Mariska Hargitay & Christopher Meloni Recreate Their First Meeting & Reveal How His Mom Got 'SVU's Original Title Changed

Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni are dishing all about their longtime friendship during their appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday night (March 28).

The two Law & Order franchise stars opened up about their first ever meeting and also recalled how his own mom got SVU‘s original title changed.

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When asked about their audition for SVU, Mariska and Chris actually re-created the scene, where he opened the door to the room where she had been waiting.

As Chris entered, she turned around with arms open wide and yelled, “Slattery!” ultimately mistaking him for Mad Men actor John Slattery.

“Meloni!” he yelled back, unfazed, before the two embraced.

After sitting back down, Mariska revealed that she had heard John was testing for the role of her partner and how she was so excited because she’d never met him.

Elsewhere in the interview, Chris opened up about how the show’s original title – Sex Crimes – was changed thanks to his own mother.

“It was called Sex Crimes and I literally went, ‘Okay…’” he recalled. “As did my mother because when we got it, when we screen-tested and we got it, I go, ‘Mom, I got it!’”

Chris went on, “[She said] ‘You got what?’ [and I said,] ‘I’m on Sex Crimes!’ She’s like, ‘Can they change the name?’”

She was so passionate about changing the title that she eventually called “Dick [Wolf] and he did change the name!”