Basket of Kisses December Fundraiser–the Interviews

Jon Hamm on the awesomeness of Mad Men fans and of Basket of Kisses:

It’s just nice to see that when you work on something, and me, in particular, once we start working in the summertime, it’s pretty much an every day all day thing for me, and it’s very long hours. And you’re making these things, and it’s very piecemeal and they don’t care until months afterwards. And so you kind of feel like you’re shouting into a canyon at a certain point. But when you see people kind of take the time to look at them and analyze them and really get it, that feels like, okay, well, at least I’m not making this up. You know, I’m not just doing this for myself; there are people out there that are understanding. And especially on a show that is as dense as our show is, it’s kind of sometimes difficult to dissect. It’s nice that you’ve created this spot where people can go that’s, first of all, sort of friendly, and it doesn’t ever really devolve into name calling or “You’re wrong,” or “You’re an idiot,” or, you know, that stuff. It’s just this sort of nice forum where people can discuss something that they really enjoy. And it’s nice for us, too. I know I’m not the only person on the cast or on the staff that pays attention to it, because it’s a nice thing to say. It’s a nice thing when you’re able to work on something that you’re proud of, and then you can look at people discussing it. It’s a nice thing to have. So thank you to you and your sister and all of your commenters and writers that put the time in to do that, because it really does mean a lot to us.

Lovely Basketcase readers, today we remind you of some of the personal, candid conversations with Mad Men stars (and Matt!) my sister and I (and other Basketwriters) have had the privilege of participating in.

Here is a link to all of our interviews (so far–we always have more in the works) and here are a few additional quotes from those discussions:

Bryan Batt on Wee Small Hours:

…I think it’s such an amazing episode. It speaks on so many levels, of prejudice, and sexual harassment, and homophobia, and you name it. Also, it’s really an episode about impulse, about “I want what I want when I want it, and if I can’t have it, screw everybody.” And that’s dangerous, to act so deeply on impulse.

Elisabeth Moss talks about Peggy’s confrontation of Don in The Fog:

That’s another one of my favorite scenes. That’s just one of those scenes that you get on the show you can have such a great time with; the lines are so good. One of the great things about playing Peggy is that she boils things down to one point and its so simple; one of my favorite lines is “What if this is my time?” To me, this encapsulated her entire arc for the season and was a really beautiful moment for the character. And it encapsulates the whole movement of women at that time in the workplace, in one line: That’s the question.

Michael Gladis on Paul as poseur:

As an actor you can never pass judgment on your own character. Even when you’re playing a villain, you can’t, when you’re in the middle of playing him, view him as a villain. So even if he is a poseur, no poseur thinks of themselves as a poseur. So from my perspective when I’m playing Paul, and in some ways he’s a little bit close to me, and so maybe Mad Men is going to be an extended lesson in humility for me, but he’s someone who wants everyone to know how smart he is, yeah, maybe to a fault, and wants to contribute as much as he thinks he can. I don’t know. I don’t think him dating Sheila is just purely as a trophy black girlfriend, because I know at least from conversations with Matt before the first episode of Season Two, which took place on Valentine’s Day, I remember he told me he was trying to keep it a big secret from me that my girlfriend was black but another person tipped me off. But I did text Matt before we started shooting the first episode, I said, It’s Valentine’s Day, Paul has a girlfriend. Is he in love? And Matt just wrote back simply Yes he is.

Matt Weiner:

I always want to say this: Just because there’s a bleakness to the human condition, there should be some joy in the fact that we’re even recognizing it. That we’re acknowledging it. That we’re acknowledging humanity. It’s something that people avoid because it’s too unpleasant or it’s too complicated. It’s two things at once. Whatever. And I love the idea that there’s this spark of joy under there where you say like ˜Hey, we’re people.’

And Matt Weiner:

You guys have to understand that the fans are my foremost concern. When I write a script, I want the audience to like it, and I want the actors to like it, and I want my wife to like it. In that order… Well, not in that order. My wife’s first.

Go read all our interviews. And please support Basket of Kisses–we thank you!!!