More OC spoilers
Ausiello: How did you feel when you heard that Mischa had blown the big twist?
Josh Schwartz: It was unfortunate.
Ausiello: What the hell happened?
Schwartz: I don't really know what happened. It was definitely unfortunate, and I don't think Access Hollywood really handled it that well either.
Ausiello: Did you call Mischa?
Schwartz: I did not, no. I'm sure publicists were called, but I stayed out of it.
Ausiello: Did you sit down with her beforehand and tell her not to discuss the twist until after the episode aired? Or was that just a given.
Schwartz: It's obvious, but it's also always discussed, in terms of the cast. They know that we're trying to keep things under wraps. I don't really know what happened.
Ausiello: Up until that point, you had done a pretty good job of keeping it a secret.
Schwartz: It felt pretty good. I saw that you were really hot on the Sandy trail.
Ausiello: Yeah, that was unfortunate.
Schwartz: (Laughs) That was amusing.
Ausiello: I posted an apology to my readers last night after the episode was over.
Schwartz: I don't know how many people outside of the industry knew [that Marissa was dying]. A lot of people were surprised. People had been speculating for a while that it was going to be her, so whether it mitigated the finale or whether it drove more people to watch it, I don't really know.
Ausiello: The rumor going around is that she had a strained relationship with the show and she blew the surprise intentionally.
Schwartz: We didn't have a strained relationship. Mischa's never exhibited any kind of vindictive behavior before, so it would seem out of character. But I don't really know.
Ausiello: So, why did you kill her off?
Schwartz: This was always going to be a season of great upheaval and change, and at the end of the year, with graduation and people moving out into different directions, we always knew that the show was never going to be the same. And if you go back to the pilot episode of the show, tragedy is in the DNA of Marissa's character. When you first see her in the pilot, she's passed out drunk in the driveway of her house. Her dad's losing all of his money, and her boyfriend is cheating on her. This is a girl who attracted that kind of tragedy. And Ryan and Marissa, while they had some good times, were never really a happily ever-after couple. They were always the star-crossed lovers. So as we looked down the barrel at the end of the season, it just felt like that's where the show was pushing us. The show kind of paints you in a certain direction. And it was the kind of thing that will drive us into next season as the kind of cataclysmic event that will force some people to leave and some people will not be able to leave. It has a huge effect in terms of how it drives into next season.
Ausiello: So this was a creative decision and not a result of Mischa asking to go?
Schwartz: No, she never said that. She was always 100 percent professional and ready to go and ready to work for the show and support the show. She was never misbehaving or "sicking out" or any of those kinds of rumors that were out there.
Ausiello: What was her reaction when she learned what you were doing?
Schwartz: She took it in stride. She handled it professionally and continued to do great work. However she felt about it personally, she was never anything but a professional when she was on set.
Ausiello: Why not just send her off with her dad on his sailboat instead of killing her?
Schwartz: We debated that. We went back and forth. It's not a decision you make casually. It just felt like where the show needed to go. It felt like we had told all of the Ryan and Marissa stories we could really tell, for ourselves and for the audience.
Ausiello: If you told me two years ago that you were killing off Marissa, I would've thrown a party. But she kind of grew on me this season. And I think Mischa has improved as an actress.
Schwartz: She's grown a tremendous amount. She was so young when we started. We've really worked hard to evolve her character, and I know at times she's divided audiences, and at times people have been on her side. I feel like during the second half of the season people were really siding with her. We're not the kind of show that's designed to kill people off every week, so if someone's going to die, you want it to have a resonance. And the fact that the people who weren't [big Marissa fans] are now sad that she's gone means that the character left with real grace. She had the opportunity to make amends with the other characters and say her goodbyes. It was a real loving way to send this character off.
Ausiello: What was it like shooting her final scene? Were you on set?
Schwartz: I was not. It was 4:30 in the morning. But it was very emotional, and I think you see it. Ben and Mischa gave really tremendous performances, and you see it in that take where she's in Ben's arms; it really got to him. He was really struck by the weight of this and the weight of the last three years, just the whole crazy ride that the show's been. It really cuts through, and he gave a really beautiful performance.
Well now Im glad that she blew if for them, id understand if she was being all diva and wanted to leave but for the OC creatives to want her to leave is just crazy! Whether you liked her or not I think the oc will become dead just like Marissa lol.
HOW FUNNY!
I feel sorry for Mischa Barton =(
But whatever its only TV, theres more important things in the world.