Chris Meloni Had an Emotional Breakdown Going From ‘Oz’ to ‘Law & Order SVU’
Law & Order SVU might be what Chris Meloni is most known for after being cast as Elliot Stabler. But before he was the iconic detective, he played a much different character in Oz. However, going from serial killer to cop wasn’t a smooth transition for the actor.
Chris Meloni would end up shaking thinking about his ‘Law & Order SVU’ role
Meloni’s Oz role was a much different beast than the character he’d become so synonymous with in SVU. On the HBO classic series, he portrayed a disturbed inmate obsessed with killing. Ironically, however, SVU would see him on the other side of the law. Oz would also help Meloni secure the hit show. Speaking with Randee Dawn, he opened up about the long process he went through to earn his SVU part.
“My first audition was with Dick Wolf himself,” Meloni said. “I felt really good with that, I felt I’d earned that place, that I’d gone up in the hierarchy where I don’t have to audition with a casting director and five auditions down the road I get to meet the wizard behind the curtain. Very nice guy, cool, straight ahead guy, I thought I did a great reading and that’s that, I don’t hear anything from him.”
Fortunately, Wolf was good friends with Oz showrunner Tom Fontana. Meloni would turn to Fontana, asking him to contact Wolf for an update about the SVU role.
“Three weeks later I’m talking to Tom Fontana on the set of Oz and I say, ‘What the f***’s going on, you know this guy, he’s your friend, tell that son of a b**** is it yes or no, it’s killing me.’ God bless Tom Fontana, he walks over and makes a call and ten minutes later comes back and says, ‘Yeah, he’ll be calling you back.’ And I’m like, ‘Thank you! Somebody! The silence will kill you,’” Meloni recalled.
After a few more auditions for Wolf, Meloni was given the good news that he was hired. But soon reality set in. Meloni admitted he couldn’t help panic when thinking about making his big leap from Oz to Law & Order.
“When I got this – yeah, you’re prepared because you want it so badly, but the first four months or so, twice because I was so mentally and emotionally drawn and crispy from the hours and the subject matter and pouring all my heart and soul into it, I woke up two mornings and shaking and I couldn’t get out of bed,” Meloni said. “I was sitting on the edge of the bed and I was shaking, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is an emotional breakdown.’ And I’m not that guy, so whatever, it’s an anxiety attack, but I’ve never had one. But I still think it was a mini-collapse. But – nothing a shower can’t fix!”
Chris Meloni only slept for four hours when doing both ‘Oz’ and ‘Law & Order SVU’
Meloni didn’t leave Oz after securing his Law & Order role. Instead, he’d continue working on the HBO drama all the way until 2003. This required a tremendous amount of time on Meloni’s part that occasionally left him beyond exhausted.
“So me being able to do it, or juggle it, at times I would work 22 hours – I’d be acting for 22 hours straight, get four hours sleep, wake up and act for another 15, 16 hours. And that would happen about in a two-and-a-half, three month span, once or twice a week, that schedule. But still it was okay, the way I was able to do it was through the grace of Tom Fontana and Dick Wolf, who liked and admired each other, so they made it work for me,” Meloni said.
The one thing that kept him going was how fortunate he felt being able to work on two highly successful television shows. He was especially grateful, knowing what it was like to be constantly rejected as an actor.
“How did I balance it? I just had to repeat to myself, ‘I am the luckiest actor, working on a quality, edgy show in Manhattan.’ And then I get Law & Order, and that wasn’t lost on me and now I’ve won the lottery,” he added.
