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Mariska Hargitay at the TV Guide Emmy Awards after-party held at Social in Hollywood, Calif. on August 27, 2006. |
The hard-hitting and emotional NBC television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit chronicles the life and crimes of the elite squad of detectives in the New York Police Department who investigate sexually based crimes. Now in its eighth season, the drama follows Detective Elliott Stabler (Christopher Meloni), a seasoned veteran of the unit who has seen it all, and his partner, Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), whose difficult past as the child of a rape is the reason she joined the unit.
Recently back on the show after a six-episode maternity leave, Emmy Award winning actress Mariska Hargitay is happy to be at work again, telling MediaBlvd Magazine that she is still learning things about her character, after all these years.
MediaBlvd Magazine> Had there ever been any talk that your pregnancy would be worked into the series?
Mariska Hargitay> No, there wasn’t. I didn’t know what they were going to do, but the show being what it is and the writing being what it is, I had utter trust that they would come up with an amazing answer, and it was great. It was actually really fun and really challenging to cover it up. I think that they handled it really well and very creatively, so it was exciting.
MediaBlvd> Coming back from your time off, was it at all difficult, either personally or professionally, to get back into the swing of things?
Mariska> After having the baby, I was off for six months. In eight years, I've never been off for so long. And then, I had my child and I thought I'd never be able to leave his side again. As soon as I went back to SVU, it was like I'd never left. And, I was so excited by the storyline. You think that after eight years, you’d be done, but the scripts keep coming in and they seem to always outdo the previous one. Each one is better than the next, and so much more complex. I’m completely revitalized, re-energized, re-inspired and rejuvenated to approach this in a new way. It is also a gift to have my son be able to come to work with me every day, so I don’t feel like I'm pulled. I get to see him all day long. I feel like I'm so lucky because I'm living my dream. I didn’t have to choose one or the other, and I'm so not done with Olivia Benson. I think I am more invested in her now than I've ever been, and I've been pretty invested all along. I get excited by the material and what this character has done, and how it's gotten into the consciousness, as well as my own heart. I started my foundation because of it. I am so honored to be able to give a voice to some people that didn’t know how to come forward. It's been a really exciting journey that's gone in more directions than I ever thought. I never thought that I'd be somebody who would start a foundation, or I do the work that I do now. And, I'm absolutely thrilled and excited to be back on the show.
MediaBlvd> Where is the state of the relationship between Benson and Stabler now, and how important it is to the show?
Mariska> It's been such an incredibly exciting ride. Our relationship is a very close one and a very complex one. Sometimes it's like brother and sister, and sometimes there's all this chemistry. I think that what makes Benson and Stabler so close is their passion and their love for the same job, and the respect and understanding that they're in a job that is so difficult. They say the average life-span of an SVU detective is four years. People can't do it longer than that because it's so difficult. And, here are two cops that have been in it so long, and who are very isolated because nobody else understands them. In that, you get such a deep closeness. They have so much sexual chemistry and sometimes they get so close that it’s frustrating. And then, when they disagree, it's so difficult and scary because it feels like a betrayal. It's just so loaded and layered. Now, Benson and Stabler are back together and stronger than ever. A lot of people ask me if they will ever get together, and I think sometimes even Olivia wants that. He’s the man of her life, but I don’t think that will ever happen.
MediaBlvd> If the SVU detectives have an average span of about four years, how has it been for you to film such an emotional series for more than eight years now?
Mariska> It's been really hard, but I have to say it’s toughened me up. I always say that, if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger, and it's so true because I'm definitely a different human being than I was when I started the show. I was a pansy when I started shooting SVU. This has made me go so deep and so inside myself, and it’s made me so strong. It's been an incredible journey. For a couple of years, it was really hard and painful and I thought I was done because I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. It was just too dark. And then, I finally realized that I could do something. I feel so grateful that made me take a move into action.
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Mariska Hargitay with her husband Peter Hermann at the TV Guide Emmy Awards after-party held at Social in Hollywood, Calif. on August 27, 2006. |
MediaBlvd> Has it affected you more, since having your child?
Mariska> Yeah. I knew that a lot of people couldn’t watch the show because they thought it was too difficult, and I could never understand that. But, now that I'm a mom, I find it more difficult to act the scenes because you go to those dark places. Being a mom makes you a different kind of human being, and it certainly makes you a different kind of actor because everything just penetrates you so much deeper. I believe the success of our show relies on our guest cast because, even though you’re seeing it through Benson and Olivia’s eyes, the guest stars are the ones who are living it, or reliving it. I always remind them that this has really happened to someone, and it’s a huge responsibility to tell that story accurately. What’s hard about the show is that it’s hard to go to those places. It’s hard to act them, it’s hard to talk about them, it’s hard to think about them. But, the truth is, I know that it makes a difference because of the emails and letters that I get.
MediaBlvd> Of all the episodes that you’ve done, is there one that sticks out in your mind as the most memorable?
Mariska> I have five. Eight years is a really long time to have one favorite one. One of my favorite episodes was an episode called “Fault,” where Chris Meloni is taken hostage by Lou Diamond Phillips and he has gun to his head. We basically had an eight-page Mexican stand-off. I almost watched my partner’s head get blown off. The scene after that is the scene where Chris and I were in a hospital, and we’re faced with the truth of our relationship and the closeness and the cost of it. It was a hard scene where we both had to admit what we mean to each other. It was a really scary, painful, high-stake scene to shoot. And then, there was another episode, “Lost,” which I love that was a show about a rapist, who was a son of a rapist. Olivia being the son of a rapist, she compared herself so much and thought that she was violent. There were a lot of comparisons between this character who’s a rapist and Olivia, in terms of questioning why I was a cop, why I landed this job, and whether I violent and bad, like my father who is a rapist. That one was really complicated, great episode. And then, just recently, I thought “911" was an incredible episode that was really challenging. I was on the phone the whole time, trying to save this little girl’s life. We just shot an episode called “Philadelphia,” where it was very exciting for me, as an actor, to have all these new challenges and to be dealing with subject matter that I had never dealt with, and having feelings that I had never had on SVU. In eight years, I thought I had seen and done it all, which is why I’m very excited about coming back to SVU. When you’re excited after eight years, and you think there’s so much more you want to do, it’s a pretty exciting situation.
MediaBlvd> It’s been said that women have a sixth sense. Do you think that makes them better investigators than men?
Mariska> I don’t know if they’re better. I think that there’s many ways to skin the beast, but I think that women have a different way of doing it. I do think that women have a sixth sense that enables them to do and feel things. I think that we all have that ability, it’s just that sometimes women are better able to get in touch with that part of themselves. But, I do know men that have it as well. Chris and I do things differently, and we have different strengths and weaknesses.
MediaBlvd> What is it about Olivia that you love, and what aspect would you still like to explore?
Mariska> I love that she’s a lioness. I love that she is committed and passionate. It’s not that she’s fearless because she feels it and does it anyway. I think she gets really scared. But, I love that she loves her job and likes the victims so much that she’s like this tireless, loving mother. She has a bottomless well of justice for these people. I want her to be my best friend. She is just utterly pure and focused in her passion, and relentless in carrying for those who she feels don’t have a voice. Olivia has had to shut down a lot of her own feelings. She doesn’t have family, she doesn’t have a man, she’s not in a relationship, she doesn’t have children. I think that she’s ready to look inward, instead of always looking outward. She’s always taking care of everybody else, and she isn’t taking care of herself. I think that we’re going to see inside of her this year and what she wants, and what not having a family and relationship and children has cost her.
MediaBlvd> Has motherhood and the death of your father changed you?
Mariska> It changes a human being. I think I love harder and deeper, feel things more deeply and understand things so much more. I’ve had the complete circle of life happen to me within two months. Those are two events in your life, after which you will be forever changed, and I am changed. I take all of it, accept all of it, love all of it and I’m grateful for all of it. I just understand the world a lot better. I feel like it’s a different show now. I feel like Olivia has evolved in such a different way, and that doesn’t mean better, it just means different. I think that’s what is so exciting, as an actor. Olivia is finally starting to figure out who she is and why she’s done what she’s done, and what she has and doesn’t have. She’s finally getting to know her true self.
