Aussie actress Melissa George talks to MICHELE MANELIS about her edgy new character in Grey's Anatomy
To spice up the latest Grey's Anatomy season, Australian actress Melissa George has joined the cast as the sexually ambiguous, self-mutilating Dr Sadie Harris, a character designed to spark some controversy in the award-winning hospital drama
The former Home and Away star is on the set in Los Angeles. Looking surgeon-ready in scrubs and a stethoscope dangling around her neck, she says she enjoys playing such an uninhibited character.
"I was naked on the second day of filming," she laughs. "I was like, 'Oh my God, my poor parents!' I channelled the Angelina role from Girl, Interrupted when I knew I was going to play Sadie, although she's not quite as crazy as that."
Her sexuality is often in question. "Sadie's definitely bisexual. She has that spirit about her that could go either way. But Sadie is a cutter and that is more outrageous than who she sleeps with," says George.
A fan of the show, she says, "It's so beautifully written. I'm in tears watching it, and then within five minutes I'm laughing. I like that the medical patients story always parallel what the doctors are going through so it's really clever. And the part I love most is the medical jargon I've learned. Not only that, but because doctors are there, you're learning how to do things, like stitches. It's great."
George wasn't intimidated joining the cast. "I knew Ellen (Pompeo) before I was cast. There was a time when it was like, was it going to be her or me on Alias (as we know, it was George who landed 23 episodes). "But I was very nervous because it's such a crazy part, even by Grey's standards, and Grey's hasn't really had that in a while. This role is tapping into the happier side of myself and I'm so much healthier from doing it," she says. "I'm laughing all day, and I come
home and I have lots of energy whereas, when I did In Treatment, or my last movie, Triangle (a horror movie), it was hard to switch off."
George said doing a horror movie like Triangle took its toll on her personal life. "I was a mess. I was an absolute mess. So from that to Grey's was great. I'm up till one in the morning, and I'm bouncing around because I'm high from the day. I'm really enjoying it."
Grey's has always been controversial offscreen with the exit of Isaiah Washington which followed his politically incorrect statements about T.R. Knight's sexuality. Then the outspoken Katherine Heigl kept Grey's in the headlines when she defended her friend Knight, and then her refusal to submit her name for the Emmys last year because she thought the writing didn't warrant a nomination (which of course insulted the writers, not to mention the creator Shonda Rhimes).
And there was the abrupt departure of Brooke Smith's role as Dr. Erica Hahn, another gay character written out of the show.
Pompeo says, "We've had a lot of controversies and, of course they affect us. We spend a lot of time together here, so when people's lives are affected, you feel bad. You wonder why, and you think that things should be handled differently but artists will never understand executive decisions."
George wasn't hired as a permanent member of the cast, and has made the most of her short stint. "It was great for the exposure. It came to me, so I was like, 'Okay, I'll do it.' So it's lovely. I thought to myself, 'I'm going to take it, use it, and enjoy it. Then I'm going to do films and pursue other dreams that I have."
LOWDOWN
Who: Melissa George
Key roles: Home and Away (1993-95), Mulholland Dr (2001), Friends (2003), Alias (2003-2005), 30 Days of Night (2007)
Latest:Grey's Anatomy, Sunday, TV2, 8.30pm
