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PLAYING
a serial killer is easier than playing a hero. Just ask
Christopher Meloni, whose roles include Detective Elliot
Stabler on NBC’s Law & Order: SVU and the darkly
quirky Chris Keller on the now-defunct HBO series Oz.
“For two
years I was doing the characters at the same time,” he
said. “Stabler is more difficult for me to play. A hero,
the square-jawed guiding-light fellow, doesn’t resonate
with me, [but] with Keller, his spectrum of behavior was
pretty much wide open. I mean, it was pick it, he’ll do
it. He was loads of fun to play.”
Meloni,
a District native, also has displayed a lighter touch in
movie roles, playing a football coach who fumbled the
hand of Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride and a
maniacal mechanic named Freak Show in Harold & Kumar
Go to White Castle.
“With
acting, you’re always looking for the next thing,” he
said. “God bless this Law & Order gig. Even if
you [as an actor] don’t want to admit it, there is such
an omnipresent feeling of desperation. You are the
circus performer in search of a circus.”
Last
season’s balancing act included the maternity-leave
departure of Mariska Hargitay, who plays Stabler’s
partner, Detective Olivia Benson. (Connie Nielsen joined
the cast for six episodes as a temporary partner for
Stabler.)
With the
show set to return for its ninth season September 25,
Meloni talked to TV Week about his role, his family, the
Redskins...and Jerry Lewis.
The
give-and-take between Stabler and Benson always raises
the question of whether, and when, they’ll ever get
together.
I think
that everyone involved doesn’t want to mess with the
chemistry between Stabler and Benson. And for our
relationship, that tension is good. You don’t want it to
get sexual. That’s an inherent part of the tension of
the show.
SVU
deals with such brutal crimes, including crimes against
children. How do you keep all of that from getting to
you?
When I
started the show, I was a married guy—just me, Chris and
my wife. Now we have two kids and they have helped me
escape from it all, but [the show] is more difficult
now, too. I can’t watch any crimes that have to do with
kids. I don’t watch it on the news or anywhere. My kids
are such a great source of joy, and of getting me away
from all that.
What’s
the magic formula of this show?
Telling
the story, following a crime. The crime is one of the
characters in the story. Then, along with that, you get
to understand the mechanics of the people who want to
solve crimes.
The show
often has interesting guest stars, including Jerry Lewis
as a homeless man this past season.
Jerry—the guy’s a living legend. He was the Beatles
before the Beatles! And did you know he has patents on
so many things? He invented video playback so he could
direct himself in The Bellboy and all those
movies. The best part is, he genuinely loves our show.
He was able to tell me things that I had forgotten.
Were you
a fan of the original Law & Order?
I didn’t
watch. I really don’t watch too much TV. I like watching
the Washingtong Redskins...I just wish they’d win more!
What do
you do for fun?
I just
started my childhood three years ago, now that there’s
money to afford my childhood. My wife and I love to
water ski and I want to learn to kite surf.
What’s
the best part of doing SVU?
I’m a
working actor being paid very well, and on top of that,
you are seeing and doing something far greater than
yourself. And that goes to [executive producers] Neal
Baer and Dick Wolf and the writers. They have a six-inch
binder of research on topics and issues that they cull
and take up whatever they want to tackle. Everything is
based on something real, and then you wrap it around
what comes out of their imaginations and words.
Does
your show’s deeper appeal, for you and for viewers, stem
from the reality of the story lines?
One of
the reasons people watch is that we are shedding light
on a dark area. These are the boogeymen, but now you get
to see them and people, victims, have to know there is
no shame in any of it [what happens to them].
A woman
came up to us [during a shoot] and said, “Thank you for
signing my picture, and I love that you catch the bad
guy because the guy who molested me didn’t get caught. I
want you to know that [the show] is very healing.” That
has happened to me at least 10 times, and it’s guys and
girls both who say it. I feel privileged that they feel
comfortable enough to share that with me. |
