Hey It’s That Guy [Christopher Meloni]
Christopher Meloni’s role as a bisexual sociopath on the HBO prison drama Oz was envelope-pushing, even for premium cable. He had a 12-season run as the star of the prime-time procedural Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, complete with a six-figure-per-episode paycheck. He guest-starred as a vampire politico on True Blood, voiced an animated version of the Green Lantern, and most recently played legendary baseball manager Leo Durocher in the Oscar-buzzy Jackie Robinson biopic 42. He’s also had a few memorable comedy roles, although even his die-hard fans might not recognize him as the sweater-fondling camp chef in Wet Hot American Summer or the awesomely fucked-up Freakshow in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. This month, Meloni’s tough military leader will be making life difficult for Superman in Zack Snyder’s much-anticipated reboot, Man of Steel. Oh, and the 52-year-old spends his spare time raising his two kids, 12 and 9, with his wife of 18 years, not to mention helping the Enough Project raise awareness of human-rights abuse and genocide in Africa — you know, no big deal.
Come to think of it, we’re not sure how he hasn’t morphed into an ego-tripping, A-list douche bag by now. But despite two decades of nearly nonstop work, he’s managed to remain a humble, hardworking actor who’ll do anything (no, really, anything) for a role. We caught up with Meloni to find out how he built his mixed-bag resume, and what it’s like playing second banana to a superhero.
What was it about Man of Steel that appealed to you? Comic-book fans can be a critical bunch. How do you make sure you’re in Batman Begins and not Batman & Robin, so to speak?
Meloni: Ha! I saw the script and I thought, Wow, what a worthy use of people’s time. I felt it was how [Christopher] Nolan had reimagined the Batman series [for the Dark Knight trilogy]. Let’s get into who this guy is and connect him to the audience by humanizing him. What are his foibles, what makes him tick? I thought, What a fascinating way to look at Superman. Little boys wrap the sheet around their neck and say “I’m Superman!” because they want to be invincible; they want to kick some ass. But is it so perfect to be all-powerful and indestructible? What if you connect to that aspect of what it would be like to constantly be an outsider, to have so many people fear you, to have to hide who you are? It’s a pretty cool angle from which to examine him.
Being that you’re playing a military guy, it’s probably safe to assume that your character isn’t on Superman’s good side.
Meloni: Yeah. You’re looking at this weapon that’s indestructible; if you’re in the military, that’s a problem. But I slowly begin to believe him and take his side. It was a nice little arc. And I got to ride in a lot of helicopters.
Are your kids excited to see you rubbing elbows with Superman?
Meloni: Oh, I think so. When I had my son on the set, I said, “You wanna meet Superman?” and he said, “Yeah, yeah!” And as we’re walking toward him, one of the sexy bad-girl aliens was there and my son goes, “I wanna meet her.” I was like, “Okay, all right, nice.”
You started working on Man of Steel shortly after leaving SVU. How was the transition?
Meloni: It’s very interesting to be inside the belly of a multimillion-dollar beast. That was fascinating, to check out what they were able to do with the money. It was also very interesting to go from being No.1 on the call sheet to being number, I don’t know, 10. That was absolutely a worthwhile experience.
You’re known for being a fitness buff — was there anything you had to do to get into the military physique?
Meloni: No, you know, I felt as though I was combat-ready [laughs]. Don’t ask me to do a five-mile run in combat boots, but I felt as though I did pretty much the same old thing — maybe ate a little bit more.
What’s your “same old thing”?
Meloni: The older I get, the more I switch it up. I’m doing a little more running, and I enjoy martial arts, so I train in that when I can. There were a lot of Navy SEAL-type guys on the set, so it was pretty cool seeing what they did — because those guys were macked out. They were ready to roll.
On the other end of the spectrum from a comic-book blockbuster, you’re in the upcoming David Wain comedy They Came Together, with some of your costars from Wet Hot American Summer — Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, and writer Michael Showalter. What was it like to work with them again after 12 years?
Meloni: You know, it’s like going home. There are certain thrills that I get from my career, and I’ve got to tell you, any time I get a call from David Wain or Michael Showalter or one of those guys, it just absolutely ranks right up there. I love these people, I respect them, I admire them, I just really enjoy swimming in their waters with them. It’s a license to be silly.
“It was so much fun to do that stuff [on Oz]. We have a social code we’re asked to follow — if you don’t, you lose status. But with what I do, I gain status by peeing in a bucket. What a gig!.”
A lot of people might not realize you were the dick-cream guy from Wet Hot American Summer.
Meloni: People who are in the know know I’m the dick-cream guy.
We assume it’s your proudest role to date.
Meloni: And my mother’s!
Is that one of those things people yell at you at the airport?
Meloni: I have people yell, “I heared everything you said,” which is Freakshow from Harold & Kumar. Some will say, “I’m going to go home and fondue a cheddar.” And there’s dick cream, of course. And they do shout.
You were also the Grand Wizard in Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. You seem to go absurdist when you go the comedy route.
Meloni: I feel very comfortable there. I guess there’s more room for freedom and exploration. Maybe it’s because there’s no wrong answer. Where’s the right answer with absurdist humor?
Does Christopher Meloni the actor have a preference between comedy and drama?
Meloni: The grass is always greener. I just did a Gregg Araki movie, White Bird in a Blizzard. You want to talk about not funny — it’s very heart-wrenching and disturbing. It was awesome. Then you’re exhausted and like, “Let’s try to do a comedy.”
You could probably teach a class for actors on how to avoid being pigeonholed. What’s the secret?
Meloni: Even when I was doing the SVU gig, I always had the antenna up: Am I pigeonholed yet? Am I going to be this guy for the rest of my life? I always thought about that. I think because that was in the back of my mind, I kind of instinctively go for things that keep people off-base.
Oz established you as someone who will do anything for a good storyline: full-frontal shower scenes, making out with a male costar, peeing on camera. Do you have balls of steel when the camera’s on?
Meloni: I aIways thought, You’re an actor; you’re playing a role, what are you being asked to do? And if I could defend to myself what I was being asked to do, I never had a problem. It was so much fun to do that stuff. No one gets to do that in their real lives. We have a social code we’re asked to follow — if you don’t, you lose status. But with what I do, I gain status by peeing in a bucket. What a gig!
You’ll be back on TV this fall in I Suck at Girls. What can you tell us about that?
Meloni: Well, it’s a father-son comedy that takes place in the nineties. It’s based on [Shit My Dad Says writer] Justin Halpern’s book and his real-life experiences with his father. It’s just a ballsy take on parenting. It was one of the few things that made me laugh, out of all the things I was sent, and I trust Bill Lawrence, who’s heading the production.
You also had a role in 42, the Jackie Robinson biopic that came out in April.
Meloni: I thought it was a really worthwhile project. Like Philadelphia. I feel this is an important film, a history lesson made current. I got to play with Harrison Ford a little bit there, and that was a lot of fun.
Anyone else you’d love to work with down the road?
Meloni: There’s this young kid called Scorsese … I’d love to work with him. I want to work with everybody. I enjoy working.
Of course Christopher Meloni has an admirable IMDB page. All of those accomplishments aside, it could be that his Peloton Ad brought more eyes on him that all the SVU episodes combined. It certainly brought eyes to more parts of him at least. All in all, we have always appreciated people that can do serious work without ever taking themselves too seriously. We should all try that. … Of course we should all try to support causes as worthy as Enough Project too. Some people set the bar very high for the rest of us. Have you noticed?
