Nothing whets the appetite like watching a daylong open-heart surgery. At least that’s the case if you’re "Heartbeat" star Melissa George.
"It was crazy. I remember watching all that and thinking how hungry I am,” she told "Late Night" host Seth Meyers on Thursday. "It made me so hungry. I just wanted to eat like – I mean it was seven hours long."
George, who also played a doctor on "Grey’s Anatomy," attended the live operation to gain insight into her character for the new NBC medical drama. She said attendants in the room expected her to pass out from all the blood. But she had an altogether different experience with a building appetite.
"I see a man, 17 years old under the sheet ready to be cut open," the Australian actress said.
She continued, "I stayed and watched the whole thing and it was about seven, eight hours long."
Meyers, hearing George’s bloody-appetite, called her Hannibal after the "Silence of the Lambs" character Hannibal (the cannibal) Lecter.
"I saw the beating heart," she said.
After the surgery, George was expected to be at a fashion show but bone dust was in her hair and eyes so she had to first clean that out. At the show, she looked at everyone differently.
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"I know exactly what you look like on the inside," she said she thought to herself. "You’re all the same."
"Heartbeat" is inspired by the real-life works of heart surgeon Dr. Kathy Magliato. It debuts after "The Voice" on March 22 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, before moving to its regular Wednesday slot at 8 p.m. on March 23.