iamcheryltwatty (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} iamcheryltweedy) wrote in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} ohnotheydidnt,@ 2009-10-23 13:47:00 |
|
| Entry tags: | interview |
the ladies of Mad Men
NY Mag: Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss on Peggy Olson, the ‘Ultimate Feminist’
Mad Men's Peggy Olson has had quite a year, between an affair with a corporate rival, a brutal lesson in (un)equal pay, and a brief flirtation with marijuana. On last night's episode, Peggy found inspiration in her colleague Paul Kinsey's hung-over brain-freeze, and once again pulled together an ad campaign out of thin air. Vulture spoke with Elisabeth Moss about the uncertain future of Sterling Cooper and one of its most underappreciated stars.
The Brits are putting Sterling Cooper up for sale. Do you anticipate another John Deere incident?
We’re done with the tractors, I think it’s safe to say. But I can’t say anything else. [Laughs] I’m sorry!
And now Betty knows Don’s real identity. Next up: JFK’s assassination. These appear to be the three things that frame the rest of the season.
Those are the big story lines and they’ve been a long time coming. This season is all about change.
What will it take for Peggy to leave for one of the more cutting-edge agencies in town?
I have to be abstract here, but we’re about to come into a very heavy time in the sixties, and it has an impact on all these characters. Peggy wants to be appreciated and Don has been so cruel to her this season — I think she’s looking for somebody like Duck to ask her to be there.
That might explain her terrible taste in men: Pete. That college boy she picks up in the bar. Now Duck.
Right before that scene between Peggy and Duck in that hotel room, Don yells at her, and pushes her out of the office. Duck says exactly what she wants to hear: “There’s a place for you here.” What’s attracting Peggy to Duck is his respect for her. She’s definitely an oddball and a loner, and that affects her choices.
Peggy is constantly surprising us. She smokes pot. She belches into a Dictaphone!
That was totally dubbed. I can’t do that on cue, so I’ll let the secret out that that was not me.
Who was it?
[Laughs] I don’t know.
Best line of the season: “My name is Peggy Olson and I would like to smoke some marijuana.” Even completely baked, she never stops working.
She becomes oddly even more courageous and more delusionally happy with herself. That scene with [her secretary] Olive, when she says “I’m going to be okay! Don’t worry about me,” and “I have a secretary and that’s you,” is one of my favorite scenes ever.
What are Peggy’s best ad campaigns?
The Popsicle campaign from season two, with the mother holding Popsicles out to her two kids like she’s giving communion. And the Western Union campaign, from tonight’s episode. I can’t remember what the slogan was.
“You can’t frame a phone call.”
I thought that was genius.
Peggy protects Paul, who comes into an ideas meeting empty handed and hung-over, from Don’s wrath.
It’s one of the first times Peggy’s really acted as a woman, like an older sister: She assesses the situation, sees it’s going to be okay, and handles it with grace and warmth. She’s not trying to get ahead. She’s not being harsh. She’s not being stupid. And she ends up being completely right. Don understands what happened, and they end up coming up with a great idea.
Do you think of Peggy as a feminist?
Absolutely. That’s what I love about playing her. These women weren’t trying to change everyone’s lives; they just wanted to get their chance to do their job, and in that way she’s the ultimate feminist. I think she has a lot to learn about having confidence in herself. She relies too much on Don’s approval. But she’s getting there.
Is being engaged to a comedian the antidote to working on one of TV’s darkest dramas?
[Laughs] Everyone on our show is funny. Jon Hamm can quote sketches from SNL from way back! Rich [Sommer] has been on The Office. Jenna Fischer’s a good friend of mine and Fred [Armisen]’s. You’d think we’d be hanging out with everyone from HBO, but we’re much more likely to hang out with the 30 Rock crowd. One thing that makes Mad Men such a smart show is that it is actually funny sometimes. We’ve had read-throughs this season where we’re just like, Is this a comedy now?
source
The launch party for the new limited-edition Mad Men suit seemed like a reasonable excuse to rub elbows with the cast of Vulture's favorite TV show. So last night we hit the Brooks Brothers store in Manhattan and were lucky enough to get a few minutes with the ever-friendly, Pete Campbell–portraying Vincent Kartheiser, who actually happened to be modeling the suit (see photo). He chatted with us about being recognized on the bus, the recent firing of Mad Men writer Kater Gordon, and the time the first girl he ever tongue kissed nearly ruined his career.
Do you get stopped on the street?
Once every four weeks. That's not a detriment to my life.
Those ladies over there wanted a photo with you.
Coming to an event like this, people are going to recognize you, they're expecting to see you. But no one's walking down the street expecting to see the fourth lead on a show they may or may not have seen, you know what I mean? Guys like me, we have a normal life. Except for like, people who are very keen, or you're sitting across from them on the subway for an hour. Or they see Sterling Cooper on your bag or something.
You carry around a Sterling Cooper bag?
I've only been recognized for that once, and I wear it almost everywhere. People don't read each others' bags. Especially in cities like New York. No one looks at me on the bus in L.A. I've never been bothered on the bus. Mad Men's not on Telemundo yet.
Are you getting the swine-flu shot?
No. I had the flu like two years ago, it wasn't so bad. Whatever, I'll get it or I won't.
Do you know anyone who has it?
I heard David Boreanz had it. [Laughs]
They had to shut down production of Bones.
I guess. I'm more worried about mercury poisoning in New York. I'm on the Jeremy Piven diet of being an asshole.
Are you worried about Pete's future on the show? Sal got fired, Joan left ...
I love the show, it's been a blessing. It's what it is. I trust that everything Matthew does is best for the story. I'm here to serve the story. I mean, I want to work on Mad Men for the rest of my life. Matt will do the right thing.
We noticed you dancing around the room earlier. Was Pete's Charleston on Mad Men your idea?
I have no ideas. I'm an actor. He hired real actors. We can sing, we can dance, we can act. You know, we all can dance. Any one of us could have done that dance. Anyone: Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, January Jones. Anyone could have, given ten lessons like I had.
Did you see January Jones on the cover of GQ today?
No.
She mentions in the story that her ex-boyfriend, Ashton Kutcher, told her to give up acting. Did anyone ever tell you that?
Yeah, I dated a girl when I was ... Well, I didn't date her. I played spin the bottle when I was 13 with this girl who was on tour with me, a traveling tour. She kissed me and I thought I was in love. It was my first kiss with tongue, ever. I was 13. Later that night, she caught me smoking pot. And she said, "I can't believe you would do that!" And I said, "Please don't tell my mom, because she'll make me get out of this role in this play and it will ruin my career." And she said, "What career?" And that was my motivating force for years. That whole idea that someone could write you off was something that I took so seriously. And especially when I was a young man, I really took myself seriously. I take myself less seriously as I've gotten older. I think I'm like Benjamin Button when it comes to that kind of stuff.
There's been a lot speculation about why Kater Gordon is leaving the show. Were you surprised when you heard she wasn't coming back for Season 4?
I love Kater Gordon. The only thing I can say is what I said before. We trust Matt is doing what he needs to do to tell this story. And I think Kater is going to have a really amazing career as a writer, and she's not going to have a hard time finding work. She's got great ideas and we loved working with her. And we'll miss her. But we trust Matthew and he's doing what he needs to do to tell the story. Maybe next season he's just going to go in a different direction and he just needs someone to fill a different void in the room, and I don't know what that is. And this is an industry where we're always saying good-bye at some point. No show goes on forever, you know, even these Broadway shows that go on for 20, 30 years. They end eventually. So we all know it's like a relationship. I know it's going to end when I get into it.
In light of Letterman's admission, have you ever had an affair with a co-worker?
I don't call them affairs.
Dated a co-worker?
I haven't for years, years, years.
Is it a bad idea?
No, not always. Of course not. But, if you're a real asshole like I am, yeah, it probably is.
source
If you’re still not watching the Emmy-winning AMC drama Mad Men, get ready to meet your new girl-crush, Christina Hendricks. As Joan Holloway, office manager at the fictional Sterling Cooper ad agency in 1960s Manhattan, Christina Hendricks has been called buxom, voluptuous, and even bodacious by the press. She wants us to know that she’s much more than her hourglass figure and bottle-red hair, but one thing can’t be denied: Whether she’s warm or cool to her secretarial pool, Joan is always smoking hot. A bright spot in such short-lived series as Firefly and Kevin Hill, the 34-year-old Hendricks now wraps her brain around the queer appeal of her breakout role and asks that people stop looking at only her boobs.
Your costar Jon Hamm once told me that Joan was key in attracting Mad Men’s gay audience. Are you aware of the gay fever your character inflames?
First of all, it’s really funny that Jon Hamm of all people said that somehow I’m responsible. Yeah, I’ve noticed it and it’s been really fun. Joan adds some levity to the office when things are a bit dour, so I think that’s part of what they’ve responded to.
It’s not often that gay men and lesbians can find someone to agree on.
[Laughs] Well, that’s flattering. I did get some really nice news that there were some guys dressed up as Joan for Halloween. I haven’t noticed the lesbian attention as much, but I have to say that straight women have been coming out of the woodwork.
We do live in very Megan Fox-y, “I Kissed a Girl” times.
To me it started in the early ’90s, but maybe that’s just my age showing. I think it’s perfectly normal. But I have to say that in the last month I’ve heard more women say they have a girl-crush on Zooey Deschanel than ever before. She’s really popular right now.
Who’s your girl-crush?
Probably Zooey Deschanel. [Laughs] My fiancé [Geoffrey Arend] is in 500 Days of Summer with her, so I’ve seen that movie three times in a row, and I’m like, “God, I love watching her!” I find her very unique and interesting. She’s lovely.
Joan is now marrried. Any thoughts on gay marriage?
I have a million friends affected by the passing of Prop. 8. The sad thing is that people were so used to how unfair it is that it wasn’t that shocking. It seems like a lot of my friends are just waiting things out and looking forward to change.
You played an agoraphobic lesbian on a 2006 episode of Without a Trace. Was that your first same-sex smooch?
Oh, come now. It’s 2009! [Laughs] The actress I kissed [Frankie Ingrassia] actually played a lesbian in Election, which I think is fantastic, so I was a big fan of hers. She was way more freaked out about the kiss than I was; I didn’t have any problem with it. She was like, “I don’t understand why I always get cast as the lesbian!” I’m like, “Because you were a lesbian in a very famous movie.” But she’s a sweetheart and a great actress, so it was fine.
Oddly enough, she also played a lesbian in 1999 on MTV’s Undressed in the same episodes you appeared. You, however, played a hetero in a separate story line.
Just a slutty hetero in love with a Latino. That’s hilarious.
That show needed so many actors because they changed casts every few episodes, so just about everyone in town has done Undressed. It’s like a dirty little secret, but when it comes out people are like, “Oh, I’ve done it too!” I hadn’t done a show before, so it was like boot camp for me. It was a really low-key, low-budget place to learn without a lot of judgment.
Talk to me about the scene in season 1 of Mad Men where Joan’s roommate Carol confesses her love for Joan.
I really loved that scene because it was an interesting moment to reveal things about Joan. She handled it in a very Joan way: stop and think of the best way to handle this in a neat and tidy way. She wasn’t hurtful; she just wanted to wrap it up in a nice little package. The saddest part to me was the end of the episode when they’re bringing home the men and there’s her roommate sitting on the couch with this awful man.
Have you been in Joan’s shoes?
I’ve been casually hit on by women, but I certainly haven’t had an intimate, heartfelt moment where someone I’ve been friends with for years suddenly reveals her deep love for me. But, you know, it’s early in the day.
Could you empathize with Carol’s unrequited love?
I’ve had many, many unrequited crushes. I knew this one guy’s entire schedule my senior year of high school and would conveniently be outside his classrooms whenever class let out. But I was a goth kid and he was a soccer player, so he wasn’t having it. He was just horrified by me.
I sensed some strange sexual tension between Joan and Peggy in season 1, but I soon realized that Joan has sexual tension with everyone.
It’s pretty funny to think of Joan and Peggy having sexual tension; they just have tension. Joan’s one of those flirtatious, physical people. She’s the type who will always touch your knee or place her hand on your chest when she’s talking to you, whether you’re male or female. It’s a mixture of those comfortable gestures and the amazing ’60s clothing that makes her a very fiery and sensual character.
Might Joan explore any bicuriosity in the future?
I would love to see Mad Men go down that road. If there’s any character that would go there, it would definitely be Joan.
There’s also a scene in season 1 where Bryan Batt’s character, Sal, kisses Joan to show off for their coworkers. Joan’s facial expression afterward seemed to suggest she was on to Sal’s homosexuality.
Bryan, Matt, and I did a lot of talking about that because we really wanted to capture the right look. We decided it probably wouldn’t be too obvious to Joan, so we wanted to make sure there was some confusion there. We didn’t want to make an obvious statement with Sal at that point.
How would Joan react if Sal confided in her that he was gay?
There’s that scene in season 2 where another character, Kurt, announces to everyone that he’s gay in the middle of the break room. Some of the guys freaked out, but Joan kind of smiles, raises an eyebrow, and walks out. Joan loves the drama of it, so she certainly wouldn’t tsktsk it. She just enjoys something that stirs the pot.
So Joan wouldn’t be the best one to keep that secret.
Well, it depends on whether or not she could use it for her own benefit.
Are you and Bryan Batt chummy off set?
Bryan’s one of my closest friends in the world. I adore him and his partner Tom. They’re both amazing people.
Did you have gay friends growing up?
People would always say to me, “Your friends are gay!” And I would say, “No, they aren’t!” I didn’t really know what they meant; I just knew someone was saying something aggressively and it made me feel protective. It took me years of saying, “You don’t know what you’re talking about” before I realized that I didn’t know what I was talking about. In fact, those people were correct: My friends were gay.
Has your gaydar sharpened?
No. I have the worst gaydar. Just count up my ex-boyfriends for proof.
You showed off your singing and accordion-playing skills in a recent Mad Men episode. When’s your album dropping?
Oh, I’m not going to torture anyone with that nonsense. No Edith Piaf covers from me. That scene was certainly a new challenge and I was terrified, but it was really fun to do. I don’t have the voice to do a musical unless they threw me in the back, but I’d love to do a Broadway show. I’d always been too intimidated to pursue that, but I’m feeling inspired. I saw Elisabeth Moss do Speed-the-Plow last season and she was wonderful, so it gave me the bug.
You were recently cast as Katherine Heigl’s and Josh Duhamel’s best friend in the film Life As We Know It. Since out director Greg Berlanti’s at the helm, I’m hoping for some gay content. Is your character a lesbian?
I haven’t spoken to Greg yet about what he’s revealing, so I want to wait before I say too much, but I will say that that would put a very different spin on the movie. I’m so excited to work with Greg, though. He seems so sweet and kind.
You’re a natural blonde but you’ve dyed your hair red since the age of 10. Do redheads have more fun?
I believe so, but I was also very young when I was blonde. I’ve turned into a woman with red hair, so that’s all I know and all I want to know. I always think about going back to blonde or going dark, but I know I’d be sad the moment I changed it. So I just talk myself out of it, pop on a wig, and I feel better the next day.
Do you mind all the focus placed on your bosom in the media?
It’s crazy, right? I’m on what I think is the best TV show there is right now and everyone’s always talking about my boobs. I’ve never dealt with this kind of attention on them before, so it’s a bit of a surprise. It’s true: I have them. I guess I never realized that not that many other people do. But I’m definitely ready for someone to be like, “She’s the most amazing actress ever!” That would be nice.
source
