After captivating audiences in one of the most talked-about shows in a generation, CHRISTINA HENDRICKS discusses style, reviving the small screen and life after Mad Men with JENNIFER DICKINSON.
It is the beginning of the end. After eight glorious, influential years, Mad Men, the TV show that has dominated column inches, awards seasons and runways, debuts the first half of its seventh and final season next month. And Christina Hendricks, aka Joan Holloway – its breakout female star – is just as apprehensive about its demise as its devoted viewers are.
“I am incredibly nervous about it,” says Hendricks, 38. Legs curled up on the couch, relaxed now after the long day’s shoot, she is dressed like a pneumatic version of Katharine Hepburn in chic, loosely tailored pieces that serve to heighten, rather than disguise, her feminine appeal. “I think I will miss it more than I can fathom right now,” she admits with a small smile.
The actress, it seems, is a true fan. It often happens that stars of such shows come to have a bittersweet relationship with the roles that launch them. Grateful, yet trapped, hemmed in by the structure of a heavy filming schedule, resisting the typecasting that can occur with such mainstream recognition. But Hendricks has no such qualms. “I feel like I have my cake and eat it too,” she smiles, lips to eyes.
It helps that Mad Men has challenged the apparent rule that the quality of hit shows diminishes with every new season. “I am a TV addict. But so often I find a show that I get really excited about, and then by the second season I’m like, ‘I don’t care anymore’,” nods Hendricks. “The consistency [in Mad Men] really is something to be proud of. And that is down to Matthew Weiner [the show’s creator] and his writing.”
In the porcelain, hauntingly beautiful flesh (when she stares into the distance for our photographer, Yelena Yemchuk, the mood in the room suddenly echoes the gathering clouds of the unusually ominous LA weather), Hendricks is somehow more physically fragile than her celebrated alter ego, the all-knowing, fabulously flawed Joan Holloway. Those rightfully exalted curves are alluring but not particularly exaggerated or extraordinary. They simply make sense. Beautiful, womanly sense.
Hendricks’ personality is softer, too, though there is a steeliness that lies beneath – a Joan-ism? Has playing Holloway for so long had a lasting effect? “It’s hard to tell. Are the things I’ve learned because of the show? Because of the character? Or is it just because eight years have gone by and I would have grown anyway?” she says, having clearly given this idea some thought. “If you can’t learn or hope to gain some characteristics from playing a role for eight years, then you’ve missed an opportunity.” So what has she gained from Joan? “I think some of her ability to bounce back after something horrible arrives in your life. That and her confidence.”
Holloway was originally intended to be a guest part, with no lasting involvement in the storyline. But Hendricks’ on-screen magnetism ensured her not just a recurring role, but a starring one. And now, as the characters make their way towards Weiner’s expertly woven crescendo, it is Joan we are rooting for. How would Hendricks write her character’s ending? “I want her to do the Thelma & Louise thing with Roger. Just go out with a bang. My fear is that Joan is going to turn off the lights of the office that night and just go home.”
Right now, Hendricks is as much in the dark about how the story plays out as we are; the first half of the series has been filmed, but the second is still under wraps. Yet she is feeling the pressure of expectation. “Were you happy with the way Prison Break ended? Were you happy with the way Breaking Bad ended? I’m sure we’ll be added to the list,” she says. Her statement neatly illustrates the changed nature of television over recent years. The small screen has become as relevant as movie theaters in terms of quality productions and A-list stars, and Mad Men has been a key player in that turnaround. “I would like to think we were contributors in raising the bar,” Hendricks says, with care. “The Sopranos before us certainly did. And it’s exciting for me to end the show knowing there are some true-quality roles out there. I can go out there and find something good.”
Hendricks is right, of course. The Sopranos, 24, even the more briefly shining star of Lost – all played a part in television’s reinvention, the actors in them becoming household names with Hollywood cache. But none of these shows captured the attention and imaginations of the fashion world, influencing runways from Louis Vuitton to Prada, quite like Mad Men did.
“It was never a question that viewers wouldn’t get it – that combination of intelligent writing and amazing interior design, mixed with extremely well put-together fashion,” muses Hendricks. “I don’t think we’d seen men like Don Draper [the show’s protagonist] for a long time. And the women in tailored dresses… When the show came out, people were wearing jeans with their underwear out – maybe one of the worst crimes in fashion we’ve ever had. I think people were craving that tailored sense of style.”
The style of the show is, coincidentally, Hendricks’ own personal aesthetic. “I like clothes that are vintage-inspired and whimsical. You need some basics in your closet, but I always tend to go to the piece that has a sparkle on it, or a pearl.” Today, she is wearing brogues, a very un-Joan state of affairs. “These flats hurt my feet more than heels,” Hendricks bemoans with a grimace. “I’m good in a three-inch heel, that is the most comfortable for me.”
The actress moved forward a few style decades for her upcoming movie, the Ryan Gosling-directed thriller How to Catch a Monster. “The clothes were very ’80s inspired – all sorts of ’80s blouses and pencil skirts,” she says. Working with her Drive co-star again was evidently a pleasure, and she describes Gosling as “like a kid on Christmas Day” in his debut directing role. “He is awesome,” she bubbles. “He was so excited on set. He would be watching a scene and go, ‘Yes!’. It made you feel great.”
The other man making Hendricks feel great about herself is her husband of five years, fellow actor Geoffrey Arend. “He is the most fun person to hang out with,” she smiles. “There is never a moment that I’d rather not be with him.”
Without Mad Men dominating her time for seven months a year, more time with Arend is on the horizon – there is talk of the two doing a play together. But for now, there is still a long, reluctant goodbye to be said to Joan.
“I’ve put in a request for several items from her apartment that I would like to purchase, I’d like those reminders,” says Hendricks. “I recently saw Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn from Breaking Bad [which ended last year] and I said, ‘How did you guys do it?’ It seems everyone has their own way. But there will be a grieving period, for sure. In the past, when characters have left the show, everyone shows up on set and there’s a big celebration with all the tears... So we’ll make sure everyone is there for that last moment.” We wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Mad Men Series 7 starts on April 13.
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