An interview with Lizzy Caplan for Masters of Sex, Season 2

21 July 2014

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Lizzy Caplan plays Virginia Johnson, a pioneering researcher into the study of the physiological aspect of human sexual response, in More4’s acclaimed US drama Masters of Sex.

 

What drew you to the material of Masters of Sex?

Lizzy Caplan: Well I generally was more drawn towards comedic roles but there was something about this script that I found so deeply fascinating, specifically the character of Virginia. To have the opportunity to play somebody so layered and so nuanced and it's an opportunity that doesn't come around all that often for an actress and certainly not for a comedic actress. And so I knew it was a role that I wanted to fight very, very hard to get. Although I didn't really think my chances of getting it were all that great.

 

Did you have any reservations because it is a period piece?

Lizzy Caplan: I absolutely had reservations. It was something that I had never done before and I've been told for the majority of my career that I'm considered very - that my sensibilities are much more modern than period. And so I had a lot of doubts as to whether or not the producers would be able to see me in the role. And then after they saw me in the role I had a lot of doubts as to whether or not the public would be able to see me in that time period.

 

Did you know anything before you started shooting about Masters and Johnson?

Lizzy Caplan: I didn't. I find that you're either a person who studied Masters and Johnson in school or you didn't. And I did not. So all of my knowledge came from initially the pilot script and then from the book which it was based on...

 

How closely did the first season follow the historical path of these two characters and will the second season do the same?

Lizzy Caplan: Pretty closely in the first season. Their real life story is so fascinating that there's not a lot of need for tinkering. We definitely added some new characters that were not in the book and, you know, they're small things that helped the narrative of the show that weren't historically accurate. For example by the time Masters and Johnson met each other he already had two children with his wife. But they did struggle with fertility issues. And so we wanted to incorporate that into the narrative of the show. In the first season you see them struggling with those fertility issues when he meets Virginia instead of already being a father of two. But as far as the two of them how they met that's all very accurate.

Then as we get into season two and into the future seasons there's still so much left unsaid. It's not a very well documented love story at all. The source material is really one book - Masters of Sex by Thomas Maier - and it's all Virginia's point of view as well as other doctors and people who knew them. But it's - we don't get Masters' point of view because he had already passed away by the time the book was written. And so there are a lot of ambiguities that we can take advantage of because even though it's from the perspective of a person who was there at the time of the book, she was 80 years old and hindsight is not the same thing as how you're feeling about situations and relationships in the moment.

 

Could you imagine doing the same job as Virginia?

Lizzy Caplan: No I could not. I could not imagine doing all the jobs that Virginia does whether it's be a research assistant or a mother or an ex-wife to multiple men. Virginia's plate is always very, very full. I marvel at how capable she is of handle - I mean she doesn't necessarily handle everything well all the time but she certainly does the best that she can. And no I have no sort of scientific aptitude. So I think I would be not a great partner in a medical setting.

 

Where do you think Virginia got the strength to flourish in such a male dominated environment?

Lizzy Caplan: One of Virginia's number one characteristics that everybody talks about when they talk about her - especially people who knew her, and even well into her middle age and even her old age -

was she possessed this charisma, this sex appeal, this magnetism that everybody responded to. And to me that's the most impressive part about her. That she was so able to connect with people and people were so drawn to her.

She was known as this extraordinarily sexy woman and in many situations that's not seen as an asset at all. We explore that in the show a bit as well. Other women have been distrustful of her. Men tend to take advantage of her. But she found the one man and the one job and the one purpose that celebrated those strengths in her. Her ease at which she moved through the world of sexuality and her - the level of comfort she had with sex and her own body. These things that were not considered assets in the time period and certainly not in that part of this country became immense assets for her.

 

In a way the show depicts the earliest forms of feminism. Do you think the feminist struggle is still important and what do you think is the most pressing issue?

Lizzy Caplan: Absolutely it is. I think on the surface it can seem a bit less glaring as it was in 1950s, certainly the mid-west 1950s, but it doesn't take all that much digging to realize that we still have quite a long way to go before we reach true equality between the sexes in all areas. It's absolutely as much of a struggle as it was for Virginia in the 50s then as it is for women today trying to juggle work and a home life. I've talked to so many mothers who feel like they're just letting everybody down all of the time which is something Virginia definitely struggles with.

 

Do you want to write or direct one day yourself?

Lizzy Caplan: Yes. I would love to. I would love to. The idea of directing this show seems very daunting. On the one hand just because the amount of work that's required just solely acting on it. But I think that directing on this would provide a safety net that would not exist if I went off and tried to direct something on my own. I know this crew very, very well. I feel like they would help me out, hold my hand along the way. So I think that would be a really good starting off point although I have no immediate plans to do so. And writing, yes, I do dabble in writing but I don't have the confidence level required to finish things. But I’m working on it.

 

There is nudity in the show but it speaks very differently to many other shows about sex. Does this make a difference to you as an actress in these scenes?

Lizzy Caplan: Yes. Of course. It requires a different and unique type of mental preparation going into a scene like that but there are so many on our show that it's no longer terrifying. I feel very safe walking into those scenes. And most importantly I have yet to feel that one nude scene or a sex scene in our show is gratuitous or unnecessary and if I did think it was gratuitous or unnecessary I would absolutely say something and it would be a conversation.

Our show on the surface is about sex but it is truly about so much more. It's about intimacy and human relationships and love and the complications that arise from the sexual experience. And also knowing a bit about Virginia Johnson, a fair amount at this point, I know how comfortable she was with her body and how comfortable she was with her own sexuality. And it's my responsibility in playing her to be equally as confident.

 

How do you tackle the hard sex scenes?

Lizzy Caplan: It's gotten progressively easier and it wasn't all that difficult to begin with on this show. I feel that every one of these sex scenes is 100% justified in moving the story forward. All of them are used as tools in the narrative, not sex scenes for the sake of sex scenes. I have the most capable, caring and charismatic scene partner I could possibly ask for in Michael Sheen and the story we're trying to tell happens beyond the nudity. The nudity is not the story and both of us completely understand that. And we also know the job that we were hired to do and the people we were hired to play. And the number one priority has to be doing a job that really - what the real Masters and Johnson did was so incredible. Our job is to just portray it. You know, like they have the real hard jobs. We have the much easier job of being beautifully lit on a television set as we tell their story.

And so I think we owe it to them to do this job to the best of our abilities and not be squeamish about it and luckily neither one of us is particularly squeamish about it.

 

This season sort of starts off with the characters - especially Virginia - dealing with the aftermath and reaction to what happened at the end of Season One. Do you see any parallels there in terms of the reaction the show itself got after the first season?

Lizzy Caplan: I think that people expected our show at first blush to be one thing and then quickly realized within the span of just the pilot that the story we were trying to tell was something completely different. And so I hope that audiences expect from us something a little unique, off the mark, off kilter if by how we deal with a moment like the final moment of season one which is such a cinematic moment. Something we've all seen before. The man showing up on the woman's doorstep in the rain but what we do with it, I think, is more interesting than what you usually see. And I think that echoes hopefully what people thought about the first season as a whole.

 

They say that Season Two is a different animal but what are we talking about? Is it more sex, less sex, different sex? In what way is it different?

Lizzy Caplan: Season Two absolutely is a different animal from Season One. I believe that it had to be. All of the foundations that we established in Season One have led to some pretty serious consequences, consequences that we begin to delve into in Season Two. These are no longer two strangers who are working together. These are two people in a relationship. Not a straightforward romantic relationship, not a straightforward love relationship but certainly a relationship. These are two people who are intrinsically tied together. And how they figure that out will hopefully be fascinating for many, many seasons to come. It's very important for us on our show to not ever be telling just a straight love story because that was not the true story of these two people.

Masters and Johnson had very conflicting feelings about one another over the next, you know, X amount of decades until they both passed away and we want to keep that ambiguity and that confusion forever present in the show. And I think Season Two that's certainly what we're striving to do. Hopefully people agree that we've done a good job in doing it.

 

Can you tell us about the relationship in Season Two between love and sex?

Lizzy Caplan: I do think that it's possible to keep them separate but I think there's an expiration date on that separation. Inevitably you have to pay the piper and somebody gets attached. Whether it's the man or the woman I do think it fluctuates. I do think it's unfair for people to automatically assume that the woman gets attached before the man does. I don't find that to be true. But relationships are complicated and sexual relationships are even more complicated. And no matter how hard a person tries to play it cool eventually if you feel something for somebody you can't hide from those emotions forever. They start coming up in very inconvenient ways.

 

A lot has been made about your scenes with Michael Sheen on the show, and very rightly so, but it seems like the ones that you share with Julianne Nicholson are just as sort of pivotal to the show this year. I was wondering could you talk a little bit about how that relationship deepens in Season Two?

Lizzy Caplan: Absolutely. That is one of my very, very favourite parts of the first season but especially the second season. And it truly is a testament to the strength of our writers and honestly the fact that our writers are primarily women and our show creator is a woman. The care given to developing this female friendship - which we refer to as a love story - it's, you know, a friendship but it truly is crafted as a love story. It's so complex and nuanced and, you know, they go through as many ups and downs in their relationship as Virginia goes through with Bill. I think it's a very, very important story to tell, and you see these two women really fall in love with each other and really hold each other up in a way that I don't think is represented as much as it should be on other television shows. Besides that Julianne Nicholson is absolutely somebody who has upped my game and made me a far, far better actress or certainly made me work harder to be a better actress

because she raises the bar so high. I cannot say enough great things about her. I think she's a truly spectacular actress.

 

How are you feeling right now about your Emmy nomination?

Lizzy Caplan: Thank you so much. I'm feeling pretty shocked and extremely excited and happy and it's a lot. It's a lot going on in the old brain right now.

 

So what do you think are your chances? Who would you vote for of your contestants?

Lizzy Caplan: Oh man I'm not even there yet. I'm just trying to enjoy this part for a little bit before getting into the business of wondering who's going to actually win. I can safely say it really is just an honour to be nominated. I don't even care about who wins.