High Five for Alex
As Hawaii Five-O enters its seventh season, its Aussie star Alex O’Loughlin tells DANIELLE MCGRANE how much life is left in Steve McGarrett and why it’s almost time for him to bow out of this action-hero lifestyle.
Alex O’Loughlin has an end in sight. The Aussie actor seems pretty sure he can manage two more seasons which is understandable considering there have been six before this; that’s six series of the incredibly popular Hawaii
Five-O reboot. It’s the show that managed to keep the essence of the 1970s hit show and yet still bring it bang up to date.
O’Loughlin is now coming into his seventh season playing Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett on this special police task force in Hawaii and it’s taken its toll.
“I signed on for another two, which is this year and next year, series seven and eight, and I don’t know if I can sustain any more than that just physically. I’ve taken so many physical hits on this show my back is pretty bad and I’ve got a lot of fixing I’ve got to do. I’ve got to fix my body,” O’Loughlin said.
But from the opening moments of season seven, the actor doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
There’s a chase scene in- volving some serious parkour moves as O’Loughlin goes in pursuit of a suspect over buildings through his Hawaii hometown.
However, he says he’s reliant on stunt professionals to help him with scenes like that these days.
“Maybe 15 years ago I’d say, ‘Yeah I want to jump off that building’ but I was 40 a couple of weeks ago so I kind of know my place. There are certain things you don’t try to start doing at 40,” he said.
O’Loughlin has given a lot to the show to make it into what it is today, which is an endearing mix of danger and comedy.
“I used to do a lot more in the first couple of years but I’ve been hurt too many
O’Loughlin: “Maybe 15 years ago I’d say, ‘Yeah I want to jump off that building’ but I was 40 a couple of weeks ago so I kind of know my place. There are certain things you don’t try to start doing at 40”
times so I do a lot less now,” he said.
There comes a time when every action hero has to accept it’s time to slow down. O’Loughlin joins a list including Arnie and Sly who stopped performing their own stunts but didn’t give up the genre completely.
It helps that there’s something deep at the core of this show that flexes O’Loughlin’s acting muscles: his partnership with Danny Williams, played by Scott Caan.
At the start of season seven, the characters’ relationship is clearly in a good place and they can even be heard exchanging “I love yous”.
It’s a thoroughly modern male moment and indicates a pretty healthy friendship between the two cops.
“Steve and Danny have been in therapy for a couple of years so they’re making leaps and bounds,” O’Loughlin said.
“The wonderful thing about television as opposed to film is that it spans over years so you literally have years to work on these characters, therefore there is a natural ease between them on cam- era and that gets easier and easier.”
It’s similar to how O’Loughlin conducts his relationships off screen, and he has good reasons for it.
“I tell my mates that I love them in my life, I think it’s important to tell them,” O’Loughlin said.
“How many times do you hear people say, ‘So and so is dead and I never got a chance to tell them that I love them’ and it’s like, ‘Why not? You talk to them every day so what’s the problem?’
“But I also think it’s easier for men in this generation. Baby boomers are all sort of stuffy, they’re the children of the war generation taught to suppress their feelings, whereas we’re the spiritually enlightened generation so I think that’s in our favour.”
Aside from Steve and Danny and their bond, there’s another very important character in the series.
“We always said from the very beginning that Hawaii itself plays a character in the show and probably the most important character. To look at it vivid in high definition footage it’s like, ‘Oh my God it’s gorgeous’,” he said.
It does look gorgeous and every aerial shot of the in- credible scenery and cobalt blue sea seems to somehow make some of the most gruesome crimes seem a little more palatable.
That’s something the reboot has in common with the original.
But the show never ignores where it came from. In fact, in the opening episode of the new series there’s a surprise for fans of the original series.
“Where we’ve been able to, we try to pay homage to the original and tilt our cap because we are a reboot of something that was very, very successful globally,” he said.
Despite the advantages to being in a long-running show, O’Loughlin still has an end date in mind for one specific reason.
“I want to throw a football with my grandkids one day so I’ve got to be smart,” he said. “I think if we get through these two seasons and finish with an eighth season I think it would be an incredible feather in all of our caps and something to be proud of so I’m just focused at the moment on getting through seven and making it into eight.”