A stunning portrayal full of mystery and sharp social commentary, vintage looks, attitudes and habits (the drinking! The smoking!), the show is the brainchild of Matthew Weiner, most recently writer and executive producer of “The Sopranos.” And while you shouldn’t expect any Tony Soprano-style mobsters here, Weiner and the cast are quick to point out that these characters are wise guys and bosses in their own right.
How did the idea for this show come about?
Matthew Weiner: It’s actually something I’ve been interested in since high school. I looked at this world, these men who were overpaid and drank too much and smoked too much and were glib and cynical and bit the hand that fed them all the time and showed up late and had no respect for authority…and I thought, Those are my heroes. [Laughs]
What did you think about the end of “The Sopranos”?
Matthew Weiner: All I can say is it’s been a month and I’m still being asked that question, so I would say it worked out the way it was supposed to. [Laughs]
These guys seem so tough, so confident, so take-no-prisoners—are men more enlightened now, or just wusses?
Vincent Kartheiser: I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I think the roles were just more defined back then. I don’t know if you would say it was less “wussy"…you just kind of knew where you fit more. [Now], for both sexes, the line has been crossed a little.
Jon Hamm: My character [Don Draper] falls in the middle of the two generations and straddles both worlds in many ways. He’s got a very different sense of what is right and what is wrong, what is expected and what is not expected of himself as a man, a businessman, a husband, a boss. And so I think his moral compass is a little shifted. Yes, these people were objectifying and taking advantage in a lot of ways, but [back then you couldn’t] just be a bore and this horrible douchebag, for lack of a better word. You had to have a little style, a little grace, a little bit of formality, or you were going to fail.
Matthew Weiner: Now, I can’t even imagine what’s considered appropriate. I had a conversation after the Bill Clinton thing with my mother-in-law about blowjobs. I really wish that had not been part of my life experience… [Laughs]
The costuming on this show is amazing, but it’s gotta be a little uncomfortable being buttoned up and sucked in everywhere…
Jon Hamm: Well, I think for the most part, the costume stuff has to do with the women. They’re locked and loaded into these foundation undergarments…
January Jones: You don’t wear a girdle?
Jon Hamm: I don’t get to wear a girdle. [Laughs]
January Jones: You definitely hold yourself differently when you can only take short breaths. You develop a posture where you hold yourself taller and you may walk a certain way. The hair, makeup and wardrobe has all been researched very well.
Elisabeth, your character Peggy seems sort of wide-eyed and naïve, but at the end of the pilot, she’s inviting men into her apartment—
Elisabeth Moss: Just one man.
OK, a man into her apartment…can you talk about that contradiction?
Elisabeth Moss: What’s so interesting about Peggy is no matter what she’s going through or what she’s doing, she’s very honest. It’s really fun to play somebody who is one thing on the outside, and there may be more going on inside than you think.
What about all the smoking? What was it like filming those cigarette-filled scenes?
January Jones: It was like coming home. [Laughs]
John Slattery: Smoking and drinking at the same time. That’s my favorite.
Matthew Weiner: It was ridiculous to try and tell the story without it. It’s a self-destructive, horribly addictive habit that these people suffered from. When I was trying to find these advertising guys who were there to talk to them about it, it was difficult because they’re dead. [Laughs]
Christina Hendricks: I’m a little surprised that it’s such a “thing.” When I saw the pilot and the environment and the offices and the clothes, it just all seemed to work. It seemed to set a scene.
January Jones: Just as much as any of the clothes and the wardrobe. Its just part of those people’s lives.
When this show is over—whenever that day might be—for our sake and the sanity of your viewers, do you promise to end it?
Matthew Weiner: [Laughs]
“Mad Men” premieres Thursday, July 19 at 10 p.m./9c on AMC.
