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Checking Into 'Mercy' with Taylor Schilling and Michelle Trachtenberg
by Troy Rogers
 Filling
a certain void left behind by ER, NBC's new medical
drama. Mercy, has settled into the primetime peacock
line-up, as fans have booked their weekly Mercy
appointment. Mercy secrets are now being revealed
as the character relationships of both Taylor
Schilling and Michelle Trachtenberg are beginning
to evolve with unexpected twists and turns. With
Schilling's Mercy nurse, Veronica Callaghan back
on the medical job after a stint in Iraq, Trachtenberg's
naive Chloe Payne is finding her professional
way despite a reunion with an old flame that may
get in the way of her Mercy responsibilities.
With the November 4 episode of Mercy upon us, which also guest stars Elisabeth Moss, Jerry Stiller and wife Anne Meara, we caught up with Taylor Schilling and Michelle Trachtenberg on a conference call to learn more about how Mercy has settled into the NBC line-up, how Schilling and Trachtenberg are adapting to the Mercy characters, and how Mercy may be benefitting from an unexpected but similar NBC series.
THE DEADBOLT: Michelle, how has it been filming both Gossip Girl and Mercy?
MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG: It’s great. You know, it’s challenging in the sense that there are time constraints. But I definitely don’t get the characters confused as they’re night and day. I love Gossip Girl more than anything I’ve ever done. It’s a great, fun job and I have so much fun with all my friends. And Mercy is a great new experience, so I’m pretty lucky to be able to master both.
THE DEADBOLT: How do you think Georgina would treat Chloe?
TRACHTENBERG: I don’t think Chloe would even come close to being in Georgina’s world so I don’t think it’d be something that we’d have to worry about unless Georgina was heading to the hospital. She’d probably find Chloe much too attentive and much too heartfelt.
THE DEADBOLT: Taylor, Veronica has a really interesting back story; I just wanted to know what’s the best part of playing her for you?
 TAYLOR
SCHILLING: Oh, that’s a great question.
I think the most enjoyable part as an actor
is how deeply I can go into Veronica’s world
and her story because the writers have provided
me with such a rich history for her. So there’s
never a dull moment; even the most kind of banal
scene has a lot going on.
THE DEADBOLT: What was it like working with Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara?
TRACHTENBERG: Oh they’re great. It was amazing. They’re legends and it was really just an honor to be acting in scenes with them.
THE DEADBOLT: Were they funny off camera?
TRACHTENBERG: Hilarious.
THE DEADBOLT: I wanted to know what both of you felt about Trauma being cancelled? Is that a good thing for Mercy or is that a bad thing?
TRACHTENBERG: Oh I had no idea.
 SCHILLING:
Is that a good thing or a bad thing for our
show? I don’t know, I think that we can only
stay focused on kind of telling the story of
Mercy and telling the story of these women.
I’m actually not following what’s going on with
Trauma or other shows at all. I’m just going
to work to shoot our television show. So I don’t
know, Michelle, do you think - how do you think
that that effects us?
TRACHTENBERG: I think it’s really gross to have any actor celebrate the demise of any other actor’s show because...
SCHILLING: Yes.
TRACHTENBERG: ...especially in this age we’re all very lucky to be working. So I had absolutely no idea it was cancelled but I would never be happy. I would never, think of oh how is this going to affect my show because I’m just happy to be working and it doesn’t even sort of fall into my realm.
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