Split personality
The Sioux City Journal, February 16, 2001
No question about it: Christopher Meloni is the scariest man on television. As the predatory Chris Keller on HBO's "Oz," he could keep thousands out of prisons if he ever agreed to serve as their poster boy.

Accused of murder, Keller has made alliances with just about everyone in the experimental prison, but he's loyal to no one. Think: "Survivor" without the food issues and you get the picture. Most recently, he took the fall for a murder he didn't commit, then admitted he never had been convicted of the ones he had done. As he left the prison, bidding his roommate - and sometime partner - goodbye, he hinted that he might be back. Never mind that the death penalty could be looming.

So, is Keller history? Meloni laughs. "I'm not at liberty to say," he says by phone from the set of "Law & Order SVU," his "other" television job.

The lure of "Oz," however, is so great he and other cast members willingly do it on their hiatuses at a fraction of their network salaries. "It's the writing," he says. "You get very few opportunities to say the words that (creator) Tom Fontana gives you. I don't think there are too many writers who give you as much emotional range or as complex and deep characters."

Plus, Meloni says, Fontana has created a world that's populated by characters who aren't seen on television. Because Keller is, as Meloni says, "omni-sexual," there's a question of orientation and a fear of backlash. He's a creepy guy who attracts as often as he repels.

Before the second season, Fontana and Meloni met and tossed out story ideas. They liked the idea that Keller might be attracted to a counselor who just happens to be a nun. They also thought it would be fun to give him a wife who was overweight and unattractive. The stories spilled out in due time, giving Meloni plenty of drama.

"I'm not smart enough to analyze him," the 39-year-old actor says. "But once you get familiar with where to place him in yourself, you hang on to him. I'm still not sure who he is."

The part, he adds, came through the usual channels. Meloni was offered the opportunity and "I took it sight unseen. I was flying blind but I respect and love Tom Fontana so much I knew it was going to be good."

Indeed, the eight-episode seasons of "Oz" have garnered some of cable television's best reviews. The drama works, Meloni says, because there are no boundaries. A character who could be prominently featured in a handful of episodes might wind up dead in the first five minutes of the next one. Language is raw - as it is in a real prison - and nudity is fairly matter-of-fact.

Although other actors might have problems with baring everything, Meloni has taken a much more practical approach. "I like doing whatever's asked, as long as I can justify and understand it. I take it as a challenge. It's important to be afraid of something. People should have a visceral reaction."

Nevertheless, any time Meloni or the others enter a shower room or "the hole," a solitary confinement cell, there's a good bet that they're going to bare more than their souls. Hit the pause button during one of those scenes, Meloni says with a laugh, "and you might see the first tattoo I got. It's a butterfly."

Another, on his arm, actually symbolizes "a commitment to your beliefs." It's a Crucifix combined with tribal elements and it adds yet another dimension to the character he plays in "Oz." In truth, he says, it took him two years to conceive. "I wanted the correct elements."

Now, it's as much a part of his work as his piercing eyes.

When Producer Dick Wolf went looking for detectives for another "Law & Order" series, he hit on Meloni. With "SVU," the versatile actor gets to show his good side. "When you're the hero," he says, "you're a little more limited. But villains can come in any shape, size or demeanor."

The combination of "Law & Order" and "Oz" gives him a healthy dose of television reality. "It's the difference between a mom and pop shop and a big corporation. With a mom and pop store, which is 'Oz,' you have more freedom. You're more relaxed. You don't have as many resources available to you. But you can be more creative. With 'Law and Order' there are much different constraints. You've got network standards and practices and you can't express yourself with curse words."

As strong as his one-two television punch is today, the Washington, D.C. native says it took him five years to live down his role in the short-lived comedy, "The Fanelli Boys." "People kept seeing me as the dumb Italian," he explains. "It ain't easy" to break out of a mold, but "if you do your work, people will ultimately see what you're capable of. Too often, people find it easier to make assumptions and stick with what they believe. They put you in a place and it makes their job easier. The good people constantly search for something different."

When "The Fanelli Boys" was canceled, "it was like a divorce. I was swimming through this miasma of funk and crushing disappointment." The cure: "Get back on the horse and try again."

His next big job, as one of Julia Roberts' fiances in "Runaway Bride," showcased another side of Meloni but "I didn't get a lot of tangible results from it. People did not knock down my door saying, 'We need to have him in our next film.' I wasn't shocked or devastated. I realized it was just another lesson."

Now, with the pair of television shows, Meloni has enough diversity on display to convince directors he's capable of any emotion.

Fans don't challenge him to fights (they know better) and prisoners don't criticize his performance.

When they write, he says with a laugh, "All they say is, 'I'm innocent.' "

© Sioux City Journal