

Australian actor Alex O’Loughlin, star of CBS’ Friday-night vampire drama “Moonlight,” is sitting on the set on a March evening at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., and he’s enjoying the view.

No, he’s not looking at his co-star, lovely British actress Sophia Myles, who plays his so-far-platonic human love interest, Beth.

He’s looking at a silver sports car up on a rig for the night’s filming.

“I love the car,” he says. “Oh, my God. I don’t (get to drive it), actually. I would very much like to. It’s an Audi R8. (It’s got) 500 horsepower, turbocharged V-8. It’s pretty fantastic.”

After some further chat about cars and motorcycles (which includes a brief primer on Spokey Dokes, apparently a popular bicycle-spoke accessory), the conversation drifts to O’Loughlin’s classical education and what that has to do with playing Mick St. John, a vampire private eye in Los Angeles.

Naming “Hamlet” as his favorite of Shakespeare’s plays, O’Loughlin begins to see some parallels between Mick and the indecisive Dane.

“There’s absolutely a little Hamlet in Mick. Don’t worry about that. There absolutely is, in the loss of his family, the ‘to be or not to be.’ There’s a lot of Hamlet in there.”

As to who is the equivalent of the ghost of Hamlet’s murdered father, which haunts him in the castle parapets, O’Loughlin thinks of Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon), the vampire who seduced the then-human Mick, then turned him into a creature of the night.

“Coraline,” he says. “Coraline is the ghost.”

Then he thinks of Josef (Jason Dohring), the young-looking but very old vampire who is Mick’s best pal.

“Josef may be Horatio … you know what, hey! Josef is not as reflective as Horatio. This is interesting. I wonder if Shakespeare is turning in his grave that we’re drawing conclusions.”

O’Loughlin also links “Moonlight” to another of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

“I think there’s a lot of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in it,” he says. “The fans are like, ‘When are Mick and Beth going to (have sex)?’ I’m like, ‘Hang on a minute; it’s going to be another show. It’s really going to shift the dynamic of the show if those two consummate their love at that level.’ ”

He adds, “I’m not the showrunner, but I don’t think we’ve earned it yet.”

Fans love the relationship, and many of them have made music videos featuring Mick and Beth.

“I’ve seen lots of them on YouTube,” Myles says. “It’s really lovely. … When an audience falls in love with a couple, it’s so much more powerful than falling in love with an individual character.”

From “Dracula” to “Angel,” each vampire movie or show re-creates the vampire legend and its rules. Apparently, “Moonlight” has some rules of its own.

“In the makeup van,” Myles says, “they’ve got a list of vamp things, and it says, under ‘Sex With Vampires,’ that vampires can have sex and orgasms, but they can’t procreate. So, that puts a whole new spin on things. Now that I know that, well, what’s the problem?”

*****

Kate O’Hare next chatted with Alex on April 29th, 2009: Hot Cuppa TV has New Audio Interview with Alex O’Loughlin

Tags: moonlight, alex o’loughlin, sophia myles, shakespeare, mick st. john, beth turner

Follow Me on Twitter!