Alex O’Loughlin Directorial Debut Interviews

 

The time is almost here as the result of Alex’s directorial debut airs tomorrow night. The excitement has been building since late 2016 when he released that he would be directing if they got a season 8. That excitement has crescendoed this week and the interviews that have been released recently just build that even more. In them he reveals some hints of what he did behind the scenes for the episode and he also shares a lot more info about what has been going on around him recently.

 

pic credit Entertainment Weekly

 

Here are some excerpts from the two interviews that have come out so far. There should be at least one more within the next 24 hours  as EW also interviewed him last Thursday.

 

TVLINE | Seeing as that story takes place largely in flashback, what special challenges did it present to you as director?

ALEX:  What was challenging is you have to understand, first of all, the world that you’re living in, in the sense that I’m not doing a $100 million movie. I’m not doing a $1 million movie. I’m doing 42 minutes of network television, and that’s very specific. I have very, very little time, and the resources I have are limited to where we are, which is Hawaii — and mate, there’s a palm tree every 10 feet here.

ALEX: …[Making] Scotty [look 20 years younger] was easy. I’m not going to digitize his face, but what I can do — and he was really cool and really open about all this — is darken his hair to make it less blond, and have him wet shave with a razor…. Just a couple of little details that aren’t so obvious that we focus on them, but that sort of help us work in the space.

TVLINE | Looking further down the road, I see that Joe White will be back….

ALEX: As a matter of fact, because of Scott’s schedule, the one that Terry O’Quinn is in and which is my “story by” credit, we’re shooting it now as [Episode] 25, but it’s going to play as 24. We’re having so much fun. I really wanted to do a SEAL Team episode with [showrunner] Peter [Lenkov], and I was shocked, man — I thought that maybe they’d consider this story for Season 9 if we get to a Season 9, so the fact that he dropped it so soon speaks to how incredibly prolific he is when wants to make something happen. It’s rad.

We are currently working with two SEAL techs, Jim Beck and Steve Kaplan, who are the real deal and incredible dudes. We’re all great mates, we dive together on the weekends, we train together… so to be able to be a part of writing something that involves getting them in the show as Navy SEALs and sort of going through all the movements has been a blast, man.

 

Read the rest of the TV Line interview here

 

ET: Friday’s episode of Hawaii Five-0 marks the first time you’ll be credited as a director in your career. How would you describe the experience stepping behind the camera versus being in front of it?

Alex:  It was super exciting. It was very different in the sense that when I’m in front of [the cameras], I try to make all the cameras disappear and all the strange people holding things around me just go away. That suspension of disbelief that’s required as an actor to live truthfully in imaginary circumstances is different to what needs to happen as a director, in the sense that you are the master of all the moving parts. You create the world in every detail. But it was thrilling. It was fantastic. It’s something I really hope I can do more of in my life because I enjoyed it very much.

 

pic credit Entertainment Weekly

 

What was the most challenging part about directing?

Alex : The trickiest thing for me was dealing with myself, to be totally honest. I didn’t do as much acting preparation as I would’ve liked to or as I always do, so I was a little frustrated as an actor and also as a director. I was sort of racing back and forth from when I’d act a scene and then I’d call “cut” and then I’d race back to the monitor to watch the playback of my work, which I didn’t really care about. I just wanted to get me out of the way so I could focus on all of these great actors I was working with. I was annoyed at and with myself. [Laughs] But everything else was great.

We also see McGarrett playing the guitar early on in the episode, which is a nice nod for fans of the show, and you get to share the scene with Jimmy Buffett. Talk me through filming that moment.

Alex : Oh yeah, that was rad! [Laughs] It’s funny, that Portuguese guitar — I’ve played guitar my whole life, but that was impossible to play. So someone had to come in and string it like a normal guitar because none of us [had experience playing it]. I cheated a little bit and had them restring it so I could play it like a human. That was fun. It was a bizarre, funny little moment to have Jimmy Buffett with his bare feet up in McGarrett’s office. It was nice. For the most part, it’s a pretty dense, serious episode, so those little parts are deeply important relief moments

Pic credit Jimmy Buffet

 

So you’d be interested in discussions for a potential ninth season? (Note: CBS has yet to renew Hawaii Five-0.)

Alex :I’m way more open than I used to be but again, I don’t know if we’re even close to making a deal so it still might not happen. So we’ll see.

 

Read the full ET Online interview here

 

It is always nice when new interviews come out as there is yet another glimpse into the depth that is Alex O’Loughlin. From these, we grasp that he once again gave his 100% to his new role, he still does not like to watch himself on a screen, he really enjoyed it, and it is most likely something he will be doing again sometime in his career. We also saw some insights of what creative things he did to make what will air tomorrow night into what is known as the magic of Hollywood.

He also addressed where things stand at the moment for him and season 9. No matter what he chooses to do, we want the best for him and hope he stays true to himself and his character.

We are looking forward to the final results of his hard work tomorrow night. Hope you are, too!