Interview with Ellen Pompeo, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers - Grey's Anatomy
2006-07-12 11:40:30
by Oscar Hayes
Meet Meredith Grey. She's a woman trying to lead a real life while doing a job that makes having a real life impossible. Meredith is a first-year surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital, the toughest surgical residency program west of Harvard. She and fellow first-year interns Cristina Yang, Izzie Stevens, George O'Malley and Alex Karev were students yesterday; today they're doctors and, in a world where on the job training can be a matter of life and death, they're all juggling the ups and downs of their own personal lives.
This time last year your show wasn't even on the air when we came in here to talk to you. And you've both been on the cover of magazines since then. How does that feel?
ELLEN POMPEO: I'm kind of upset that he's much better looking than I am.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: Yeah, right.
ELLEN POMPEO: But, you know. And this one. Look at her.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Oh, yeah, I'm hot right now.
ELLEN POMPEO: We're happy. We're having agreat time, you know. We're very, very blessed. And I think we all appreciate, you know, how -- how successful the show has been. And I think recently we've seen so many shows debut and get pulled off the air so quickly. It -- unfortunately at the expense of those people we truly appreciate how -- how much success we've had, because it is lightening in a bottle and it doesn't happen. It's very rare. They pull shows off the air after two episodes if they don't do huge numbers. So we're really lucky and I think we all know that.
Patrick was talking about the relationship issue and how he didn't even know his character was married until he read it in the script. Is that when you found out too? And how has that impacted your character in the show.
ELLEN POMPEO: Well, it's great because had you known then it wouldn't be -- I wouldn't probably be able to play it as well. You know, me being as surprised, you know, finding out at the last minute helped bring the element of surprise to the performance. So I like not knowing because you don't know what's going to happen in real life, so I don't really want to know too far in advance.
KATHERINE HEIGL: I want to know. I alwayswant to know.
So what do you think of their relationship right now? I mean, where -- as it's airing in America there -- you know, they've had that moment where she's crying in the closet and you think they're going to kiss but he goes home to his wife. I mean, what do you think about this whole push, pull.
ELLEN POMPEO: I think that they'll keep it going as long as they can. You know, I think to --to -- to bring us back together is sort of then what do they do. So I think -- I'm not a writer, but I think maybe the goal is to keep us apart -- this far apart for as long as they possibly can.
She's going through quite a lot as well with her mother -- isn't she? -- in that there's lots of complicated issues being thrown in ... so sort of quite distant relationship between them. The mother is almost sort of pushing your character away. I mean, what's that like to play? Is it -- you know, quite sort of interesting in terms of, you know, just kind of doing that whole very complicated mother and daughter thing.
ELLEN POMPEO: You know, Kate Burton is so fantastic.
She plays my mother. She's the daughter of Richard Burton actually. So she is really the real thing. I mean, she is a theater actress from New York City. And she's just so engaging and so fantastic that she draws me right in. You know, it's really, really easy to play those complex scenes with her. And it's quite interesting for me because my mother died when I was four. So I don't -- I never had a relationship with my mother. So it's all a very interesting take on it. Not at all what I would have imagined. You know, you don't imagine -- I could never imagine having a difficult relationship with my mother because, you know, that wouldn't be idealistic enough, you know. So I love it. I think it's a great sort of -- it would be boring any other way, you know, to just have a normal -- you know, conflict is interesting.
Did it bring up any emotions in you, then, having not had a mother for so -- you know, most of your life to be doing that sort of scenes? I mean, did it kind of, you know -- is it quite emotionally hard for that reason.
ELLEN POMPEO: Not -- it's just -- it just makes you think a lot, you know. And I think it just brings an element of thought to the performance that may not ordinarily be there. You know, I can think a lot more about the -- the complexity of the scenes that -- you know, those scenes I don't just sort of maybe breeze through like I would in a relationship scene with Derek. You know, he and I are just sort of blah, blah, blah, yup, love you too. Bye. You know, we don't have to think about it too much 'cause it's like second nature. Where my scenes with Kate Burton I really sort of think about the complexities of a mother/daughter relationship and it's a more interesting storyline for me. More thought-provoking.
How different are you from her.
KATHERINE HEIGL: I'm not as -- I don't think I'm as tolerant as she is.
ELLEN POMPEO: I think the great thing about Izzie's char -- about Izzie is that she's compassionate, which you don't see in a lot of doctors. I think in real life we all wish more doctors were compassionate. And I think that's a really likeable quality and I think Kate does a great job of that kind of -- bringing that to life.
A hospital can be a horrible place for a woman. In Brazil it's very hard for a woman to be like a surgeon.
ELLEN POMPEO: Oh, is it.
And how it's here -- how do you see this and how do you play it in the show? How do you put it in your characters? Because it's very hard to be awoman in a place that men are always in command.
ELLEN POMPEO: Do you want to answer that.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah, I don't know. I haven't been in very many hospitals. I know that I've never met a female surgeon. I know that I've only ever met male surgeons.
ELLEN POMPEO: Yeah, nor have I. You know, I guess, you know -- yeah, I don't know about the hospital thing, but I think, you know, in life, you know, women we have to work maybe a little harder to prove ourselves. And if we -- you know, I guess you could sort of -- there's a parallel in Hollywood, you know. If -- if I were to do something -- if you and I were to do the same thing, you know, yell at someone or -- you know, you'd be a strong businessman and I'd be a bitch.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Right.
ELLEN POMPEO: You know. That's still in the United States with Oprah and, you know, with Martha Stewart and all the wonderful examples that we have of leaders, there's still very much a double standard.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah.
ELLEN POMPEO: You know -- I don't know. I mean, in the United States we embrace men I think before we would embrace a woman. Or embrace a man for his mindor his power.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah.
ELLEN POMPEO: And a woman you just embrace for her -- whether she's pretty or not and whether she's in -- you know, Martha Stewart must be a bitch and she has to go jail for what she did, but the guys who were involved in Enron...
KATHERINE HEIGL: Yeah.
ELLEN POMPEO: ...didn't suffer any consequences. So I think that it's just everywhere. There's still some sexism, unfortunately. And that's okay.
KATHERINE HEIGL: We will rise again.
Do you think you guys all have what it would take to be doctors.
ELLEN POMPEO: No.
KATHERINE HEIGL: No.
ELLEN POMPEO: No way.
How do you think the fact that women in TV are doing much better than, you know, movies now.
ELLEN POMPEO: Oh, I didn't know that. Are we?
Yeah.
KATHERINE HEIGL: What do you mean.
This year is considered a bad year for women in movies.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Why.
I don't know. Because...
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: The gay cowboys.
The gay ... it's almosthard to find like five nominees for...
ELLEN POMPEO: Yes. Well, I know that I don't see any scripts that I like. Yeah. That I know. And that's part of the reason why I took this show. Was because I was tired of playing, you know, the girlfriend parts.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Right.
ELLEN POMPEO: I was really kind of fortunate and worked with some great people, but really small roles, you know. And the one big role that I did I was just the chick, you know. So it's like you can either do really, really tiny interesting roles or you can be the lead but you're not going to have much to do.
KATHERINE HEIGL: Right.
ELLEN POMPEO: So that's what was attractive about this show for me.
(You have) five children in the States. What made you go for that?
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: What made me go five kids? I don't know. I was a little young and just sort of went with it.
ELLEN POMPEO: His wife is gorgeous.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: My wife is gorgeous.
When you're in a show like this and you have the chances to be many years on and the same time to do other work in the side, how much are you willing to be in this show as an actor.
ELLEN POMPEO: I'm sorry. I don't understand.
How many years would be willing to be in the show.
ELLEN POMPEO: Oh, well, contractually we're obligated to 6 years. Before you -- before you even start filming the show they make you sign a contract. So it's pretty difficult to get out, especially when it's a success like it is. They're much less willing to -- you know, it's a money-generating vehicle so, you know, we -- we can't go anywhere.
KATHERINE HEIGL: We'll be here for a while.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: There's no other TV we'd want to do.
ELLEN POMPEO: No.
JUSTIN CHAMBERS: And then I have two small projects I did over the last 3 years that will probably never see the light of day that were really good. You know, good cast, interesting roles. So to work on something that so many people see -- the writing is good. A lot better than a lot of scripts, you know, wereas. Why would we want -- you know, we want to ride this as long as people watch it and, you know -- I'd sort of like -- you know, through this job not be at the mercy of films and just sort -- or any work. Just kind of like -- not the end the road, but like this is sort of a good setup for us all to have freedom after the show's success.
