TV Verdict

From her early voice work on animated series (Animaniacs, New Adventures of Batman and Robin) and holiday specials (Frosty Returns) to recurring roles on Picket Fences and The West Wing, 25-year-old actress Elisabeth Moss has crafted quite the impressive resume. But it wasn’t until landing the role of unassuming wunderkind Peggy Olson on AMC’s Mad Men that she truly came into her own. Elisabeth sat down with Chief Justice Michael Stailey to talk about the hit series, her character’s storyline, and what we can expect to see when Mad Men returns for Season Two.

TVV: I was just up in Vancouver last week interviewing an old friend of yours… Dulé Hill.

EM: Cool! What’s he doing up there, a show?

TVV: Yeah, Psych for USA Network. They’re shooting their third season.

EM: Oh, that’s awesome!

TVV: How was your experience working with Dulé and the rest of the cast on West Wing?

EM: Oh, it was great… an incredible experience. I was 17 when I started and 24 when it ended… and I got to be a part of this really great show, working with these really amazing people.

TVV: How has your experience differed between working on a hit cable series, compared to hit network series?

EM: God, you know it’s funny… you think more people would ask me that. It’s very different. Then again, I was only recurring on West Wing and a regular on Mad Men, so I think that makes a big difference. You know, it’s very different when you’re in every single episode, a part of all the press, and everything little thing that happens, as opposed to a recurring where you sort of come in and out. But you know, during the pilot, we actually became friends with the network reps that were there on set every day and they were so cool. Since then, one of my best friends works at AMC on the show and we all truly love them. They’re like part of our family. And Lionsgate’s been incredible, we see them at press things and are like “Hey! How are you?” So it feels like a smaller family, which is nice, compared to the huge corporation that a network can be sometimes. I mean, I’m sure there are a lot of great network people too, so I don’t wanna bad mouth anyone (she laughs)… but I love my experience with AMC and Lionsgate.

TVV: How did this project come about for you?

EM: I just auditioned for it. I don’t really go out for pilots, and never have. This was the first pilot I ever got and the first pilot I ever did… which is kinda crazy for an actor who’s been acting for like 19 years. So this was literally first, first, and first. I just went and auditioned for it because I thought it was a great script… a great part… and I was kinda like, “Wow… a 1960s advertising agency… on what network? (she laughs) Don’t they just show movies?” I think we all had the same reaction, like “on AMC?” But the script was so good, you couldn’t argue with it. And then the fact that we had (creator) Matt [Weiner] and his history with The Sopranos, and (producer) Scott [Hornbacher] who had his history with The Sopranos, and it just sorta grew. Then, when we made the pilot, it was clear how good it was… and how professional… and how everything was being thrown all in. It was clear this was a very special thing.

TVV: Mad Men comes across as a very immersive show. Does it feel that way on set, that you’re actually in that environment?

EM: Yeah, absolutely! I think we’re so used to the environment that nobody bats an eye any more. But we all wear clothes from the 1960s and we have this 1960s set, we’re totally used to it. It just is the show. But it is very immersive, and it is very easy to get into these characters and believe you are in that world. And they do such a good job with everything being so legitimate and so perfect. I mean, you open up your folders and there are actual letters with the Sterling Cooper letterhead… it’s just very legitimate, and that makes your job so much easier.

TVV: So the production crew must be having a ball coming up with stuff for you guys to play with.

EM: Oh yeah, I’m sure. It’s fun, you know? It certainly beats working on a cop show where it’s the same thing every week. We get to really play… and find things… and make sure things are from the right era, from the right year, and that they’re not too late or too early. It’s great.

TVV: The series came out of the gate with guns blazing to explore the seedy underside of corporate American life in the ’60s, with its blatant misogyny and abhorrent lack of truth in advertising. Did you experience any push back from people who were put off by the tone of the show?

EM: No, actually. I’ve gotten a lot of people saying, “Yeah, that’s exactly how it was.” I mean, I don’t come into contact with a lot of people who lived in the era, because all my friends are my age… my father’s from England, and my mom is from Chicago and didn’t grow up in that atmosphere… but from everything that we’ve heard, with people coming up to us, and people talking about the show, everyone agrees that’s what it was like. Of course, there’s a couple people who disagree that weren’t apart of it, but I think that would be true now, if you said “this and this and this is going on in 2008,” I’m sure there would be people who would say, “Well, I’m not a part of that!” You know? I mean, I’m sure not every single person was drinking throughout the day. I’m sure some people were being a bit better. But I’ve found that the people who have come up to me — young people, old people, men, women — are from all walks of life, and that’s been cool.

TVV: The new season premieres July 27, and Peggy’s got a lot on her plate, with having just been promoted and given birth to a baby boy. What adventures lie ahead for her in Season Two?

EM: I think that she’s going to become better at her job, she’s going to become even more ambitious, and she now has a big secret she has to hide. That gives her a lot of reality with Don (Jon Hamm), so I think there’s sort of a mutual understanding there. Peggy is still going to be Peggy. She’s not going to have some kinda of big metamorphosis and become a raging bitch. She’s still Peggy. She’s still naive and sweet and professional, but she’s definitely had a huge thing happen to her… and that can change a person.

TVV: Can you see Peggy becoming a role model for young girls? Granted it’s a throwback to the ’60s, but she’s a young woman bucking the system, proving to people that she’s much more than anyone gives her credit for.

EM: Yeah, absolutely! I think she represents that era… that movement of women. January (Jones) represents the wife and mother. Christina (Hendricks) represents this other type of woman who just embraces her sexuality and is very happy with her life, going into the Swingin’ Sixties kinda thing. And Peggy represents the movement of women who wanted to stand next to the men in the workplace. And I love that… that my character is so exciting and important to the show. There’s a lot of women who wouldn’t have the jobs they have today, without these women having done what they did, and put up with what they put up with. It’s an incredibly fruitful field for drama, you know?

TVV: Did Matt and the writing team get together with the cast before the season and talk about an overarching theme or where your individual characters are headed?

EM: Sometimes we talk with Matt about it… a little bit. But you don’t want to talk about it too much because things often change and you don’t wanna get set in an idea. When you get scripts like these, you develop a very strong trust for where it’s going. Matt and I made an agreement at the very beginning of the first season that if I didn’t like something, I would tell him… and if he didn’t like something, he would tell me… and it’s never happened. I’ve never had to go to him and say “I don’t think Peggy would do that” or “I don’t like the direction Peggy is going.” It’s always perfect. It’s always much better than I could have thought of. So there’s a trust between the actors and the writers. We have the highest opinion in the world of these writers. We think they’re brilliant… and no one is going to question them.

For more information:

Read Judge Dan Mancini’s review of Mad Men: Season One

Visit the show’s Official Site

View the Season Two trailers