Interview with Elisabeth Moss

9 May 2018

 

Is this a fun set to work on?

Yeah, the set is really fun! It's not as serious as anyone would possibly think it is. Max and I were just singing Taylor Swift songs to each other.

This season is about motherhood. What does it make you think about motherhood, and being a mother in this world, in our world? In Gilead, it seems really scary.

I think this season of the show is so much about that there's so many different ways that you can be a mother and a father. The different approaches that people have to it, and what it really means. I'm not a mother myself, so I can't really speak from that specific place, but I do have a mother. I think that for us, it's about how you want to raise a child in this world, but the kind of world also that you want to bring them into. You want to make sure that there is a place for them and that there is freedom for them.

What does this show represent in your career and also do you get to choose what characters you play? How do you choose a character?

I always try to choose what characters I play based on what’s the best material. The character I play is obviously an important part, but it's almost secondary to the actual script itself. When you get both, a really good character and a really good script, that's amazing like I had in Mad Men and now The Handmaid’s Tale. For me it's kind of just all about what is the best material and the best script and I don't really care if it's a TV show or a play or a movie or big or small, I just go for what's best.

You had a string of three very strong, feminist parts, if I include Top of the Lake. So it seems that you are drawn to this type of role. Is that true?

I think I'm just attracted to strong, complicated characters. And I think that unfortunately we've been living in a man's world for so long, so our challenges are often overcoming the patriarchy. And that's a lot of our drama sometimes, unfortunately. So that is going be a main thrust of the story.

Not just in terms of awards, but culturally, The Handmaid’s Tale is resonating beyond. How does it feel when you see people dressing up in The Handmaid's Tale outfits for protests, and at state legislatures? Did you ever dream that people would actually use the show as a means to communicate what's happening to them, and how they're feeling?

I never fully anticipated that, but I do think that the reasons that we were all attracted to the material, the reason that MGM was attracted, that Hulu was attracted, then Bruce, then me, then Warren, then the audience, then the people who give you the awards, are also the reasons why the audience is attracted to it. It does feel like the right moment for these stories. It does feel like it's speaking to us as humans, like I said, not just in my country, but all over the world. And I think that it was time, in so many ways, for the stories to start to have a voice and start to be told. Did I anticipate there being this crazy storm of the costumes being used at actual, real life protests, or at actual legislature, of course not. But if we've given somebody a symbol for the resistance, I think that’s fantastic. I mean, it's cooler than any TV show.

As far as we've been told, this season is going to be a lot about women solidarity. What do you think about women solidarity?

I think that one of the saddest things about Season 1 for me and Yvonne [Strahovski] was Serena not having solidarity with Offred or with any of the Handmaids. That was shown in any scene where I got play Offred, just not understanding how she could turn her back on her fellow women. Those scenes were very moving for me and for Yvonne. Without spoiling anything, yes, we do get into that more in Season 2 and start raising the question more and more, of why are you doing this? And not just Serena but the other wives as well, why are you turning against your fellow women? Why don't you see what you're doing to them? Don't you see how you're standing in solidarity with the oppression, by not standing up for these women? And we do bring it up, and I think it is really interesting to talk about.

I personally have a lot of women in my life, and I've always worked with women, and work with even more women now, fortunately. My entire team is women except for my lawyers. I've been very fortunate in my female relationships, but I've seen it happen, of course. I've seen women turn on each other, and I think The Handmaid's Tale is a great representation of the extreme of that.

How do we make sure America is not turning into Gilead?

If you know, you have got to tell me. If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be making a TV show. I don't think there's one answer to it, but I do think there has to be a voice for people who have not had it for a very long time. That can be women, that can be men, that can be people of different races and creeds. I think there's definitely a sense of people feeling like they haven't been listened to, and so I think giving everyone a voice is a good starting place.

The series is sometimes really hard to watch. Are you ever afraid maybe it's too hard to watch, maybe it is too much, too violent?

No, I think we temper hard-to-watch aspects of the show so many times with other things. It's so romantic and beautiful and elegant and sad, all at the same time. I was watching an episode the other day that was literally making me laugh out loud. So we temper it a lot of times, but if we were to shy away from the reality of this world, of Gilead, that wouldn't work either. So I think as long as we try to, it's never gratuitous and as long as we are truthful and telling the story, then we're doing what we're supposed to be doing.

Do you know which song is going to be played in the scenes, like “This Woman's Work” with Kate Bush? Did you know that song was going be played?

No, that was Mike Barker, our director's choice. And the first time I watched his director's cut, I just lost it. I was like, "Oh my god, this is so amazing. What an incredible choice." And it's never changed. That choice has never changed in all the cuts. It's always remained the same.

Bruce mentioned this morning, that Offred not wearing makeup makes a lot of sense for the show, because it's part of Gilead’s world. It is so rare on television for so many actresses to be without makeup. Was that something that you and Bruce decided together?

The choice to not wear makeup is in the book, they don't have makeup, obviously. But I will say for Burton LeBlanc, who is the head of our makeup department, there is makeup. But it’s not beauty makeup. There's not makeup that makes you look better, there can be makeup that makes you look worse. Burton does an incredible job with that kind of makeup. I go to the makeup trailer every morning. I find the makeup that Burton does for me is really helpful, because he can make me look more tired, he can make me look more distressed, or like I've been crying, and that actually helps me do my job.