By Greg David
The Emmy award winner, and SVU co-executive producer Neal Baer, discuss upcoming episodes (spoiler alert!) and Canadian Adam Beach joining the full-time cast. Plus, Hargitay reveals how motherhood and her father's death have changed her life
Was there ever a time that you thought you'd write Mariska's real-life pregnancy into the show?
Neal Baer: As wonderful a mother as Mariska is, we didn't think [her character] Olivia was ready for a baby!
Mariska Hargitay: It was interesting to come up with new ways to shoot me so that you couldn't see my belly!
NB: There was actually one episode that we were shooting last year, and Mariska was down on the floor, and she couldn't get up!
MH: It was like ... one... two... and we're up!
How much of the show is really ripped from the headlines?
NB: We're not as ripped from the headlines as the other Law & Order shows. We focus mainly on stories about the elderly, children and sex crimes. We don't look for headlines per se, we look for ethical issues, like teen alcohol abuse which we will cover in a March storyline. Last week the story was about pharm parties... we're much more about the social issues that has ethical implications. And we're always looking for more cutting-edge stories like that. I think that sometimes the headlines are ripped from us.
To follow on that, do you get a sense that people are getting help with issues because they've been through something similar to what happens on the show?
NB: I hope so.
MH: My favourite thing about SVU is that we give voices to people who don't have one. There are so many people that things happen to, and I really feel that we're fair when it comes to telling their stories, and educating people about what's going.
NB: Mariska is the empathetic, passionate voice for these victims, and Chris [Meloni] is the rage we feel, the "How can this happen?" feeling. They both represent the feelings that we feel simultaneously when we hear about these cases. That's why they work so well together.
Neil, how important was it to get both Mariska and Chris signed on for two more seasons of SVU, and Mariska, was it hard to come back to work after your time off to have your baby?
NB: I have to say that for Mariska to win an Emmy for her work on the seventh season of the show, and for Chris to be nominated was truly phenominal for us. It's hard to keep the buzz going when you have new shows on and you've been around for awhile. Because we understand the cases through their eyes, it's really important to have them both on the show. It would've been a very different show if they weren't on it, and I don't know if it would have been popular.
MH: After having the baby, I was off for six months, but as soon as I came back, it felt like I'd never left. I was so excited by the storylines, and after eight years on a series you'd think that you'd be done, but the scripts that came in were better than the next. And I thought "How could I be so completely revitalized after all this time on the air?
I think part of it was the gift of being able to bring my son to work with me every day. He's here, so I get to see him all day long. I'm so lucky because I'm living my dream. I didn't have to choose between being a mother or an actress. I'm so not done with Olivia Benson.
Can you talk about the relationship between Benson and Stabler?
MH: It's very complicated. Sometimes it's very much like brother and sister, and I think the reason that they're so close is that they share a passion for their jobs and for the people. They have a mutual respect for one another.
I think that the average lifespan of an SVU detective is four years because of the difficulty and stress involved. They're been doing it for longer than that, so they feel like they're in their own world almost. There's also sexual chemistry between them, it's so loaded and layered. People ask me if they'll ever get together - and people want that, and sometimes I think even Olivia wants that - but I don't think that will ever happen. Neil, what do you think?
NB: I think the last episode of February sweeps and the first episode in May really illustrate a maturation in their relationship. You never can say never, but lots of things are happening this year so that nothing like that will happen for awhile. You'll see Mariska in May sweeps as you've never seen her before - stunning, frightening, and your jaw will drop.
Mariska, you said that the average lifespan of an SVU is four years. What's it been like to play this character for eight years?
MH: It's toughened me up. That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and that's really true in this case. I'm a different person than when I started. I was a pansy before. I've had to go so deep, this has made me stronger and tested my mettle. It's been an incredible journey. For a few years I thought I was done, thinking that the show was too dark, and you can wallow in that or you can do something about it.
Have things changed since you had your son?
MH: Oh yeah. It's amazing. All my mom's friends refused to watch the show, because they found the storylines too difficult to watch. I could never understand that. But now that I'm a mom, I totally understand that now. Now I think "What if that was my son?" It's made me a different type of human being, and a different type of actor.
I understand Canadian Adam Beach has joined the cast. Can you tell us how he'll join, who he'll play, and for how long?
NB: Adam is going to be in the last episode - with Ludacris - this year and you'll see how Adam fits in. He's a Special Victims detective from Brooklyn. I'm a big fan of his - I loved him in Windtalkers and Flags of Our Fathers - and I can tell you that he is a Special Victim himself, and he will click with Benson.
Adam's character, Det. Lake, will be the first detective on the show who is truly a Special Victim. I won't say how or why - that will come up - but that's how Benson connects with him. You'll see Adam in the last episode this year, and all of next year. He's raring to go, and it opens up a whole new set of doors for us, storywise.
Will he be a new partner for Fin [Ice-T]?
NB: Yes, he will.
Is Munch [Richard Belzer] leaving?
NB: Nope, no one is leaving.
Mariska, you've had a very big year - both good and bad - did motherhood and the death of your father change your character?
MH: Completely. I changed as a human being. I think I love harder, and I love deeper. I feel things more deeply and understand much more. I've experienced a complete circle of life within two months. Those two events in my life have forever changed me, and I'm grateful for it.
NB: You'll see that in the episode "Philadelphia," because Benson is going to go places she's never gone before, and we couldn't have done these storylines had Mariska not gone through what she has.
MH: That's a perfect way to put it Neal. I feel like it's a different show, and Benson is a different person now.
Is Olivia going to go searching for her biological father?
NB: No, but you'll see something next week that will make you go "Oh my gosh!" in relation to what you just asked. I'll say that Olivia does something this week that sets her on a journey she never expected to go on.
Law & Order: SVU, Tuesdays, 10 p.m. ET, CTV/NBC
Published: Monday, February 19, 2007