The Courier-Mail interview

Doctors play up
Helen Barlow

July 25, 2006

FOR the army of fans glued to their television screens for their weekly dose of Grey's Anatomy, the question begs: will Dr McDreamy and the series' ever-gloomy namesake, intern Meredith Grey, ever get back together?

Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith in what is essentially a high-grade romantic drama set in a hospital, maintains she is the last to know.

"Even if I did know I couldn't tell you," she says.

Given that the third season began shooting this month, Pompeo is well ahead of audiences, who are eager to see more sparks fly between the brooding pair who are clearly miserable as they are so in love and, of course, meant to be together. Yet one has the feeling – as with Jack and Kate on Lost – that this might not happen for some time. This only makes us relish those stolen moments, those sidewards glances and their collaborations over ailing bodies, even more. The chemistry is palpable, and that was always the idea, says Pompeo, who was the first to be cast in the series, co-starring Patrick Dempsey as Dr Derek Shepherd.

"I auditioned with many male actors and Patrick was the one with whom I had the most chemistry," Pompeo says in her characteristically staccato yet measured tone.

"He was my first choice but the network had the ultimate decision. I'm very lucky to have him as my co-star as we get on well. He makes it very easy."

Before the series, Dempsey, 40, had acted extensively, first appearing in movies and more recently in recurring roles on The Practice, Will & Grace and Once and Again. Pompeo, surprisingly young-looking at 36, was little-known, even though she had appeared in high-profile movies. She co-starred with Jake Gyllenhaal in Moonlight Mile, was drowned out by the raucousness of Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell in Old School and went unnoticed in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can.

Perhaps her tiny frame and faltering way of talking hinted at too much fragility for the big screen, yet one has the impression that she will head back there sometime soon. (Dempsey, who shot a Disney movie, Enchanted, recently, already has.) For one thing, Pompeo makes it clear that television series are gruelling.

"Making films is very luxurious," she says. "You work at a very nice pace for a few months, and then either take a rest or go on to the next film. On a television show you work 10 months straight, six days a week, with two breaks as well as Christmas.

"But actors have to take the good parts where we can get them. Very often women in films are just the girlfriends and they don't have much involvement in the story. Grey's Anatomy represented a chance for me to play a part where I knew I would always have something to do, some opinions to put forth, something to say. The most humbling thing about the whole experience is how well received it has been around the world. I could never have imagined."

Nevertheless, the resulting fame does not sit so comfortably with the Boston native, who mostly stays away from the spotlight and is quick to dispel some of the things written about her. Her nickname, for example, is not The Pencil. "A man I knew when I was a cocktail waitress used to call me that and he went and put it on the internet. When I was 17 I was very thin and I still am," she says.

One thing's for sure though – medicine is not her thing.

"I started acting when I was 24, which is quite late. I travelled around Europe, I was living in Miami Beach, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be an actor but I knew it would be difficult. I thought if I travelled around enough that I would find something more practical and easier to achieve, but nothing came to me. I was bartending and an agent approached me, so clearly this is what I'm meant to do," she says.

The youngest of six children, Pompeo's mother died when she was four. One of the things that helped her cope was going to the theatre. "I had an aunt and uncle who lived in New York City. I'd stay with them on the weekends and in the summer when I was growing up and they'd take me to all sorts of theatre – The King and I, Cats," she says.

"I thought it was really fantastic, the music and the lights, and the more I watched the more interested I became. I'd like to work in the theatre and if the offer were interesting I'd consider it."

For now Pompeo is happy working with a stethoscope around her neck on Grey's Anatomy. "You know, I don't think much about the future. I'll take tomorrow when it comes."

However, she hardly has the time to contemplate as she has the busiest workload of all the cast. Her voiceover is the heart of the series.

"When I'm not filming a scene I go and do the voiceover. I fit it in whenever I can – an hour here and an hour there – even at lunchtime. Yes, usually I'm chewing a sandwich all the way through it," she says.

Life, she says, is basically always about work, even in the northern summer season break when she hits the publicity trail. "This is my vacation right now. I don't get much rest but that's OK. At least I get to see the world," she says.

"I have a steady boyfriend and he travels with me. You know, travelling is our favourite thing to do, so this is very much like a vacation."

Grey's Anatomy, Seven, Mondays 9.30pm

Source: The Courier-Mail