Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for having me. Congrats on the on the show.
Thanks. Season two finishes tomorrow. Tomorrow?
It does, Yeah.
How have you found the experience so far?
Because it's become quite a big
show.
Yeah, we've taken to it now even two seasons.
Yeah. It's time to reflect on it all
Well, the beautiful thing is, when I finished season two,
I realized the conversation I had season one before I even started the show
and everything.
They kind of promised or said will happen for Margot has come true
and it's sort of surpassed, I think you know what I imagined.
And that's a good feeling sometimes creatively,
always, actually, when you can do a show and usually you just get the pilot,
you know, or the first two, you never get the entire, you know, scope of the show.
So I love the fact that Margot was appeared to be this certain woman,
very loving mother who works in the library.
And then all of a sudden you watch how she escapes perfectly
and quickly and shoot at the tires and then in the hacienda.
And then the kids are like, who is mum?
And then all the way down to the end, you see this amazing kind of
journey of complete opposite of how she started.
And that's the goal, I think, for any job. Yeah.
When you What was the pitch to you the first time I spoke to you about this?
It's obviously the film came out
and the film version came out and I think it was.
Yeah, it was,
yeah, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, and my character was called Mother,
so she wasn't she didn't have a name or purpose
or anything like that as much as what this happened.
So the first question was, is it going to be a reflection of that?
Am I going to be just, you know, the mother in the series?
And they said, absolutely not. You'll see why.
And of course, you know, when the big reveal in season two
with my character, that's when you realize
that the character is going to be a force and a real matriarch of the family.
The only thing they
did suggest or say to me was when I won the casting,
the first phone call was from Rupert Wyatt and he said,
Tell Melissa this will be one of the hardest jobs of her career.
Is she ready to take on this journey?
And that was I was I mean, what would you say no to that?
He said, sure, I'll be fine.
And it's been very hard,
you know, two seasons.
But, you know, it's nice to have a second season of the show
because you can really all the things that you didn't get to finish.
When you get a multiple season, you can actually correct things
that you wanted to do differently in the first.
Yeah, a friend of mine always said that he always enjoyed season two of shows
because it, as you said, it kind of expands
the quote unquote mythology and so dive deep into the characters.
Has it surprised you just where the show is
like in the world in terms of.
Yeah, and you know, this season we've got like, you know, a good seven,
eight page scenes between two actors, all those things that actors like to do.
You know, we want we don't want to be upstaged sometimes
by the scary house or the fireworks behind you or the plot so much.
And sometimes when you can just sit and do great talking,
it's one of the best days as an actor.
I come home and I can't sleep.
I'm so happy that I got to, you know, spent 11 hours saying the same line.
Imagine if you could do that in real life, like you have an argument
with your partner or or a conversation with your partner.
You can actually, like perfect it
over 11 hours and change the way you deliver the words
and change your intention each time you speak.
And that's the joy of of doing things like that and acting.
You know, I think you can really
you can play with
just one line, can be said so many different ways
and have so many different endings.
And so we did that a lot in season two, it was great.
In terms of Margot as a character, what did she
when you read it for the first time, what was it about her
that was maybe different from anything you've played before?
Because she is, I guess, in quite different to anything.
But just yeah, just I, I knew when I read it that that was mine.
You know, it wasn't an ego thing.
It was just like, Oh, I can relate to that.
That's where I'm at in my own personal life,
living in a foreign country with my children being the best mother I can.
How do I make you work and look after at the same time
like I've been living that life for the last six years?
It was.
It's unique. Every script you read is unique.
It's always something you haven't played before.
But I tend to get the very, I would say, difficult
emotional roles, but my exterior looks quite serene
and I think I often get cast in sort of a horror film
or a very dramatic part,
like when I did In Treatment and I did The Slap, and they're always
just traumatized, tortured women, but with a sort of clean exterior.
And this was a great part to play
because she was wholesome at the beginning, but they knew
the characters I'd played before that I could actually take it to a level
that was quite dark and gritty. Yeah.
How is it
what are the challenges for you as an actor
in terms of doing kind of long form stuff?
Because now a lot of people are going to because in the old days it was sort of on
TV that said, Yeah, I know, now it's the complete opposite.
So that's a good question because I've got a
there was I remember when Matthew McConaughey won the Oscar
and the first job he took the next day was a TV show.
Yeah.
And that was the moment where I went, Oh,
that means all the best actors
from TV film, they're all going to now just go back and forth.
So roles were very sought after and a lot of actors were doing TV
that I don't think there's any negative to it anymore,
which I'm happy about because I'm happy that I'm able to keep my position.
Do you know what I mean?
And don't get cast off or whatever. But
six months to shoot the same character is quite nice.
You know, you can really play with it.
The negative could be that you can get comfortable
playing a certain thing for so long,
but you know, that's that negative really.
You know, if the dialog is great and the episodes coming in a great and
sometimes it's also nice to do a film because you're in and out very quickly.
It depends on the film.
And yeah, it's funny you say that actually about looking ahead.
Woody Harrelson I think a lot of people would say
they were the ones that kind of they were into the change.
Yeah, as it were.
Now, everybody, every best director, every best writer,
the budget, you know, look at the budget alone you.
It's fantastic how lucky we got with the streamers and how we could be.
I started to get
funny with TV at some point because I knew it was like governed by advertising.
And then if it didn't work, because the advertising
and all that, my career became in the hands of a business decision,
not a creative decision.
And I felt like with Apple this time it was very nice.
It was like, okay, we've got ten episodes, here's the scripts, good luck.
If we cast you for a reason, have fun.
You know, it was very open and quite creative.
Yeah, there's a lot of it seems to be that because of this certain people say,
I guess issues with film industry
and maybe in terms of finance and it's so obviously there's lots of big
money talks in
TV, particularly with series and streaming is where a lot of the scripts are.
Have you found that recently? Yeah, yes.
But then when you see the films coming out for the Oscars, you know,
you know that the best scripts are still in cinema as well.
I mean, of course they are.
And so it's often
I don't know, it's a funny thing.
It's a funny career to take, really. It's
I think it takes you I don't think I go out and, you know,
I mean, I got lucky with getting... sometimes you think, oh,
did you choose that role? As I know,
sometimes it chooses, you know, sometimes I can choose
and go, there's four on the table.
And and a lot of the time it's like that, actually,
you know, you have to make the right career path.
But this particular role I wanted and sometimes the
the planets align and you get it.
So there's a fantastic ensemble in this, led by you
and Justin Theroux, who himself has done a lot of singing recently.
What's it what's it like going to work every day?
Because it seems that you've got this wonderful family dynamic
within the ensemble as a whole is just full of wonderful actors.
Yeah, I've seen so
I mean, the
memory that sticks out for me was I worked with Justin Theroux on Mulholland Drive,
of course, 20 years ago, and he has the iconic line
this is the Girl,
and I'm singing for Justin, the director, and I'm
the actress with the little blond hair and Camilla Rhodes and all of that.
And then we had a relationship since then, you know,
like I've known him and you know, I see him in New York sometimes and
and he still had my phone number, my New York number.
And when the casting was happening and I wasn't putting myself on tape
because I was too afraid, I hadn't worked in a long time either.
I was raising my sons and that was the best role ever.
So I, I was doing that.
And, and I got a message saying, please, you know, we've been waiting months.
Could you read Margot?
And I'd been preparing Margot for four months for casting.
So by the time I, I filmed the casting, it was one
take each three scenes came out like I'd
already done it in my life.
I was so sure I was exactly like her in many ways.
And then Justin was like, Oh my God.
So when I flew to L.A., I hadn't seen him in so long,
and I saw my children, Logan and Gabe,
amazing, sitting at the table, all the executives.
We had the Hollywood sign up on the hill.
I see Justin and I walked into the role and I see them all.
I was like, It was the most amazing feeling to hear the script read out.
Be working for the first time in many, many years.
I took it, like I said, a big break.
Seeing Justin, who was championing me to get the part and
and then meet my children, and that was the journey.
And sometimes it's just the chemistry of the group
that makes the show last and keep going and
you know, you can't cast that.
I mean, it's luck, I think, because I never read with Justin
or the kids or, you know, I don't
it's just perfect. You know?
I guess that's helpful as well, given some of the scenes
and some of the surroundings that you guys find yourself in in the show
that you all in kind of all take on the challenge together
because it's quite the episode three in the desert, though.
Oh, we saw some sides of each other.
We there was these great looks
where we'd been stuck out in the desert since 5 a.m.
to get the sunrise.
And then we were coming home, you know, just covered in sand and dust
and blood and whatever, and eating cactus fruit off a tree and sleeping in a bus.
And I was just like, Oh, my God, I think I'm going to make it.
And Justin said I'm not going to make the kids, I'm definitely not going to make it.
So we were like, okay, let's all have dinner tonight.
And it was an amazing feeling that we would all just take 5 minutes off.
Everyone would shower, I'll meet you back downstairs.
And we kept the journey going on
offscreen and on screen where we just sort of supported each other,
you know?
That doesn't usually happen.
Yeah, we were, we were second season.
Have you been able to kind of
together reflect on kind of the corporate success of the show?
Because sometimes when you're in the bubble of the show
or the filming and you move on, you don't necessarily
get to feel that, but you've gone into a season two.
Have you guys got a sense of, Yeah, Yeah, I think so.
When you get to season two, I think it's the only time I've gotten the season two,
as my mother reminded me on the phone,
as good mothers do, because I usually do.
Like when I did The Slap, it was like eight episodes and done.
And then what I did In
Treatment was 46 episodes and done and I knew there was an end.
And I've always chosen
things that had an end, but it was a great feeling because, you know,
when you when they renew it, it's because there's a need for more. And
yeah, it was a good day on
that, asking about like if we just did one Mulholland Drive
because at the end of the year last year so and so
and had Mulholland Drive in the top ten films
again you know it's always just keeps coming back
put it in that top ten as well.
Yep it's had this life you know and it just continues to get audiences.
I used to kind of I mean, it's a testament to David Lynch in his his way
because it was.
Yeah, well that's what he says. But,
but I found out that nobody saw the pilot and he just made it into a film.
And that was part of the whole.
Okay, brilliant.
Yeah, but it's like nobody's going to make the film.
I'll just say it's a TV show, and then I won't even show it.
And then I'll just keep making.
Because I was cast, I had a permanent contract, I had like a four year contract.
And when they made it into a film, I was I got married and I was on my honeymoon
in Bali, and I got an email from Hey, Melissa, your best friend David,
I know you just got married, but could you fly back?
Because I need to shoot a couple of scenes with you and to make it into the film.
And I left everyone in Bali and my honeymoon, everyone was there.
And then I fly back to see David.
And when I walked on, said
he, I said, So what do you need me to do?
Hi, David, because I can't believe you flew back.
And I said, Of course it's you, you know, and all the Canal+
people were at the dining table and all I had to do is come in and kiss
Laura Harring
and make out like
with Laura Haring at the table in front of just all that.
That's all I have to do because.
Yes, but it's so important, you see, like that's like David Lynch's calling.
I have to run. You know, I will be there.
And so I love the whole experience of being part of a cult hit.
And even now, like last year in Cannes, I was
I did a film, a French film with Catherine Deneuve, and I got to walk the steps and
and of course, everyone had I was there and they were doing the revamp of Mulholland
Drive, and I got to present it in French, you know, and do the whole.
So it's lovely that 20 years later you could be standing and you know that
in Cannes in presenting a film that you did when you were just a teenager.
Yeah, it's good. It's, it's a classic.
It's, it shows that when the script is well written, it will always be
it will have longevity forever.
Yeah.
It's one of those references
where so many people take so many different things
and think it's about so many different things.
Oh, you know, I don't know what it's about.
So I asked David one day, What's this about?
And he goes, What do you think it's about?
I'm like, And he said, Well, whatever you think, it's about what it's about.
And but then when you rewatch it, you start to see, you know,
the don't ask me to explain was about life, because I will.
I will.
And then straight after Mulholland Drive, I did The Limey with Steven Soderbergh,
which was also a classic.
So I kept doing these like what I didn't know at the time
would be these sort of, you know, and Dark City.
Dark City was my very first film ever,
and it was the first film shot at Fox Studios, and
I played a very risque kind of role.
I remember going to the premiere of it going, Oh, wow, I shot that.
Okay.
But it was great to work with them.
Alex Proyas and, and all those actors and it's fantastic.
Yeah. Jennifer Connelly Yeah.
Kiefer Sutherland, Kiefer Yeah.
William Hurt Yeah.
Richard O'Brien from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Yeah. Oh, man of the cast.
I remember walking in Sydney just to go and get a coffee
and I spoke with him and I was like, But I was only 18.
So, you know, it's, it's an amazing kind of it's, it's lovely to reflect on those,
those moments and but yet I feel like I haven't even worked, you know,
like I haven't done it yet.
Yeah.
I just want to ask you before we finish, I know you wouldn't necessarily in it, but
I think it's coming back now.
I think it's had a revival.
But was it neighbors finished home and away?
Yes. Yes, the neighbors.
Exactly. Yes.
Especially in this country.
It was like end of the world stuff.
Yeah, but now it's kind of ghost like.
What was your reaction to the fact that it was neighbors?
Well, I was never allowed to watch neighbors
because it was, I don't know, in my family.
And so then when the casting came for Home and Away, which I did,
my parents were like, Oh, great, that's our favorite show as a family.
We would watch it every night.
So when I went to do a casting and I wasn't an actress, I just kind of method
my way through it, real tears and st, I was like, it's super real.
I think the Home and Away producers were like, Oh my God,
this girl,
is she free? You know, I was only 16.
I was living in Perth. I was a skating champion.
I wasn't even doing acting at all.
So when I went to do Home and Away, my parents were super happy
that it wasn't neighbors because it was at that time.
I don't know why.
They just like home and away and and now home and away.
Still going.
Yeah, It's amazing those shows.
And I love the fact that it was a big success in
the United Kingdom because I got to come over here like twice a year.
I never did pantomimes or or singing or they tried,
trust me, they were like, wow, she's she can act, but she can't sing.
So it's just next, you know?
So I used to come here and do like clothing labels and I'm
like, sort of, you know, I do little fantastic things.
You know, I love coming to the UK.
And I think the success of those shows is because
obviously we have such an affiliation with the Commonwealth and all of that.
But also there's sunshine, You know,
the show's a shot at the beach and, and the British people get to watch it.
I think it was on twice a day here,
if I'm not mistaken, just in case you missed it.
Like it's incredible.
So many people that come out of those shows as well.
So many times.
I mean, it's Yeah.
And we're all really it's really nice.
We have this great convention guy
I'm ready to see with my peers in the kitchen,
the diner and we were washing dishes and it's like, you know, with the accent,
I don't really even remember how I used to speak on that show.
But he was he's he's he was great.
Such a good experience, you know,
all of a sudden transported into your favorite TV show.
My parents getting to watch their daughter that they miss
on their favorite TV show every night.
That was that was good.
It was really good. Yeah. And what have you.
What's what's next for you off the
what Don't do I think
just going to
live.
I live in France so I'm just going right to,
you know, find a new cheese and new wine and
I don't know, a new street to walk down.
And and I have learned how to kind of live a nice,
simple but
good life, you know.
So therefore, I'm not craving so much
the role because my life is got no nothing to look forward to.
And I've got beautiful children and I live in the south of France and,
you know, I go hunting for truffles and, you know,
as one does, I've got I've got cats now.
And all my friends said, Oh,
we knew one day you'd be a cat lady in the south of France.
What's that supposed to mean?
So you know what I mean. Like that.
That to me is just as exciting as taking something,
something immediately.
And that also allows, when I do work to give so much
because I'm not constantly desperate to be.
I say that, but I'm going to look to my manager and ask him and say,
Hey, you get some phone
calls today.
I made it. Well, thank you. Thank you.
Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thanks.