The Law & Order franchise is notorious for giving up-and-coming actors early TV gigs, many times even their first credited roles on screen. Stars like Sarah Paulson and Bradley Cooper had guest roles on the series before each of their respective breaks, and I always find it a hoot to go back and see big names like that before they were famous. It’s a rite of passage so recognized that even SNL has poked fun at the phenomenon. Apparently, though, once some level of stardom has been achieved, instead of nabbing a cameo that shows off their acting chops, the only part celebrities want to play is that of a dead body. So says Law & Order: SVU star and executive producer Mariska Hargitay, which she described on Late Night With Seth Meyers recently to promote the season 26 premiere. Sure enough, Seth responded with his own story of asking to play a cadaver. Always believe Captain Benson.
There’s one role all the biggest stars want to portray on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, according to star and executive producer Mariska Hargitay.
The actress made an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers ahead of the SVU season 26 premiere on Thursday. While speaking with the host, she revealed that A-listers who want to guest star on the long-running show all want to play dead.
“All the famous people, you know what they want? To be a dead body,” she told Seth Meyers. “It’s so weird.”
Hargitary recalled she recently spoke to a “big supermodel,” whom she wouldn’t name but noted she was “one of the greats,” who wanted to only portray a dead person, despite the SVU writers having a more elaborate role for her.
“I found out that she loved my show. So I said, ‘Oh my gosh,’ I went to the writers, I said, ‘Can she be on the show?’ And she said she wanted to be a dead body, but then I said, ‘No, no, we have this great part for you,’” the ER actress said. “I call her back, I said, ‘Listen we got it. We’re gonna get you on the show.’ She goes, ‘Oh no, I wanna be a dead body.’”
Admittedly, the late night host was also one of those people who only wanted to play dead.
“I wanted to be a dead body. During the 2007-2008 writers strike, I met all these Law & Order writers, and I was like, ‘I wanna do a cameo, but I just wanna be a dead body,’” Meyers recalled. “And they were like, ‘Oh my God, we’d love to have you on the show.’ But I was like, ‘OK, but I’m a dead person.’”
Despite eventually being offered a role, he turned it down because he “was like, ‘I don’t want lines, I just wanna be a dead person in the park.’”
I’m of two minds here. On the one hand, there is something hilarious about the fact that once actors (or other celebrities) have an established footing in the industry, all they seem to want to do on the show is play a dead body. It comes off rather lazy, right? And what kind of fee are they negotiating for the honor of a no-lines, no-life role? Reduced, I hope! On the other hand, and speaking of fees, playing dead is somewhat akin to sleeping, and I think it would actually be kind of brilliant to get paid to sleep. But I say that as a non-celebrity making non-celebrity wages! And as someone who’s really, really good at sleeping. If someone paid me to sleep, they’d get a top-notch professional performance, is alls I’m sayin’. But if these big-timers really want to stick to the dead body roles, I say sure — more opportunity for the next generation of talent! Plus I love the juxtaposition of new Juilliard grads acting their patooties off while Gisele Bundchen (correct me if I got the wrong supermodel, Mariska!) lies prone on the floor. End scene.
Photos credit: Elder Ordonez/INSTARimages and via Instagram