Behind the Big Kiss with Kevin Mckidd
Dec. 18th, 2009 11:03 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Sandra Oh doesn't do Grey's Anatomy interviews, but her co-star Kevin McKidd does. Here is a brand new interview from Fancast with Kevin McKidd where he talks about the latest episode of Grey's and what is coming up for Yang and Hunt:
Fans of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’s‘ Owen/Cristina romance surely have watched, re-watched and re-re-watched the couple’s big kiss from the last episode, “Holidaze.” As such, you may think you know everything there is to know about that scorching smooch.
Think again.
I spoke with Kevin McKidd just before he jetted home to Scotland for the holidays, and he shed light on how the pivotal scene was meant to play out as well as shared insight into why Owen kissed Cristina so ardently.
First, the how. The way the episode was edited together, it appears that Owen took a day – from New Year’s Eve until the following afternoon – to process his intense run-in with Teddy and then ultimately demonstrate his feelings for Cristina.
McKidd, though, says that in the original script Cristina and Owen had their confrontation “the very next moment after he had his conversation with Teddy. He actually walked out of that scene with Teddy and into the scene with Cristina.”
Upon seeing the show’s final edit – in which the scenes were intercut with a “New Year’s Day” title card – McKidd says even he had to exclaim, “Oh, no. They made it the next day!”
Worth the “wait” though, right?
Now as for the why of the lip lock… well, that’s simply how the sometimes stoic Dr. Hunt operates.
“The thing about Owen,” McKidd says, “is that words get the better of him sometimes. But the pain he felt for putting her into that position [of not knowing] was too much for him. So in that moment he wanted to try, in a noble way, to communicate how much he really loves her. And the only way he could do that was by kissing her in that way.”
Sure enough, the bold buss assuaged any concerns Yang had about Hunt and how he might feel about her versus Teddy. “There was no ambiguity,” McKidd says. “He very directly tried to make her feel secure and on safe ground again.”
Is Dr. Altman done making waves for Hunt and Yang? Perhaps not just yet. When ‘Grey’s’ returns with new episodes on January 14, Teddy’s behavior in the wake of Owen rebuff will give people pause.
“He made it very clear where the line in the sand was, so he’s worried now that she’s operating in a way that could do some damage” – figuratively and literally, McKidd says.
Will Teddy’s behavior include trying to undermine Cristina in the workplace? All parties involved may wish it were so simple. Instead, what she does “is more complicated and subconscious,” McKidd teases, “which is a good thing and a bad thing.”
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 01:25 am (UTC)Kevin's explanation about the kiss makes sense. Teddy clearly doesn't know who she's dealing with. If she really cared about Owen she'd back off and let him be happy.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 01:35 am (UTC)Lots of good stuff here, and none of it threatening the relationship = lots of screen time and a juicy story for our couple. The way I see it, it's all good.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 02:34 am (UTC)People have been whining about drama between Owen and Cristina - here is an opportunity for them to unite together against Teddy.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 04:24 pm (UTC)Yep Cris is going to be at the hospital all the time and start breaking dates with Owen to do surgeries instead.
I wouldn't be shocked if Teddy put in a recomentation for Cristina to a better hospital with a better Cardio programme.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 01:38 pm (UTC)LoOoL on bringing back the mommy dearest, I hate that actress but if it will help out C/O I'm down for anything at this point =P
no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 09:24 pm (UTC)Girl that congered up sick imagery shudders xx
no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 01:41 pm (UTC)Everyone keeps saying to get on twitter, I don't know about all that LOL
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 07:32 am (UTC)I lean toward McQueen's theory but I don't think they will turn Teddy into crazy blonde from "Fatal Attraction".
The whole interview sounds like a damage control. I guess the backlash against Owen&Teddy reached Shonda's ears.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 09:06 am (UTC)My question is that if the kiss was straight after the Teddy fight and was the editors fault, why was it daylight outside when Cris found Owen? It was so clear that is was the following day so KMK saying that the New years day made it look like time had passed made no sense because you could see anyway time had passed.
I wonder if this is damage control is it because Owen may do something in the next few episodes and they want to redeem him now and not add to the hate later on?
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 01:57 pm (UTC)I don't think it's damage control. (Pre)-damage control was KmK going to nation wide talk shows to explain the chocking and what was PSTD. (Post)-damage control was everything they tried to do post the IW-TR-PD outing. These were serious issues that demanded explanations. The timeline of the Cristina/Owen kiss doesn't. Grey's is ABC # 1 scripted show, 15/16 million viewers. If they did damage control every time fans screamed against a plot or scene you would see Grey's actors and writers giving weekly interviews.
This seems like part of a bigger interview. KmK is not the most important actor out there, but Matt Mitovich is not stupid and wouldn't waste an interview, even a short one, with a Grey's member asking about that kiss when there is so much more to know.I'm expecting another KmK interview from Fancast before the next episode or between 6.11 and 6.12.
I don't know about the daylight part. I confess that I didn't pay attention when I watched it. This didn't bother me because I assumed Cristina was dealing with her patient and so was Owen. I think the interview ends the "are you sure" debate, not that I believe it should have been one in the first place. Owen is with Cristina, he is in love with Cristina and he wants Cristina.
I agree with you, it makes sense that Teddy will give everything Cristina wants, career speaking. This will make Cristina depend on Teddy on so many levels, emotionally even. Divide et impera. Worked for Caesar, may work for Teddy. But if Teddy does this, chances are she is not staying, and if she is not staying, we are back to the old "Cristina needs a mentor" plot that has been playing since Burke left...
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 09:05 pm (UTC)But since the last KMK ITW coming out, I am so willing to give him a pass, the ITW sounds a little bit damage control to me as well, but it doesn't affect the fact that I enjoy reading it very much. May be the KV blog is just a mistake which the writer are trying to redeem, or may be it is KV wanted to stir things up to make fans keep talking though the hiatus?
No matter what, I hope the writers get fans now, no one wanted Owen loves both, that is just ridiculous in many levels.
Speaking of the two scenes was supposed to happened at the same time. Actually I think the O/T confrontion probably happened on the daytime as well, they made it like new year eve, but there is no evidence can prove that.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 03:00 pm (UTC)I don't think Owen is an "eeeevil ass" but he definitly lost most of his appeal to me so I can see why people are turning against him, as sad as it's. His lack of support of Cristina, after everything she did for him, is disturbing. He's been coming across as personality-free and clueless for the most part of this season and as much as I hate to say this, KmK doesn't seem to feel this role anymore (not that I blame him, given what they are doing to his character).
I blame the writers though and still hope to see the passionate, earnest and upstanding Owen from season 5 though.
"I wonder if this is damage control is it because Owen may do something in the next few episodes and they want to redeem him now and not add to the hate later on?"
In promo he seems to get kicked out of Cristina's OR, both Teddy and Cristina look upset on promo pics and we know that Owen will accuse Teddy of some shady motives, so I assume he will get a tad paranoid and piss both women off.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 04:55 pm (UTC)I know Cristina did a lot for Owen, but he is supporting Cristina. He brought Teddy for *Cristina* and not for himself, he knew what she needed. He said so when he told her that "You think I don't see you, but I do and you deserve someone to teach you and give what you need" or something like that because I don't remeber the exactly lines and he almost said the same to Teddy in the scenes in the cafeteria and outside. I don't see anyone personality-free in Grey's, maybe Lexie, because nobody can be that sugar induced without getting into a diabetic coma and clueless can only go so far.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 06:37 am (UTC)Either Shonda did it on purpose to make Owen look like more of a tool for hiding out and letting it go for so long. Which I can see KMK being peeved about them making it the next day. Or they had to move it to later in the episode because if not there would have been no CO scenes on New Years. Which would have been strange. I wonder if New Years Day CO scenes were shot and discarded if or when they stretched this out.
I really do think Shonda hates CO, so I'm inclined to believe the first scenario. She seems to be going out of her way to make Owen spineless this season when he was so the other way S5. I mean, why would Owen still be hiding out, outside, looking all dejected and looking like he's afraid of what Cristina was going to say if it was all the way into the next day. Especially when last season he always sought her out when stuff went awry between them. It makes more sense for me to think that he was just gathering himself right after the Teddy thing when Cristina found him.
I know people are saying the they don't like Owen being seen as either a total saint or the Devil. I'm not saying he was a saint last season. Just that the things that were wrong with him last season were so much more acceptable then this total crap they are writing for him now. Even the detractors have to concede that he is being written VERY differently this year, and as I've written a number of times on this site, I don't think it has anything to do with "Before Owen" supposedly on the come back. "Before Owen" wasn't like this either. I don't know what the hell this shit is... but I'm ready for it to be over and for them to write Owen once again as the flawed but awesome guy he was last season. I really hope he comes back before I get really sick of Owen. Or KMK does. Poor guy. I really feel bad for him that they are doing this to Owen when he was so popular right off the bat. It's like Shonda wants the fangirls to turn against him. Who wants to take a popular character and make them hated by the very people who loved him best?
Shonda is a wack job.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 07:16 am (UTC)I think Shonda simply doesn't see anything wrong with Owen, moreover, she thinks her version of Victorian "tragic hero" is totally awesome, while most of the fandom mocks him/her writing mercilessly. Shonda could reread her copies of "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre" until she gets blue in her face but her "Heathcliff" would still come across more like an over the top character from telenovela rather than tragically torn romantic hero. As I've alrady said on another board, I'm interested in watching OWEN, a stubborn, rash but dynamic, smart, attentive, earnest and upstanding guy. I have no interest in Shonda's parody of Heathcliff on moors.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 01:24 am (UTC)This interview may have been damage control, but if that was the goal, why do it on fancast.com? Is that site so widely visited and followed that it is a good place to get this message out? Maybe the message is being sent in that calculated way, or maybe KMK was just describing his view of the scene honestly. What he said is consistent with what he said before the episode aired. Not all, but many of the accusations about Owen's supposed "ambiguity" about Teddy came primarily from the way certain scenes were sort of "filtered" through the comments in the writer's blog and on the podcast. That's where I think there was some fan manipulation going on, and unless Shonda's intent was to make fans angry at Owen's character, it seems to have back-fired.
As to whether the Owen-bashing on TWOP or elsewhere really has an impact on Shonda, I'm not so sure. If she really gave a damn about fan criticism, the "Dead Denny" story line would have been ended at the earliest opportunity. Instead, she dragged it through all of season 5 and included a special feature about it on the Season 5 DVDs. So I think she will do whatever she does, and to hell with all of us!
I agree that Teddy will cultivate at least a close professional relationship with Cristina, and perhaps a friendship as well, and that that will create tension between Owen and Cristina over the next few episodes. But as to Teddy meeting "all" of Cristina's needs - - well, unless they are planning on re-visiting Callie's story line and having Cristina re-examine her sexuality, there are some needs I think she will keep going to Owen to have met. And I'm happy with that, because I don't think that Owen's character has been as damaged as some others believe. As I said at the beginning, I don't think he was never supposed to be perfect, and not just because of the PTSD (and, BTW, I do NOT think he's been given a "pass" because of that). Cristina is far from perfect too. But I still like them together, and I hope that Shonda & Co decide to keep them that way.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 01:32 am (UTC)When I said Teddy would meet all Cristina's needs I was talking about Cardio needs, not her going home to shag Owen and not talk about issues.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 01:36 am (UTC)Happy place with a naked KMK.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-21 11:42 am (UTC)I agree. Maybe I buyed too much into the concept of their „mature and great love story” last season but when you compare their relationship as it used to be, to what’s happening to them this year, it’s laughable. Hard to grasp they are even the same couple. I’m not naive and I know that no relationship is perfect nor do I expect them to sail smoothly and in tune all the time. I was defending Oeen when this season started and people were criticising him for not giving Cristina time in OR or snarking about her obsession with surgeries. But the writers never know when to stop and I can’t buy it that the same guy, who last year used to notice every wrinkle of distress on Cristina’s face and dragged her into nearest supply closet to sort things out, now is so absolutly, painfully dense and oblivious. She almost breaks out in front of him and his reaction is to bark out „See what?” and carry on as usual. Come on. There is like zero verbal communication between those two.
I’ve never expected Owen to be „perfect”. He wasn’t perfect last season, was he? Hard-headed man who refuses to get help, breaks out with his fiancee via email and let his mother believe that he is still in Iraq. No, he was not perfect and I wouldn’t want him to be. I only want him to be a man, strong decisive and all, without resorting to agressive fits (like McQueen I believe not everything should and could be excused by his PTSD).
no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 07:12 am (UTC)WORD. I say this to every one and post it everywhere. I've even mention this insane "Dead Denny" love she has on ABC advisory board activities. It's like the fact that people hated it (when he obviously thought it was just great ) makes her want to cram it down people throats even more. And the fact that C/O was so instantly wildly popular makes her hate it and want to destroy it.
Teddy is the new "Dead Denny". He was a time suck and a complete annoyance S5, but at least he wasn't coming between C/O. At least his presence didn't make it impossible to enjoy the season because he had nothing to do with C/O and they are the whole reason S5 was any good at all. I bought the DVD. It's the only season of GA I own. Teddy is Dead Denny-ing the whole C/O SL this year. I wont be buying S6 on DVD. I can pretty much promise that. Teddy would have to hang herself and the rest of the season would have to be pure C/O bliss, with near constant shirlessness from Owen and C/O makeouts galore, for that to happen. It's crazy, I know, but it's like I don't want to have that woman in my house. LOL. I don't even watch the repeats this year. I've stopped down loading the CO clips posted on this site that I used to always get and LOVED, because Teddy taints every scene. I still get the screen caps because they have been pretty Teddyless thankfully. I don't know. This SL is actually depressing me. Sad.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-23 09:45 pm (UTC)Shonda wants ANOTHER leggy blonde to live vicariously through. She did it with Izzie/Alex/Denny and is doing it again.
I always shudder when I hear her gush over the men on the show.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 04:10 am (UTC)I feel that hers behavior will be like a jealous bitch.
But I think that "is fine", this will bring us more Owentina scenes and more oportunities for Owen show to Cris how much he loves her.