Meloni discusses Oz on ITAS.
Apr. 10th, 2016 02:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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lee_loniAs I posted here before, Chris recently appeared on Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio." For those of you who missed the show or were unable to watch it (and for posterity's sake, as well), I transcribed the portion of the interview where James Lipton and Chris talked about Oz. It was actually a nice, lengthy segment, almost equal to the time they spent discussing SVU:
*****
How did the role of Chris Keller come to you?
By way of a phone call, that was it. I knew Tom Fontana, I'd worked with him on "Homicide." So, I guess my name came up, and he wanted someone to be a provocateur.
Chris Keller is a very complex character, to put it mildly. How would you describe him?
A sociopath, someone who uses sex as a weapon. By the fourth script, I could see that I was seducing my cellmate, Tobias Beecher, played by Lee Tergesen. So I think, "OK, great, he's bisexual, or he's homosexual," you know. But I always thought of him as omnisexual, meaning you know, any port in a storm, as long as that port will get him what he wants.
Sex was closely tied to manipulation.
Absolutely. That was his sugar, that was his lure.
Eighteen years ago, before the more enlightened time in which we live today, some actors might have hesitated to take that role. Obviously, you did not. You've described yourself as "all in."
I was thrilled. And I was very proud of Tom Fontana. I think underlying it was, he wanted to get to the issue of showing "gay" on TV without the lisp, or without a stereotype accompanying that sort of thing.
Was it sometimes difficult to meet the emotional demands of that part?
The most difficult moment for me was when I had to kiss Lee Tergesen honestly--when I sincerely loved him, in a moment of tenderness, a moment of forgiveness, and because I'd only ever kissed a women under those circumstances, you know? And it was really touching and beautiful. And we were both scared, I remember both of us going, "I don't want to talk about this, let's just shoot it." We got it in one take, and it was just, just... It was lovely.
The relationship between Keller and Beecher became central to Oz's story and success. To call it complicated is an understatement. How would you characterize that relationship in Oz?
A roller-coaster. Two men trying to find comfort, love, some semblance of, yeah, it's love.
The love affair between Keller and Beecher caught fire in the gay community.
Yeah.
How much communication was there from that world?
That was huge. It was shocking.
What do you mean by shocking?
It was shocking how starved they were for [laughs], I won't say a role model, but just some character that was being portrayed as a man, just a man.
You had to do a lot of things as Chris Keller that you wouldn't do as Christopher Meloni.
Well, what he got to do was fun.
Really?
Yeah, yeah, having sex, and if it doesn't work out, you can kill them.
And [he] did.
Yeah, there were no ramifications. You're already in prison. I mean, life is awesome.
Why did he murder all those young men that he seduced?
Well, see this is where we differ. I don't think I ever, I don't, I just...
This is Chris [Keller] talking now.
I still to this day, I still to this day, don't believe he did that.
Really?
Yes! I think he was framed. I really do.
Balderdash!
Why'd he do that? You know, I just think it goes to the self-loathing. There's so many cases of that.
[They show the "breakthrough" scene between Chris and Sister Pete where he tells her that first he wanted unconditional surrender, then unconditional love, but Beecher doesn't love him.]
Is Chris Keller confiding in Sister Pete or is he manipulating her?
No, that was about as real as you're going to get.
He spilled his guts.
That's how I felt, that's who I think he was.
In the last episode of Oz, Chris's love for Tobias is the note on which the series ends. Was he lying to Tobias, to himself, to us? Or was that love the final, genuine truth of his life?
I believe it was. Willing to kill himself.
On the other hand, he killed himself in such a way that Beecher might be accused of murdering him.
I know!
That's the ambiguity in that character, isn't it?
Oh, isn't it great?
It's great.
It's good.
*****
I love that Chris has as much trouble as some of Oz's fans in accepting Keller as a serial killer. :-)
In addition, they showed several photos of Chris when he was young, including these ones with his father and mother:
More never-before-seen photos of young Chris that were shown during the interview can be seen HERE.
*****
How did the role of Chris Keller come to you?
By way of a phone call, that was it. I knew Tom Fontana, I'd worked with him on "Homicide." So, I guess my name came up, and he wanted someone to be a provocateur.
Chris Keller is a very complex character, to put it mildly. How would you describe him?
A sociopath, someone who uses sex as a weapon. By the fourth script, I could see that I was seducing my cellmate, Tobias Beecher, played by Lee Tergesen. So I think, "OK, great, he's bisexual, or he's homosexual," you know. But I always thought of him as omnisexual, meaning you know, any port in a storm, as long as that port will get him what he wants.
Sex was closely tied to manipulation.
Absolutely. That was his sugar, that was his lure.
Eighteen years ago, before the more enlightened time in which we live today, some actors might have hesitated to take that role. Obviously, you did not. You've described yourself as "all in."
I was thrilled. And I was very proud of Tom Fontana. I think underlying it was, he wanted to get to the issue of showing "gay" on TV without the lisp, or without a stereotype accompanying that sort of thing.
Was it sometimes difficult to meet the emotional demands of that part?
The most difficult moment for me was when I had to kiss Lee Tergesen honestly--when I sincerely loved him, in a moment of tenderness, a moment of forgiveness, and because I'd only ever kissed a women under those circumstances, you know? And it was really touching and beautiful. And we were both scared, I remember both of us going, "I don't want to talk about this, let's just shoot it." We got it in one take, and it was just, just... It was lovely.
The relationship between Keller and Beecher became central to Oz's story and success. To call it complicated is an understatement. How would you characterize that relationship in Oz?
A roller-coaster. Two men trying to find comfort, love, some semblance of, yeah, it's love.
The love affair between Keller and Beecher caught fire in the gay community.
Yeah.
How much communication was there from that world?
That was huge. It was shocking.
What do you mean by shocking?
It was shocking how starved they were for [laughs], I won't say a role model, but just some character that was being portrayed as a man, just a man.
You had to do a lot of things as Chris Keller that you wouldn't do as Christopher Meloni.
Well, what he got to do was fun.
Really?
Yeah, yeah, having sex, and if it doesn't work out, you can kill them.
And [he] did.
Yeah, there were no ramifications. You're already in prison. I mean, life is awesome.
Why did he murder all those young men that he seduced?
Well, see this is where we differ. I don't think I ever, I don't, I just...
This is Chris [Keller] talking now.
I still to this day, I still to this day, don't believe he did that.
Really?
Yes! I think he was framed. I really do.
Balderdash!
Why'd he do that? You know, I just think it goes to the self-loathing. There's so many cases of that.
[They show the "breakthrough" scene between Chris and Sister Pete where he tells her that first he wanted unconditional surrender, then unconditional love, but Beecher doesn't love him.]
Is Chris Keller confiding in Sister Pete or is he manipulating her?
No, that was about as real as you're going to get.
He spilled his guts.
That's how I felt, that's who I think he was.
In the last episode of Oz, Chris's love for Tobias is the note on which the series ends. Was he lying to Tobias, to himself, to us? Or was that love the final, genuine truth of his life?
I believe it was. Willing to kill himself.
On the other hand, he killed himself in such a way that Beecher might be accused of murdering him.
I know!
That's the ambiguity in that character, isn't it?
Oh, isn't it great?
It's great.
It's good.
*****
I love that Chris has as much trouble as some of Oz's fans in accepting Keller as a serial killer. :-)
In addition, they showed several photos of Chris when he was young, including these ones with his father and mother:
More never-before-seen photos of young Chris that were shown during the interview can be seen HERE.
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no subject
Date: 2016-04-10 06:58 pm (UTC)I also believe he told Sister Pete the truth to manipulate her with it.
Man was he a twisted guy, and man did Meloni play him well.
He got under my skin with that.
no subject
Date: 2016-04-12 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-12 04:11 pm (UTC)Man is he a twisted dude.
I know, it's hard not to want him to find comfort when he breaks down..
no subject
Date: 2016-04-12 04:05 pm (UTC)I'd certainly *like* to believe that Keller wasn't really a serial killer. But I think Meloni may have forgotten how Keller confessed to the murders right before killing Ronnie, creating a bit of a contradiction here. :/
no subject
Date: 2016-04-17 08:55 am (UTC)But I like the fact that he believes in Keller (even if he forgot the confession) and of course in his love for Beecher. I know that the end of their storyline is "meh" but I still liked how Keller tried to commit suicide to leave Toby free from him but in the end a part of him tried to take Toby with him in the heaven.
I always have a soft spot for Meloni talking about Out of time kiss.
no subject
Date: 2016-04-20 03:44 pm (UTC)I love how, to Meloni, doing the Out of Time kiss was different from the laundry room kiss (which came first) since it's an "honest" kiss. It's like the emotional development of Keller toward Toby bled over into real life and it's how Meloni feels about Lee or something.