He’s a great actor, and he looks credible for a lot of action roles. He tried to make waves on the big screen after 12 years as Stabler in Law & Order , but that move didn’t see a lot of success
Do you think he stayed too long and got typecast as Stabler in Law & Order?
Maybe. It's a tough decision for people in that position. So many people outside that profession forget (or have never realised) how notoriously difficult acting can be as a reliable job. For every actor who achieves a modicum of success there are thousands and thousands who don't. And those who do I am sure remember only too well what the lean years were like, the number of times they nearly quit. I can fully understand any reluctance to leave a regular and (I am sure) very well paid job in the hope of something better (or even just different). On the one hand I think he probably did miss out on the opportunity to be bigger, but on the other hand there's no guarantee he would have succeeded as a movie star; he may even have ended up in the dreaded DTV market.
shareI think he should have stayed with SVU longer. The show prolly would have had a few more better years before falling over...
shareI haven't watched SVU for years, but when I did he was the best thing in it (other than when JK Simmons turned up as Skoda).
shareIIRC, after he left, a new cast/team filled in. That season was so good, but when the next season started (just after the presidential election) the show started to go downhill, IMO.
Simmons is always great, in everything he's in:)
He played the same character on Law & Order as he did on Oz - except that he was a heterosexual good guy on Law & Order and a homosexual bad guy on Oz. The guy doesn't have much range.
share'a heterosexual good guy on Law & Order and a homosexual bad guy on Oz. The guy doesn't have much range.'
What are you talking about? Sounds like the full range of the acting spectrum if you ask me! 😂
Yeah, but that's my point. They were opposite characters, but he played them the same. It's like the same guy reacting to polar environments.
shareYou forgot serial killer in Oz. He was sooooo good in Oz as Keller. Especially with Beecher. He was bisexual in Oz. Remember when he dazzled Rita Moreno. Women loved him. When he was Stabler, the best was when he had the affair with Connie Nielsen. Mariska was off for a few episodes. Thank god. Probably negotiating her contract. He was really fenced in with what they gave him and this other storyline really added something. Elle Fanning was in one of these episodes as an abused child - it was one of the scariest and most disturbing of all the episodes of SVU. He was also good as a hitman in Bound 1996. A great movie by the Wachowskis.
shareOh, don't get me wrong. I like Meloni. He always plays a riveting character. He's a dynamic actor.
I'm a big fan of Mariska Hargitay as well - daughter of Satan-worshiper Jayne Mansfield. Why thank god she was off? And why not thank Satan? 🤣
I stopped watching SVU years ago. I thought Mariska ended up dominating the series, and a break was needed from watching her. She monopolized the screen so that it minimized Stabler and his storyline ended up to be boring. Family man and then family man with a bipolar wife. Mariska was out on maternity leave (not negotiating contract) and they brought in Connie Nielsen. Nielsen character and Stabler had a thing. I liked this part so much better and hoped for more but it didn’t happen. I liked Nielsen more than Mariska too. I would not have liked seeing Olivia and Stabler together. BTW Mariska and her two brothers were in the backseat of that horrible deadly car accident with their mother. What her family went through, it’s amazing how they have managed their lives. The one brother owns a plant company and I met when they serviced the plants where I once worked. The other brother, who was mauled by the lion at the zoo, I also met once and the loss of his mother was traumatic. I don’t believe satan thing.
share'Nielsen character and Stabler had a thing. I liked this part so much better and hoped for more but it didn’t happen. I liked Nielsen more than Mariska too.'
I can't stand Mariska Hargity. I was so hoping that Nielsen would end up being a permanent replacement.
He didn't stay long enough. Mariska Hargitay is making about 5 times what he does now. And with Organized Crime getting shunted off NBC and over to Peacock I don't see his prospects for a significant raise improving.
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