Melissa George Talks Second Season of ‘The Mosquito Coast,’ Going ‘Method’ With Ryan Reynolds (EXCLUSIVE)

Marta Balaga
·4 min read
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Melissa George’s Margot is looking for a way out in the “twisty” second season of “The Mosquito Coast.”

“This couple has been together for 15 years. They’ve got these two kids [played by Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman]. But they separated when the children were young, for a very good reason. There was an incident, which we will reveal in the first episode,” she tells Variety at Mipcom.

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“It’s going to hit the ground running. We are going to say exactly what happened and why this family is on the run.”

A Fremantle production for Apple TV+ – based on Paul Theroux’s novel and created by Neil Cross – it follows Allie Fox (Justin Theroux), who uproots his family to find refuge from the U.S. government, cartels and hitmen. Now, they will venture into the Guatemalan jungle to meet an old friend and her community of refugees.

“What I loved was that we had five, six-page-long dialogue scenes. You are taking a character-driven piece and putting it in this amazing location,” she adds.

“When this secret is revealed to the children, there is a lot of shame involved, a lot of blame. A lot of ‘if I didn’t do what I did, would we still be together?’ You realize that this whole season is about two people forced to stay together, against their will.”

But Margot takes it upon herself to find a path that she believes is safer for her children.

“This is where the war starts between the parents. It’s quite brilliant to watch, because the kids are behaving like adults and the adults like kids.”

The first of 10 hour-long episodes will debut globally on Nov. 4 on Apple TV+.

The Australian-American actor famously took her time before committing to the role, admitting the thought of not getting it was “too much to bear.”

“My agent called me: ‘I hear you had this script for four months. What’s this game? You have half an hour to do it.’ That was my moment to show my version of Margot. To show me, because I am a survivor as well,” she says.

In 2016, she publicly accused her former partner of physical assault.

“I was at a place where I was very weak. I wasn’t feeling great. But by not feeling great, I was mirroring what was happening in my real life on camera. Now, I don’t feel nearly as insecure. I know why I got [this part] and why I was so afraid. Margot, she is mine now.”

She was scared to “jump back in,” she says.

“I had no self-confidence at that point. I took such a long break. But the demand was there because I wasn’t everywhere all the time. People get sick of your face, you know?”

“On that season, the more stressful the situations were, the calmer I would become. That’s how you realize you have grown.”

George appeared in “Mulholland Drive” (“David Lynch got me my first Visa. I became an American thanks to him,” she says), “Alias” and horrors “30 Days of Night” and “The Amityville Horror.”

“I was ashamed, in a weird way, that a horror ‘theme’ can take away from the performance. My goal, especially with ‘Amityville,’ was for the viewers to go: ‘It was a well-acted piece.’ With Ryan Reynolds, we went Method. I burst all the vessels in my face just by screaming so much. Your body doesn’t realize it’s just a movie,” she laughs.

“I kept making excuses for being in these films. Not anymore.”

She can endure a lot on set, she admits.

“Give me a good night’s sleep and a martini and I forget the role.”

But while she has enjoyed some of her roles over the years, from “The Slap” – she appeared in the original Australian version and its American remake – to “In Treatment,” and would “love” continue on playing Margot, there is something she is still waiting for:

“I would like to be recognized for my work.”

“Sometimes you just don’t get recognition for certain parts, but you get it from the people who matter the most. It would be nice to continue on this trajectory, though. Play good, strong characters and not settle for second best,” she says. Also recalling her start.

“I was the lead of eight pilots and they kept falling through. Once, [producer] Brian Grazer yelled out in the casting room: ‘I want to meet the highest paid actress who has never worked a day in her life!”

“That’s why I am still here. I don’t think I have ‘made it’ just yet. I haven’t even started.”

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