Post by DNA on Jan 15, 2007 5:43:42 GMT -5
NYPost.com
CHRIS MELONI - HOT SEAT
By LARRY GETLEN
January 14, 2007 -- THERE are many reasons why Chris Meloni's Detective Elliot Stabler on NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has become one of the more effective, consistent and reliable characters on television.
To say that Meloni is "enjoyable" in the role would be to miss the point. Elliot Stabler is powerful, commanding and sympathetic - a great partner, a caring cop, and a man with a the kind of troubles you'd expect for a guy who wallows daily in the depths of human degradation.
That Meloni makes him so empathic is a testament to his skill as an actor. And in the context of his extensive resume, Stabler makes his diversity all the more thrilling. Meloni played bisexual serial killer Chris Keller in HBO's "Oz," delusional camp cook Gene in "Wet Hot American Summer" and Freakshow, the boil-pocked, redneck sex freak of "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle." The Post spoke to Meloni about the challenges of his current role, and how his profile almost expanded even further.
Q: On the show, you deal with heinous sex crimes and crimes against children. Does this affect you at all outside of work?
A: Not anymore. These days, it's made me more proactive in the community, through various services. It's also awakened me to the large areas of gray. There are many victims out there, but there are also many problems with identifying rape, prosecuting rape and that sort of thing. And it's always difficult to deal with dramatizations of crimes against children, but now that I have kids it makes it doubly difficult.
Q: You said "not anymore." How did the show affect you at the beginning?
A: I almost had an emotional breakdown. I think it was a combination of the 20-hour days you need at the beginning with the unrelentingness of finishing one crime and now here comes another. You're always engaging yourself in this world.
Q: How did you learn to take it in stride?
A: I don't know. Maybe I grew a callus in certain areas that I needed to grow calluses on. That's not to say if you're gonna do the job correctly, you have to be emotionally engaged. It helps that everyone is funny on the set, so the gallows humor is a nice release valve.
Q: How to handle the pressure of the job is a frequent topic on the show. Did you have to develop this callus because Elliot did, as well?
A: I truly think so. We've both evolved. You become very intimate with your character because you're in his skin for 15 hours a day. And I think through all the pressure that built up in him and the problems he had personally and professionally, at the end there was just no more rage left. So he's coming out on the other side of Zen in attempting to deal with the problems of the job.
Q: Is there a difference between how you related to Elliot at the beginning and how you relate to him now?
A: No. We've gone hand in hand. When he was in his very angry, lost place for the last couple of years, I tended to react that way off the set. More often than I do now. Now, I'm taking things a little easier, more in stride.
Q: Ever get to a point where your wife had to say, "You need to leave this at work"?
A: No, 'cause she knows how much acting means to me, but we had to discuss a few things. (laughs)
Q: Why do you think you and Mariska Hargitay, who plays your partner, work so well together?
A:Mariska said it best once. Here you have two characters whose job it is to save the most helpless of victims, and so she said that people see us as the archetypal mom and dad. She's the empathetic one, and I'm the guy who will kick your head in if you touch my kid. I once had a guy come up to me and say, "There have been times I'll find myself watching the show and fantasizing, and wishing that you had been my dad and had saved me" from a person in his family that molested him when he was 5 or 6 years old. It was pretty heavy.
Q: Considering you were best known for Elliot and "Oz," how did they even think of you for Freakshow?
A: That's the $100,000 question. I asked the writers that myself. They said, "You know, Chris, when we were writing it, you're the only one we thought of." I still don't know what the f--k that means. Is it a compliment?
Q: You were up for the role of Agent Smith in "The Matrix." How deep into the audition process did you get?
A: Here's what I heard. I auditioned, didn't do a great job, walked away and called my agent. I said, "Get me back in there." They gave me another shot, the Wachowski Brothers, and I thought they were very responsive.
I find out later that this kid, Hugo Weaving, gets it. He's an Aussie, and they had to hire a couple of Aussies because they were shooting there. Be that as it may, he was great in the role. But I heard that he got hurt during filming, and they didn't think he'd be able to do the fight scenes, so they were all set to call me. I guess Hugo pulled it out.
Q: Do you socialize with your castmates?
A: Yeah. Mariska and I have actually been on vacation together. And I think all of us have been to visit [Richard] Belzer at his house in France.
Q: It's gotta be a trip for some American to be on vacation and see you and Mariska hanging out.
A: I bet that would be weird. I can appreciate that.
The score
Birth date: April 2, 1961 in Washington, D.C.
Special Genius Unit: Meloni beat fellow L&O'ers Sam Waterston and Kathryn Erbe on "Celebrity Jeopardy," winning $50,000 for two charities.
Knows when to hold 'em: Meloni also appeared on "Celebrity Poker Showdown" and finished second - losing to actress Robin Tunney.
Freaking out: To play Freakshow in "Harold and Kumar Go to White Casle," Meloni endured more than three hours each day in the makeup chair, to apply the character's horrendous skin.
CHRIS MELONI - HOT SEAT
By LARRY GETLEN
January 14, 2007 -- THERE are many reasons why Chris Meloni's Detective Elliot Stabler on NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has become one of the more effective, consistent and reliable characters on television.
To say that Meloni is "enjoyable" in the role would be to miss the point. Elliot Stabler is powerful, commanding and sympathetic - a great partner, a caring cop, and a man with a the kind of troubles you'd expect for a guy who wallows daily in the depths of human degradation.
That Meloni makes him so empathic is a testament to his skill as an actor. And in the context of his extensive resume, Stabler makes his diversity all the more thrilling. Meloni played bisexual serial killer Chris Keller in HBO's "Oz," delusional camp cook Gene in "Wet Hot American Summer" and Freakshow, the boil-pocked, redneck sex freak of "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle." The Post spoke to Meloni about the challenges of his current role, and how his profile almost expanded even further.
Q: On the show, you deal with heinous sex crimes and crimes against children. Does this affect you at all outside of work?
A: Not anymore. These days, it's made me more proactive in the community, through various services. It's also awakened me to the large areas of gray. There are many victims out there, but there are also many problems with identifying rape, prosecuting rape and that sort of thing. And it's always difficult to deal with dramatizations of crimes against children, but now that I have kids it makes it doubly difficult.
Q: You said "not anymore." How did the show affect you at the beginning?
A: I almost had an emotional breakdown. I think it was a combination of the 20-hour days you need at the beginning with the unrelentingness of finishing one crime and now here comes another. You're always engaging yourself in this world.
Q: How did you learn to take it in stride?
A: I don't know. Maybe I grew a callus in certain areas that I needed to grow calluses on. That's not to say if you're gonna do the job correctly, you have to be emotionally engaged. It helps that everyone is funny on the set, so the gallows humor is a nice release valve.
Q: How to handle the pressure of the job is a frequent topic on the show. Did you have to develop this callus because Elliot did, as well?
A: I truly think so. We've both evolved. You become very intimate with your character because you're in his skin for 15 hours a day. And I think through all the pressure that built up in him and the problems he had personally and professionally, at the end there was just no more rage left. So he's coming out on the other side of Zen in attempting to deal with the problems of the job.
Q: Is there a difference between how you related to Elliot at the beginning and how you relate to him now?
A: No. We've gone hand in hand. When he was in his very angry, lost place for the last couple of years, I tended to react that way off the set. More often than I do now. Now, I'm taking things a little easier, more in stride.
Q: Ever get to a point where your wife had to say, "You need to leave this at work"?
A: No, 'cause she knows how much acting means to me, but we had to discuss a few things. (laughs)
Q: Why do you think you and Mariska Hargitay, who plays your partner, work so well together?
A:Mariska said it best once. Here you have two characters whose job it is to save the most helpless of victims, and so she said that people see us as the archetypal mom and dad. She's the empathetic one, and I'm the guy who will kick your head in if you touch my kid. I once had a guy come up to me and say, "There have been times I'll find myself watching the show and fantasizing, and wishing that you had been my dad and had saved me" from a person in his family that molested him when he was 5 or 6 years old. It was pretty heavy.
Q: Considering you were best known for Elliot and "Oz," how did they even think of you for Freakshow?
A: That's the $100,000 question. I asked the writers that myself. They said, "You know, Chris, when we were writing it, you're the only one we thought of." I still don't know what the f--k that means. Is it a compliment?
Q: You were up for the role of Agent Smith in "The Matrix." How deep into the audition process did you get?
A: Here's what I heard. I auditioned, didn't do a great job, walked away and called my agent. I said, "Get me back in there." They gave me another shot, the Wachowski Brothers, and I thought they were very responsive.
I find out later that this kid, Hugo Weaving, gets it. He's an Aussie, and they had to hire a couple of Aussies because they were shooting there. Be that as it may, he was great in the role. But I heard that he got hurt during filming, and they didn't think he'd be able to do the fight scenes, so they were all set to call me. I guess Hugo pulled it out.
Q: Do you socialize with your castmates?
A: Yeah. Mariska and I have actually been on vacation together. And I think all of us have been to visit [Richard] Belzer at his house in France.
Q: It's gotta be a trip for some American to be on vacation and see you and Mariska hanging out.
A: I bet that would be weird. I can appreciate that.
The score
Birth date: April 2, 1961 in Washington, D.C.
Special Genius Unit: Meloni beat fellow L&O'ers Sam Waterston and Kathryn Erbe on "Celebrity Jeopardy," winning $50,000 for two charities.
Knows when to hold 'em: Meloni also appeared on "Celebrity Poker Showdown" and finished second - losing to actress Robin Tunney.
Freaking out: To play Freakshow in "Harold and Kumar Go to White Casle," Meloni endured more than three hours each day in the makeup chair, to apply the character's horrendous skin.