Christopher Meloni gets a lot of attention for Law & Order: Organized Crime on NBC. Yet he thinks another film he did deserved an Oscar nomination.
In a 2019 interview with Decider, Meloni said, “Yeah, I’d say Diary of a Teenage Girl. I actually thought that should’ve been nominated for an Oscar. But what do I know?”
Diary of a Teenage Girl is a 2015 movie that Meloni played a character named Pascal. The movie, according to IMDb, is about “a teen artist living in 1970s San Francisco [who] enters into an affair with her mother’s boyfriend.”
Meloni, who plays Elliot Stabler on the NBC crime drama, did the movie during his time after he left Law & Order: SVU.
But he returned to the Stabler role for Law & Order: Organized Crime. Meloni will be entering the second season of that show, created by Dick Wolf, on Thursday nights. He will get a sweet lead-in from Law & Order: SVU as it starts its 23rd season at 9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central this fall. Meloni’s show will air at 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central on NBC.
‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ Star Revealed What He Told NBC Upon Leaving Other Show
A lot of people who spent a lot of hours in front of their TVs watching Meloni play Stabler were stunned when he left the show.
But there, obviously, was a story around his departure. Meloni talked about what happened in a recent interview with Men’s Health.
The big issue came down to money. That’s not surprising as many Outsiders could probably relate to it being a sticking point.
“‘Well, if it’s this [amount of money], then this is the way to go around so you don’t have to pay [the money he was asking for],'” Meloni said he told NBC. He didn’t leave right away, though.
Meloni Offered Another Option To Network, But Eventually Left
“My thought was: Instead of 22 episodes, bring me back for nine episodes, or bring me back for 18 episodes,” he told Men’s Health. “They literally came to me on a Thursday night and said, ‘This is the deal. We want the answer by tomorrow. It’s our way or no way.'”
OK, so Meloni had to make a decision. He said that he told the network, “‘I don’t want to f–k around with you guys. This is what I want. If you can’t do it, that’s fine. Let’s figure out my exit.'”
They did. Meloni left Law & Order: SVU and went about his career and life. But he ended up, after a few years, striking a new deal with NBC to come back and play Stabler on Law & Order: Organized Crime.
So, longtime Stabler fans are now happy and new fans get to catch up with one of TV’s most popular characters.
