Mum on the run: Home And Away star heads to The Mosquito Coast.
Above: Justin Theroux and Melissa George
Australian actress Melissa George has returned to TV in the much-anticipated Apple+ series The Mosquito Coast, based on the book by Paul Theroux that inspired the 1986 Harrison Ford film of the same name. The series stars the author’s cousin, Justin Theroux, as Allie Fox, an inventor and idealist who uproots his wife Margo (George) and two teenagers for a dangerous quest through Mexico to flee the US government and find safety. For the former Home And Away star, it wasn’t difficult to imagine a woman driven to protect her children. Based in Paris, France since she had her two sons, ages five and six, with ex-partner Jean David Blanc, George describes herself – like her character – as “a survivor”. How would you describe Margo Fox?
Margo is a very bright woman – a poet, a writer and very well educated. She falls in love with Allie and is mother to two beautiful children who all go on his journey of idealism. Over the years, things don’t turn out the way she’d hoped and a few incidents happen that create problems for them as a couple. We’re not sure why they’re on the run but we’ll find out at the end of the first season.
Was it difficult to leave your own boys in Paris to play someone else’s mother in Mexico?
It wasn’t a big stretch to play this kind of fiercely protective mother, to be honest. I had the script next to my bed for four months and I didn’t want to accept it because I was too afraid to leave my children. After four months, my agent said, ‘You have to do this, now Justin’s asking for you’. Eventually, I did the casting on Zoom and my sons could hear me doing a scene and they asked me after, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said, ‘I’m building your future’.
Was it difficult filming The Mosquito Coast during Covid?
I already felt like I had a lot at stake as it was my first big role back after kids. When we went into lockdown for five months, I was grateful we took a break and I could be with my children and then go back to Margo and give so much more. There were so many similarities between Margo and myself – I left home at 16, had to fend for myself from a young age. I’ve been married to a Chilean, lived in Buenos Aires, Bali, New York, LA and then I had two kids with a Frenchman. I realised that being a mother is one aspect of who I am but I can’t forget being an actress and this was a role where I could incorporate being an actress who was playing a fugitive mother on the run, which is so much more fun.
Why did Justin Theroux (The Leftovers) ask you to play the role?
In Mulholland Drive (the 1996 David Lynch film), he played the director and I played the actress who was auditioning to get the part. One of the most iconic lines of the film was where he says, ‘This is the girl’ and I played the actress who got the part. They’d been casting for Margo for months when Justin called my agent and said, ‘I’m sorry but I need to see her and you need to tell her’. We had a special relationship on that film and it was always lovely to bump into each other over the years so it felt right when he said ‘This is the girl’ again.
Could you relate to the couple searching for a different life?
There are a lot of similarities for me because I’m a survivor; I’ve always fought on my feet. I’ve always lived in very remote places and I learn the language when I get there so I speak many languages too. For me to be in these dangerous locations with a bodyguard while filming in Mexico, fighting for my own life personally and wondering how I was going to get home – and having to play Margo at the same time – just felt like a perfect blend of our two lives together.
How are your French skills now?
My oldest son has started learning English and so what I’m loving to do is help him because I’m able to listen to all the pronunciation of the words. My five-year-old son is so fluent in French, he’s correcting me with my French. But I speak English with my children and they get quite upset if I speak French with them. They do speak better French than I do, but I read better French than they do so they’re impressed with that.