I’m not sure what the appropriate reference point is for Melissa George — many people know her from Alias, some know her from Grey’s Anatomy, and about four people know her from HBO’s In Treatment — but I know her best as the woman from the Amityville Horror remake that I kept confusing with Oliva D’Abo from The Wonder Years. Anyway, she’s in a new spy show on Cinemax, Hunted, which I positively reviewed after the pilot, and five episodes in, I’m still hooked, although the drama can drag, like an hour long show that would better suit a network’s 42-minute runtime.
Anyway, she was on a talk show over in her home country, Australia, and after she was referred to as the star of Home and Away, a role she’s most associated with in Australia, George got very testy.
Melissa George has blasted Australian media for referring to the teenage role she had on the soapie 20 years ago, saying it has caused her so much stress she is unlikely to return here. “Nobody does more promotion for that f—ing show than me.”
“I love this city so much,” she said of Sydney. “And I want to come home a lot but the stress that this has created in me is not worthy of my health. I think it will be the last time [I visit and work here] for a while, to be honest, because I just get too upset coming home.”
She continued, petulantly adding that she doesn’t need the attention for those damn Aussies, because she’s an INTERNATIONAL star, dammit.
“I don’t need credibility from my country any more, I just need them all to be quiet. If they have nothing intelligent to say, please don’t speak to me any more. I’d rather be having a croissant and a little espresso in Paris or walking my French bulldog in New York City … I’ve got to be honest. I’m not going to be a good Aussie any more. I’m going to speak out. I’ve just had it … It’s disgusting … I’ve never spoken out about it because I have to be the loyal good Aussie, who goes away and comes home. But I’m a really hard-working woman and people have to respect me for what I’ve done.”
Look, I don’t know much about Home and Away, but it’s where a lot of Australian actors like Heath Ledger, Isla Fisher, Guy Pearce, Naomi Watts, and Chris Hemsworth got their start, and they’re all a lot more famous than Melissa George, yet I’ve never heard them complain about the fact an entire goddamn country has fond memories of them from a show filmed in the own country.
I’m guessing that maybe George is the Aussie equivalent of Dawson’s Creek’s Pacey, but you don’t see Pacey running around throwing hissy fits because nobody pays attention to his serious work. No. Pacey throws a Pacey con. And Neil Patrick Harris played up his Doogie Howswer past in Harold and Kumar and James Van Der Beek plays himself on a new sitcom making fun of his Dawson’s past and most of the cast of Saved by the Bell is proud of that association. Why? Because they understand that fame is fleeting, and they’ll take the attention any way they can get it, and they don’t take themselves so goddamn seriously that a reference to a beloved role from the past doesn’t cause a public meltdown.
What I’m saying is: Lighten up, lady. Get some perspective. You think Olivia D’Abo complains when people refer to her role in Wonder Years. Hell no. She smiles and says, “Thank you for not confusing me with that b*tch from Grey’s Anatomy.
(Source: The Age)
