To a generation beaten down by skyrocketing unemployment, plunging retirement savings, and mounting home foreclosures, ‘Mad Men’ offers the schadenfreude-filled message that their predecessors were equally unhappy – and that the bleakness meter in American life has always been set on high.
I don’t have a lot of money. I get some from Mad Men. But I don’t think I’m rich.
The first time I ever experienced someone hating something I did on television was on ‘Boy Meets World.’ I remember these kids coming up to me and calling me a ‘home-wrecker,’ and so I had flashes of that going into my role on ‘Mad Men.’
Matt Weiner is very perceptive; there’s something about the rhythms and the way people speak that is very authentic to the actor. But there are qualities that are dissimilar. The characters on ‘Mad Men’ are struggling with pretty profound unhappiness, but I can tell you this is a happy bunch.
Watching something like ‘Orange is the New Black’ – the development of the characters is amazing. Or ‘Breaking Bad’ or ‘Mad Men’ – those shows went on for so long. You become so invested in those characters, and I think that’s a pretty magic thing.
I live in New York and got a call from my agent saying there was this new role on ‘Mad Men,’ it might be recurring and they’re seeing people tomorrow. I said, ‘OK, this is one of those things where you hedge your bets, use your miles and get on a plane.’ I flew out Tuesday morning and got the job on a Wednesday.
To be quite honest, my fans growing up were my friends’ parents. Like, 30-plus was, like, ‘Mad Men’ age group.
‘Mad Men’ is the greatest example of a perfect cast uniting with a perfect group of writers and creators to create a show that is bold, brutal, and brilliant.
‘Mad Men’ was one of the first shows where Netflix was the first syndication window.
You know, ‘Mad Men’ is notoriously secretive with its plotlines, even with exposing them to actors on the show.
To be honest, I owned one suit before I filmed ‘Mad Men’ – the one suit that you have to have as an adult. Outside of that, I never really felt comfortable in a suit.
I always liked the ‘Mad Men’ philosophy where people don’t really change.
What happens with ‘Mad Men,’ it’s like an Elvis Costello album; I’ll watch it, and then I immediately have to watch it again. AMC will play it back-to-back. I have a tendency to yell at it when my wife’s not around because if she catches me yelling at ‘Mad Men,’ then it gets weird.
The way we dress on ‘Mad Men’ is so associated with old photographs, with people’s parents and grandparents.
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