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David Needleman

We tried to get Elisabeth Moss to spill the juicy details on her love affair with Fred Armisen and her take on Jeremy Piven's mercury levels, but all she wanted to talk about was work. Which is cool, because her job at the moment is Speed-the-Plow, which has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for the 26-year-old star. You'll recall that Piven quit the production in December, incurring widespread snickering, and his role has been subsequently filled by three different actors.

The production's loss is your gain, however; the inimitable William H. Macy is currently filling Piven's discarded shoes, and is reportedly putting him to shame, which surprises no one. Another reason to see the show before it closes February 22nd is the riveting Raúl Esparza, who brings his signature cerebral menace to the proceedings. And, as if you needed any further convincing, there's the delightful Moss, who last week told us all about the her experiences with Macy, Mamet, and Mad Men.

Congratulations on your engagement! Oh, thank you very much. Thank you.

I didn’t even know you and Fred were involved until I read you were getting married. Yeah, not a lot of people did, really. We're kind of private people so we don’t really talk about it a lot. But yes.

Was his proposal humorous? Surely there was some sort of gag involved, eh? [Laughs] No, not at all. I’m not telling the story to anyone because I want to keep it to myself. It’s very special to me. It was absolutely perfect.

He’s really into music. Are you attending a lot more indie rock music concerts now? No, we both work all the time so there’s not really a lot of time to go. He is not only into it but is also very knowledgeable. He played with Yo La Tengo during their Hanukkah run and I went to go see that. We saw Wilco together because he’s friends with them, but that’s about it.

I assume he’s been able to come see Speed-the-Plow, right? Does he give you any notes? Ha, no. He’s actually seen it quite a few times. He’s always very sweet and very impressed.

This whole thing with the cast changes... I’m sure it’s been a headache for the producers, but I was thinking it must be fun for you to get to mix it up and work with new people. Is that true? That’s exactly right. That’s actually very much my attitude about it. I think people are always like, “Oh my gosh, how can you be so positive about it?” But I do feel that way, I feel like I’ve gotten to now work with five great actors on stage, including Raúl [Esparza], but I get to work with William H. Macy now which is something I never anticipated, so I’m having a blast.

How do you think your portrayal of Karen has changed in response to the new actors? I definitely feel that it has changed; articulating it is a little difficult but I think it's changed in the sense that each of those actors is so different and brings something completely different to the part, so you can’t help but sort of react off of that, which has been interesting actually. Working to maintain what we had worked out originally in spite of these changes and figuring new ways to keep that character the way it should be, it’s like having a new energy on the stage.

But I don’t know if it's necessarily changed my performance or my idea of who Karen is. It’s been more about rereading. When you have an actor come in who's only had a week of rehearsal, there is no relaxing, you have to be on your toes. You have to really be listening and sometimes save them if they go off, and it’s kind of a great acting exercise to be present all the time.

I can imagine it must be very exciting. Yeah, you know, ordinarily you might hit January after the holidays and it’s cold and you’ve been doing it for three months and the excitement is all gone, and I can imagine you might start to get a little bored. But not around Speed-the-Plow. It’s nothing but excitement.

Even though they are separated by decades I was thinking about the comparison between Karen and Peggy in Mad Men and that they’re both ambitious and they’re both underestimated at times. Yeah, I think it’s very true; they are sort of underestimated. I think they have a lot of similarities, Peggy and Karen, in the sense that they are both ambitious and smart. But I think that they are different in the sense that Peggy is very quiet and private and doesn’t like talking about her feelings and Karen can't help but constantly be telling the truth and constantly talking about how she feels. It’s interesting sort of discovering the differences between them as well as the similarities.

Has David Mamet had much input in the production? Has he come and seen it and given you feedback? Yes he’s been great. I think he’s had this great combination of supporting us and being a part of it but letting Neil [Pepe] direct it and letting us do our jobs as well. We had dinner with him before we started rehearsals and he seemed very excited about it. He came during previews and saw two other performances, which is amazing. And he had incredible positive things to say to all of us about the production which is, you know... The man doesn’t mince words! And I can imagine if he didn’t like it he would say so. And it was far, far from that. He was so supportive and so happy with it; we were floored. And you know you kind of always get the idea he’s got his eye on it but I think he’s also very happy with the production, so I don’t think there’s been a lot of meddling that’s been necessary.

Have any other people who were involved in the original production come and see it, for instance Madonna? No, Madonna hasn’t but Felicity [Huffman] has seen it several times now. She replaced Madonna in my part, and obviously William's in it now so she’s come to see it several times. That’s been really cool for me because I’m a fan of hers; she’s an incredible actress and she played my part so it’s been awesome to have her come and support me in it, and with me doing the show with her husband now it's kind of funny. She sent him flowers on opening night; she’s been nothing but really kind about it.

What can you tell me about sharing the stage with Raúl, who is so damn brilliant? I saw him in The Homecoming and he’s just mesmerizing. Yeah, what can I tell you about that? Honestly I can go on and on. I remember seeing him for the first time when we went into the rehearsal space and I could watch him. I knew he was so good, but I was so absolutely floored at what he was going to bring to this play. And going out there with him is the most fun I’ve ever had on stage. He’s so gifted obviously but he’s also really, really there for you. Sometimes there are moments I kind of get lost in watching how good he is and I have to remember that I have to, you know, do my part too. We have a lot of fun.

He was really outspoken about his feelings when Jeremy quit the show; what was your reaction when Jeremy quit? Unfortunately, I can’t really comment on it because it’s kind of the route I’ve decided to take, the no comment route. Just because I know they are involved in things with the producers and I just don’t want to get involved in it. I will say that he gave an incredible performance when he was there and he was fantastic in the play and I know I'm being sort of very political but he was. I think the biggest feeling I have on the whole thing is that I’m very proud of us, that we l survived under such a potential blow to this sort of fantastic production we’ve put on. And not only did we survive it but with flying colors, but we got this great re-review by Ben Brantley.

And yesterday the producers announced that they would recoup their investment. Do you get a bonus? Yeah, I don’t know!

Did they throw a party or anything? No, but we were really, really, really pleased because we all worked so hard on this, and then we went into working double-time when Jeremy left. We literally put sweat and hours into the survival of the play, so I think it means a lot of us on a personal level that we survived and succeeded.

Any chance it could be extended? I don’t think so, I think they announced it’s closing on the 22nd as planned. I believe another play is coming into that theater. I’m not sure about the details of what prompted that decision, but I think there’s a general idea that we’ve done really well and we survived and we're going to go out on top.

It was announced that Mad Men will have another season; are you going to start working on that next? Yeah, that’s going to happen in the spring, April or May probably. And I have a couple films I’m doing as well but the deals aren’t closed yet so I’m not allowed to talk about it. But I'm really excited about it.

Now that you’ve been doing Mad Men which is this huge hit, do you have people recognize you a lot? Do you get weird comments about Peggy's wardrobe? Yeah, exactly. I do actually. I hear all manner of things. People are really kind and they really love that character. I have people come up to me and say, "I love Peggy!" Which is great because I helped create her so I’m kind of proud of that. And people definitely say funny things, like I usually hear that I look better in person which is one of the things you don’t really know how to respond to, but I understand. I get a lot of, "You look much thinner in person."

Oh, that’s nice. Yeah, it’s a compliment but you kind of don’t know what to say; you're like, "Thank you."

I read that you recently turned your back on the East Village and moved uptown? [Laughs] I lived in the East Village for most of my time in New York; I love the East Village and it’ll always be kind of a special place to me because it’s my early years in New York. But yes I moved uptown with Freddy, which is nice. I like it. It’s sort of more homey on the Upper West Side.

Do you prefer New York to LA? Yes, I much prefer it.

So you would welcome the opportunity to do more theater here if your schedule permits?Oh, I would love it. If I had my way I would do a season of the show and a play every winter. That would be for me the perfect life.

What is it about New York that appeals to you over LA? So many things. One of them is just the actual look of the city, it’s a beautiful city and I feel it’s just such a prettier city than Los Angeles, even though the weather is great in LA and I grew up in LA, so I’m not going to be an LA-basher. I love shooting Mad Men there, but I just love New York; the architecture, the streets. There’s so much more to do and it’s so much easier to get around and it takes no time to get anywhere. And the culture and the arts in New York is much stronger. I love doing theater and that’s where it is.

If you could change one thing about New York what would it be? Oh my gosh, that’s a good question. Wow. That’s a very good question and I want to answer it well. Sometimes there are a few too many people in Times Square; I’m just going to say that because I’ve been spending a lot of time in Times Square and sometimes, especially during the holidays, there are quite a few people there! So when you’re trying to get to work it’s a bit bothersome. But I’ll qualify that by saying that those same people are enabling the city to continue to be a prosperous city, so I welcome them. As many people who want to come can come and I think they should come to the theater and they should see plays! So I’m supportive of it but sometimes it can get a little crowded.

Yeah, when I have to go to Times Square I find myself wishing I could just teleport myself to where I need to be. Exactly. There’s always that moment when you’re trying to get to work on time and there’s like a hundred people on the sidewalk with camcorders and you’re kind of like "Okay, I wish I could disappear right now."