Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio says she jumped at the chance to guest star on Law & Order: Organized Crime 15 years after starring as New York Police captain Zoe Callas on its sister show, Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
“The different character was great,” Mastrantonio, 66, told UPI about returning to the L&O universe in a recent Zoom interview.
“It all works so well there. Everybody knows their job,” she said. “All you do as an actor is basically get to the door when your car comes to collect you for the airport and they take care of everything else. So, it was not difficult.”
Season 5 of Organized Crime airs Thursday nights on NBC.
It casts the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Scarface and Color of Money alum as Isabella Spezzano, a woman with ties to a powerful Italian crime family.
“She’s had no choice in her life. She’s born in this family. She’s had an arranged marriage for all intents and purposes. She’s probably not had much of an education. Why? It’s not necessary,” the actress said.
“You’ll have everything you need and you’re really supposed to just get married and produce the next generation. I don’t think the people around her were much attracted to the world of ideas or creativity or the arts or anything.”
Still, Isabella knows that if she doesn’t make a move soon, she will be stuck in this situation forever, Mastrantonio said.
“She’s got sense enough to know that the one big decision she’s finally got to make and act on her own — apart from icing her husband, shanking him, however she did it — is to get her children out,” the actress added.
“So, she finally has to make the move that she does, which is when the authorities contact her, say, ‘I’m going to do this because, otherwise, nothing will change.'”
When viewers first meet Isabella, she is in prison for murdering her husband and bargains for her freedom with investigators, including NYPD Detective Eliot Stabler (Chris Meloni).
The story flashes forward to the present and she is settled into a new American life with her grandchildren when she crosses paths again with Stabler.
“She’s very comfortable. She’s amazingly accomplished,” the actress said, joking that Isabella is not good at keeping a low profile and loves to attend fancy events like the Kentucky Derby.
“Clearly, she’s got some business savvy. She’s learned a lot. She’s able to admit when she’s made a mistake. Someone could correct her and help her out and make the business stronger or more successful, but she’s quite a high roller,” Mastrantonio added. “I was a little bit surprised, but one just goes along with that.”
She and Stabler usually appear to be on the same side.
“Nobody around her was ever a partner like Stabler,” the actress said. “That’s what she finally has to realize — she has to trust him.”