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AE: Why is that?
RM: It’s the best one I’ve done as far as subject matter, as far as the world I’m in, as far as the world that Ryan’s created with these people. And also it’s the most successful television show I’ve been on. So that feels very different too. To actually work on a show where people are watching.

AE: A lot of people.
RM: Yeah. I mean, I was on a boat going to Venice, Italy, and I didn’t even get off the boat yet and an English couple was asking me what was going on. It was surreal! And that’s never happened to me. You know, people don’t come up to me and ask about Profiler.

AE: Really? So you haven’t had people recognize you from other roles?
RM: They have. But this one--movies are really different from TV. You do a movie and then, yes, you get that same amount of attention. But with a TV show, it’s not usual. Not unless it’s a hit. Which this is my first one.

AE: And this show has a lot of promotion behind it.
RM: Absolutely. And now that there’s DVDs coming out, it makes sense for people to see that before the new season because they’re sequential. Character development and story line and referring to things. And that it’s so big in Europe, it just blows my mind. Like in London and Paris, it’s huge!

AE: You think part of that is Joely Richardson’s involvement?
RM: I think part of it is that, but I also think it’s their sensibility. I do think it’s what they like to watch. I think they’re different about their bodies, about sexuality and about words and language. So it kind of just lends itself to being really welcome there.

AE: How would you say it’s different in terms of bodies and language and things that might make it appeal more over there?
RM: I don’t think they’re so uptight about what gets shown on the air as far as the body parts. I just think it’s different. The British are more uptight but more liberal at the same time.

AE: Have you gotten a lot of attention from gay and lesbian press in the years that you’ve been doing this?
RM: I think I have. You know, I don’t keep up with the press. But I know that I’ve been invited just recently to the GLAAD Awards, so I was one of the hosts of the GLAAD Awards. So there have been things in the community that I’ve been invited to that, I think, ordinarily I would not have been. So, yeah. And I don’t think I ever would have been in the Advocate, and I think I’ve been in there a couple of times now.

AE: And in those interviews and stories that you’ve read, is there anything that keeps coming up or that people keep asking you?
RM: Oh, interesting… No, actually I don’t think so, because I think it was one interview, and then I was part of somebody else’s interview, so I myself didn’t speak. But I think maybe if there was anything that came up it was, Is Liz going to have a love interest? I think that would’ve been it.

AE. Right. The same thing I was asking you. I guess people are a little antsy to see that happen.
RM: Yeah. I, as the actor, am antsy to see that happen too.

AE: It takes your character in a whole different direction.
RM: Well, yes. And everybody else is doing it. Let’s have equal time here.

AE: What kinds of reactions have you gotten about playing a lesbian--either from family and friends or from fans?
RM: Well, my family is so cool, they don’t even--well, most of the time they don’t even know what I’m doing. But when they do, it’s like, Oh! Either they don’t know or they don’t care or whatever--I have no idea.

You know, it’s interesting, it’s only the people that I don’t know, and only on interviews where it really comes to be, that the question of her being a lesbian comes up. Other than that, I don’t really even think about it as an actor.

AE: You don’t have fans writing to you about it or approaching you about it or things like that?
RM: Well, when I went to the GLAAD Awards, I got to see an audience where I guess my character being a lesbian was--I don’t know what it was. I guess it was more acknowledged. So in that way I got a sense more so of the effect of Liz in television world. I was very excited and very complimented.

AE: That’s good.
RM: Yeah, because, I think most of the time you act you’re sort of in a vacuum. It feels that way to me. It’s like any job: You go to work, you go home, you go to work, you go home. Every once in a while you’re at an event and people will remind you of what you’ve done and you go, Oh, that’s right. I have done that and it had an effect. Other than that, I’m not really out in the world that much, as far as work or talking about work. It is very interesting, and I think the more Liz has to do and comes out with her personal life, the more the reaction will be interesting.

You know, I do get the real dumb questions, like on the radio talk show I did this morning. It was like: [in oafish voice] What does it feel like to be a lesbian? And to have a love scene? Well, I’d be nervous having a love scene period. And as an actress I really don’t discriminate. Now, if I was doing bestiality, I might be like, I’m not doin’ it with that. But other than that… It’s kind of silly in a way. I think it’s silly.

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