My SoCal Lifestyle with Entertainment, Celebrity Gossip and Pinup Girls
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Oh the frightening movie this would have been if Nic Cage had been cast as Lincoln instead of Daniel Day Lewis. More entertaining, though? Yes, undoubtedly.
The Big Bang Theory’s Simon Helberg gives us a peek into what could have been.
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There’s only one episode left of Mad Men, so it was nice to see my favorite character Harry Crane make an appearance on last night’s show. Swim trunks and all!
Now we have an interview with Rich Sommer, who plays Harry. Of course the discussion includes his late 60s California inspired wardrobe (Hello ascot!) and his ties to The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper).
Q: Harry is so fashion-forward now. What are your thoughts on his new look?
A: I love it… I think it’s indicative of a guy who is keeping up with the people that he’s trying to do business with. If you look at that episode where they went to California recently, he certainly fit in at that party better than Don or Roger did. I reap the benefits of it too because it’s so ridiculously fun to wear that stuff.
Q: What is it like shooting the California scenes vs. the New York scenes?
A: It’s always fun to shoot on location… It was kind of a crappy day. It was sort of rainy. And they somehow, you know, magically made it look like sunny California. All of the background actors were appropriately suited, and it was a fun chance to see those guys in a different place than just Sterling Cooper.
Q: When you’re on location, does it change the way you interact with your cast mates?
A: We have all now been working together for going on seven years… And our relationships with each other are pretty solid outside of the show. It’s always funny to see how people interact with each other on the show because that sometimes feels foreign knowing what it’s like when the cameras aren’t rolling. It’s a pretty warm group, and there are so few very warm characters on the show. [Laughs]
Aaron Staton (Ken Cosgrove) and Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) on set of Mad Men
Q: Matthew Weiner does, to a degree, write around your own personalities though, right?
A: It was more true I think back in the beginning in the show and, well, it’s still true — you see Ken Cosgrove tap dance and that’s clearly Aaron Staton who somehow had that in his back pocket.
Q: How do you think you would have handled having to tap dance on Mad Men?
A: What a nightmare it would have been for everyone involved. I think no amount of training in the two weeks before we would have shot that scene would have gotten me anywhere close to where Aaron Staton was. But Ken Cosgrove is more of a smooth guy. Harry would have screwed something up, which is more my speed anyway.
Q: Joan mentions that Harry’s got “a computer the size of this restaurant.” Is it weird to think about that now, when practically everyone’s got a smartphone?
A: Harry was ahead of the curve getting into TV in the first place, and I think he’s maintained that position technology-wise, making sure that he is the person to kind of introduce the new stuff that’s out there. According to what Joan says, and clearly according to the amount of business that Harry is doing, he seems to be doing something right.
Q: Harry resents Joan for becoming a partner (and how she did it). How do you deal when someone else gets what you think you deserve?
A: I’d be more like how Harry was back when he found out that Ken Cosgrove was making more than he was… He sort of went and meekly asked for something, and it ended up working out. I think I’m more in that camp. I’m less of a storm-into-a-meeting-and-blow-up kind of guy, but the feelings come from the same place, especially in particular with Harry… We’re seeing him react differently to that feeling of being underappreciated.
Q: Talk about shooting the scene where you verbally spar with Pete after MLK’s assassination…
A: I love working with Vinny [Kartheiser], and I think Vinny and I might be at our best when we’re screaming at each other. [Laughs] Thankfully we are a very tight cast… That being said, it’s always fun to play an emotion, any emotion. And Vinny and I — and I think anyone would tell you this — are two of the louder people around that set. If we’re not yelling at each other about a dominoes game at base camp, then we might as well be yelling at each other about MLK in the office.
Q: You were in Harvey on Broadway with another TV star: Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory. What do you think it is that still attracts TV actors to Broadway?
A: One of the things that is so amazing about doing a TV show over the years is getting to play one single character that evolves over time… But the flipside is that you’ve played the same guy for seven years. So what’s so enticing about doing a play is that you get to do that thing that got you into acting in the first place… There’s a real attraction to being able to play, to just play. And that’s something that theater affords you.
Q: Your legacy on Mad Men will last forever; how do you feel about your plays not being quite as documented?
A: It’s bittersweet. Last year my five-year-old got to come and see Harvey, but she won’t get to see this new play I’m in [The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin] because it’s not quite for kids. It’s a bummer that she will not have seen this show… It is ephemeral. It is alive only as long as we are doing it and then it is gone.
Q: Do your kids ever say funny things to you about being on Mad Men?
A: They saw pictures of the California getup, and they loved it. And they think my hair and sideburns this year are hilarious. They talk about my “Mad Men hair” because there’s only so much I can do to undo the helmet that I’ve been wearing all day.
Q: What’s the weirdest thing anyone’s said to you about Mad Men?
A: The most common is that I look so much heavier or fatter on TV… Maybe I carry myself a little differently. Harry is a little schlubbier than I am, hopefully, but yeah, that’s the go-to. I think people think it’s a nice thing to say, but actually it’s not. [Laughs]
Q: You’re friends with Dyna Moe, who did Mad Men: The Illustrated World. How did you two meet?
A: We met at the Upright Citizen Brigade Theater, which is an improv theater in New York… Dyna had always done art for the improv community, flyers and whatnot… On the first season of Mad Men, we had only moved to L.A. in March, so when the holidays rolled around, I wanted to send out a card to the cast and crew, and I called to Dyna to see if she would be willing to do a little mockup of the show… Of course everyone’s reaction to that first card was strong… And that style really resonated because it’s a style that’s loosely based on the ’50s and ’60s.
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We’ve heard from the women of Mad Men, January Jones (Betty Francis/Draper) and Jessica Pare (Megan Draper) and now we get to hear from one of the men: Christopher Stanley aka politico Henry Francis.
Everything from Betty’s change in hair color to his part in Oscar winner movies.
Q: What’s been your favorite Betty and Henry moment so far?
A: Most recently, in the bedroom, when I come in and talk to Betty and tell her that I’ve been approached for the seat in the Senate and she’s really taking an interest. But you also see that she’s conflicted, but you see that Henry is conflicted too… I like those kinds of scenes where you see them working it out and sort of trying to help each other.
Q: Betty teased Henry in a pretty shocking way about being infatuated with Sally’s friend. What did you think when you read that scene?
A: [Laughs] Well, I was a little nervous, but you have to take in the context of who the characters are. It’s Betty’s kind of awkward attempt to tease Henry and to try and have a moment with him and try to get a reaction from him. It’s actually really quite innocent, but true to form, Betty goes too far.
RELATED: Interview with Mad Men’s January Jones (Betty Francis/Draper)
Q: Which do you prefer: Dark-haired Betty or blonde Betty?
A: Blonde. It’s not that I have a preference for blondes… I just think that Betty is already a depressive. [Laughs] She can walk through the world with a level of sadness and grief that most of us would find intolerable… And I think the blonde hair played against her inclination towards being a little sour.
Q: Would you have been as smooth as Henry was reacting to it?
A: I can understand why she did it. It was an act of self-empowerment… I think Henry probably feels the way I feel and prefers her as a blonde, but he’s a smart guy… If she came in in dreadlocks, that might be something else.
Q: What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned about NYC politics from this role?
A: I’ve learned how politicians are groomed and fabricated to be presented as an image that is saleable to the public. In a sense it’s similar to what the guys at the agency are doing, except there is a political lean to it. He sells a product. His product that he molds and fashions is people, for the public.
Q: Do you know if there’s a specific, real-life NYC politician that Henry is based on?
A: In researching Henry, there were several advisors to Rockefeller and Lindsay, and I think he just might be a kind of conglomeration of several different of those guys.
RELATED: Jessica Pare (Mad Men’s Megan Draper) Talks Relationships, Fashion, and French
Q: You’re often cast as authority figures and cops. What do people see in you that makes them think of you that way?
A: I guess I just look like a lot of cops or military guys out there… I’m a little bit of a throwback, I think. I’m not what I’d call your soft male, or a metrosexual. I’m kind of a guy’s guy, at least on the surface. But I consider myself a really progressive guy. If you talk to my wife, I’m pretty much just a softie.
Q: That’s funny because Henry is the sensitive one compared to some of the other guys on Mad Men…
A: That’s what I like about Henry, and that’s very similar to me. If you judge him upon meeting him, at first you’d think he’d be similar to the other male characters, but once you get to know him, there’s this whole other side of him that’s kind and very different.
Q: You were in two Oscar-winning movies last year, Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. Did you sense the trajectory of either film going in?
A: I knew that they were going to be big films, just because of the people attached to direct… But I had no idea they would be award-contending films… I was very excited to be a part of it, but you never what’s going to happen with any film that you do.
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After last week’s romp through the ex-es, we got a preview of what this week’s drink filled Mad Men will be. While these glimpses rarely make sense especially when the episode finally airs, it’s still fun to find out how the nonrelated dramatic points were sewn together.
It appears that something fabulous is going on with Joan. Could Bob, the guy from the accounts department, have proposed? She does seem to be glowing.
Then there’s a flight for Don and Roger. Where are they headed? Detroit, Los Angeles, upstate?
Then we finally have Megan, who just realized that Don is cynical. Oh Megan, Don is a waste of human space not fit for anything but selling nylons. Get out while you still have your soul.
And if you want a refresher on last week, here ya go.
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Oh people have a lot of spare time on their hands when it comes to Mad Men conspiracies. While fun, they are often mis-steps. But when it comes to Matt Weiner, anything is up for grabs, I guess.
There is a rumor going around that Megan Draper, played by Jessica Pare, will be murdered at the end of this season, a la Sharon Tate by the Manson family. With a whole list of “evidence”, my favorite is the white shirt with the red star Megan was wearing in the last episode. Tate wore the same shirt in an Esquire photo shoot, and when asked Mad Men’s costume designer said that it was no coincidence.
Hmmmm…. So what do you think? With all of the violence being highlighted this season do you think Megan will be getting offed?
Megan image via AMC
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