Greenwalt: “Moonlight” Is Different From “Angel”

Written by: Cindy White (SciFi Wire)
Submitted to SoSF by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF News Staff)

David Greenwalt, executive producer of CBS’ upcoming series Moonlight, told reporters that at first even he thought the premise of a vampire private detective sounded similar to his earlier series Angel , but that, in fact, the two shows are very different animals.

“My agent said in May, ‘You’ve got to read this Moonlight. It’s fantastic,'” Greenwalt said in a news conference at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 18. “And I read a couple of pages, and discovered it was a vampire detective, and I said, ‘Not only am I not going to read this, I’m going to sue them. This is my show.’ But he kept talking to me, and eventually I did read it, and I did fall in love with it.”

Alex O’Loughlin stars in Moonlight as Mick St. John, a 90-year-old vampire who was turned by his wife (Shannyn Sossamon) on their wedding night. Greenwalt said that the series will establish its own rules, which vary from previous vampire mythology. For instance, a vampire cannot be killed by a wooden stake or hurt by holy water, but can die by fire or beheading. Mick sleeps in a freezer instead of a coffin, but he does drink blood and avoid sunlight.

According to Greenwalt, the biggest change is the modern tone and setting of the show. “It’s a vampire [in] 2007,” he said. “It’s a new ball game. You know, it’s certainly a genre show, but … there are no other demons. There’s no other monsters. You know, it’s not that supernatural of a world. It’s a sleek, modern world, Los Angeles. And literally, the vampire makeup is different, the mythology is different, and it’s a world where they really live among us. And there’s not that many of them. And the show has all my favorite things. It’s got that deep heart and big love, and [it’s] funny, which I am attracted to.”

Another big difference is the influence of producer Joel Silver (The Matrix), who has been very involved in guiding the development of the show from the original presentation submitted to the network.

“We didn’t have Joel Silver making sure that everything was done excellently and right [with Angel],” Greenwalt said. “And, you know, the other shows I did went into the past, and you’d find yourself in time immemorial and [dealing with] ancient curses and things. And there was a good deal of brooding. And this is more an ironic take on what it means to be immortal. … It’s sort of hinted that the only thing worse than being mortal might be to be immortal, particularly if an immortal loved a mortal. The whole look and feel of the show is different. There is a really neat, wry voice-over from Mick St. John, played wonderfully by Alex.” Moonlight will debut on Sept. 28 and will air Fridays at 9 p.m

Source: SCI FI.com