As ABC’s “Scandal” grows more and more lurid — walking a tightrope between soap opera and horror movie — the only character who seems grounded in reality is First Lady Mellie Grant, played by Bellamy Young.
While “Scandal” ups its gross-out factor with plot twists inspired by “The Walking Dead,” “Dexter” and “Marathon Man,” Mellie is the show’s only character who rings true. In an interview with The Post, Young shared some secrets of what is sure to be the show’s jaw-dropping winter finale Thursday night. (“Scandal” returns with new episodes at the end of February 2014).
“Two men who love Olivia very much are going to go head-to-head and say some crazy things to each other,” says Young. “They try to gain the upper hand on each other.
“Memorable words will be exchanged.”
Young takes a deep breath. “Keep your eye on Jake (Scott Foley),” she adds.
Now that President Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant’s (Tony Goldwyn) affair with Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) is old news, “Scandal” has been exploring Pope’s twisted family background — Dad (Joe Morton) kept Mom (Khandi Alexander) in a maximum-security prison for 22 years — and desolate private life. She has no friends, no confidantes, no interests.
“I think with Olivia, Shonda [series creator Rhimes] is definitely speaking for people who are great at their jobs and not so good at life,” Young says. “When you see all the tiny choices in the road that led to this moment — Olivia’s so beautiful in so many ways, crippled in others.”
Mellie, by contrast, has raised a family with Fitz while succeeding at being a political wife, often knowing more about what’s best for her husband than he does. Which is why Young doesn’t think Fitz’s erotic fascination with Olivia will last.
“Mellie doesn’t take Olivia seriously,” Young says. “She’s hoping she and Fitz are just having a moment. Fitz and Mellie’s relationship is long. They were colleagues in grad school. When the nuclear winter that’s post-Olivia settles, I hope Fitz remembers who was there for him.”
Young gave The Post rare insight into the top-secret world of “Scandal.” The cast, for example, has almost no time to digest the tantalizing plot twists, since they’re only given scripts a day before rehearsal starts for the next episode.
“Josh Malina [who plays David Rosen] turns to the last page of the script first at the table read to see if his character is still speaking,” she says. “The way they burn through story, you never know.”
“We read everything cold together. Each of us has sat down to a script that requires great vulnerability,” she says. “We learn the history of the show together. It’s so much better than reading it alone in your trailer.”
For example, she learned about Mellie’s horrific back story (for those living under a rock, the character was raped by her father-in-law) with the rest of the cast. “There’s hollering and crying and chair-throwing. The stakes are high on the page and high in the room,” she says. “It’s electric.”
So how does Mellie fare in the winter finale? “Mellie likes to imagine herself a fixer in her own right so she’s rolling up her sleeves and getting down to business,” Young says, adding with a laugh that what most people don’t know about Washington is that,“She’s tiny but loud.” And Goldwyn? Young’s voice softens. “He is formidable but he is gentle. When we have to do those pulling-off-the-clothes scenes, he takes such good care of me.”