Christopher Meloni and Ellen Burstyn.Photo:Cindy Ord/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Cindy Ord/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Christopher Melonifound a second mother of sorts in hisLaw & OrdercostarEllen Burstyn.
Meloni, 62, and Burstyn, 90, opened up about how their on-screen mother-son relationship has translated into the real world during a conversation forInterview Magazine.
The Exorcist: Believerstar — who portrays Meloni’s character Elliot Stabler’s mother Bernadette on bothLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitand the actor’sOrganized Crimespinoff — recalled the touching moment she realized the actor was more than just her costar.
“You know what I was thinking about yesterday?” she asked during the conversation, which took place on July 12 ahead of the start of theSAG-AFTRA strike. “One day on set [ofOrganized Crime] you said, ‘Why do you do this to me, Dimi?’ It’s a line fromThe Exorcist. And I was so stunned because my son in real life says that line to me.”
She added, “When you said it, it was like I was in two realities at once.”
Christopher Meloni and Ellen Burstyn on ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’.Virginia Sherwood/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
Virginia Sherwood/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
It turns out the moment also meant a lot to Meloni, who shared how the interaction had given him new perspective on their relationship.
“Afterwards, I was like, ‘Since I’ve lost my mother a couple of years ago, you — in my life, in our work — you’re my mother,’” he said.
Burstyn shared, “It’s very easy. It’s like slipping into a pair of old shoes. I slipped into being your mother.”
Christopher Meloni.Scott Gries/NBC via Getty Images
Scott Gries/NBC via Getty Images
Back in March 2017, Meloni opened up about how hisSnatchedcostars,Amy SchumerandGoldie Hawncomforted him on setjust a day after his mother, Cecile Meloni, died in 2016.
“We were shooting in Hawaii and I did a few of my scenes for a couple weeks there and then they said ‘We’re not going to need you for a while, so you go home.’” he recalled during an appearance onThe Talk. “So I went back east and unfortunately my mother got ill and so she passed.”
The next morning, Meloni recalled taking a boat up a river to film with Schumer and Hawn. When he broke the news of his mother’s death, the actor shared that Hawn pulled her into a “tight” embrace, while Schumer took a more light-hearted approach to cheer him up.
“And then Amy, she goes ‘Wait, what did you just say?’ I said, ‘Well, my mother passed.’ She goes, ‘Oh, that’s terrible. Hold on one second,’” he said with a laugh as he brought his cell phone to his face, copying Schumer’s gesture.
“I knew she was joking. … How courageous that she — she invited, she needed to diffuse all of that obvious emotion that was filling up the boat,” said Meloni, who added, “And later — this was even cuter — later she goes, ‘You know I was kidding, right?’”
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Law & Order: Special Victims Unitcan be streamed in full on Hulu, and the first three seasons ofLaw & Order: Organized Crimeare available on the NBC app.
source: people.com
