HBO: How did you go about crafting your character Laura?

Melissa George: A lot of those questions are sort of answered when you put yourself on tape. That's why auditioning is so important. They [the director and producers] already knew what they wanted for Laura. They wanted her to be sophisticated enough, smart enough, but incredibly vulnerable -- she's in therapy for a reason. I just wanted her to be funny in the tragic moments, and in the funny moments she's more serious. Sometimes something will come out of her mouth, and it's just so provocative or so over the top, I wanted her to find herself funny in those moments. I didn't want to play her where she was so sexual that it makes your skin crawl.

HBO: Did you have any personal experience with therapy or was this a completely new world to you?

Melissa George: A completely new world, but I highly recommend it. If you can get a therapist like Paul, you're set. [LAUGHS] I mean, to be honest, 'In Treatment' brought out a lot of internal angst and brought back certain memories. There's a scene where I was talking about my family, and when we were shooting, I was no longer aware who was Laura and who was Melissa. Because I was so in love with playing this character -- and that sounds like "Oh actors get so invested," but it really was like I fell in love with playing her -- that all of a sudden words would come out of my mouth and I would react as Melissa or as Laura combined with Melissa. So there are some scenes, some moments where it looks really real, I think, because I was feeling it for real. I was really going through therapy. By the end, playing such a highly emotional character, it took it out of me. But I also felt very relaxed when I came home after shooting the series. I felt like I learned a lot about myself.

HBO: Did you have to show up on set knowing an entire day's therapy session?

Melissa George: You had to know your episode. It's 30 pages. Completely memorized. That's hard. [LAUGHS] And we would get dialogue the night before. It was such a great exercise. You're not upstaged by an explosion or special effects. It depends on the great dialogue and the way it's performed. I tallied the amount of words, and it was enough for a full feature film -- per episode. No complaints. It was the best thing I've ever felt. It reminded me why I'm an actress and why I fell in love with the craft of acting. It's no longer about: Am I gonna get the job? Or, do they like me? Are the reviews good? Am I gonna get in that magazine? Is this the right career move? 'In Treatment' reminded me that this is what it's about: You come to work, and you act. You tell a story for the audience to feel something, and maybe through a performance we've changed a life in some way. Maybe certain people out there can relate to Laura, and I've helped them -- it's almost like free therapy. A therapist is $250 a session; you watch 'In Treatment' and maybe Paul has actually saved you -- and you can buy a pair of Manolo Blahniks or something, which makes you just as happy, I think. [LAUGHS]

HBO: You shot this single camera. Was there ever a time when you felt "Damn, I wish the camera had been on me for that take."?

Melissa George: Oh, all the time. But every actor goes through this, no matter what job you're doing - by the time they turn around, you finally understood what the hell you're saying. But if you start on the therapist first, or the other actor first, and you've peaked too soon, by the time they turn around, you're too tired to perform -- that's the other edge.

HBO: You were also working with the challenge of doing a different accent.

Melissa George: Oh yeah, it's hard. Every time they change a word, I have to think phonetically as well as how am I going to say it? And people don't understand that because we make it look easy, but I tell you what, my head was going to explode by the end of the day. It was tricky and there are some words that slip in and out. As in, "parking." You're trying to say parking and tell a story about this parking lot. You want to say the words right and also cry on the right cue, so yeah, it is tricky. But that's what I study for and that's my job.

HBO: You're a roller-skating champion?

Melissa George: Yes. That didn't help me at all with 'In Treatment.' [LAUGHS]

HBO: What is a roller-skating champion, exactly?

Melissa George: Well, it's exactly like ice skating -- a two-minute and a four-minute program. I did a documentary with a friend of mine called 'Jesus Can't Skate' about the world of roller-skating. I came in second in the Junior World's Artistic Roller-Skating. But I quit that when I started acting when I was fifteen.

HBO: Do you still do it at all?

Melissa George: I do, and it's like riding a bike. It's fantastic, and I have the white boots with the costumes and do the tricks, the jumps and spins. I love it. I love the wind blowing in my hair when I'm skating in the rink. I was competing from the age of five. I loved that I had a mission, that every day I would set goals that I wanted to achieve as a skater, like a double axle, and I would make sure I achieved it by the end of the week. All those things really helped for my field of work today. You know, setting goals and achieving them.

HBO: What kinds of tangible goals do you set as an actor?

Melissa George: I wake up at night sometimes and there's a role in a script that I just read and I relate so much to that character that there's no way I cannot perform the part. So sometimes you set your goal, like: I'm going to make sure I get this part. I was on the set of '30 Days of Night' shooting nights for six weeks straight with Josh Hartnett, and I wasn't available to shoot the pilot of 'In Treatment.' But my manager said: "You need to do this. I don't know how, but you need to do this." So she pushed me to put myself on tape. I did the entire episode on tape after a night shoot at 7 in the morning when I got home. I take a camera out -- I still had blood all over my face from the scene the night before -- I had no actor to read with me, so I basically looked down at the script when the other actor was supposed to be speaking. And I made a web site and I sent it to HBO and within a day I got the job. So I set a goal -- and I wanted to play Laura so bad, I felt like I had so much inside of me, Melissa, as an actress that wasn't yet shown or wasn't yet appreciated -- I just had to make sure I got it. I think anything in life when you want it bad enough... what are you gonna do, not do it? You've gotta go for it.

HBO: Had you seen any of the episodes prior to airing, or are you watching it with the rest of us?

Melissa George: I don't have HBO. Isn't that terrible? So I've been going online and watching, which is fantastic.