Jared Harris plays Lane Pryce, Sterling Cooper's Chief Financial Officer and a representative of the agency's British parent company. The actor talks to AMCtv.com about playing a normal character (for once), and Lane's similarities to actor Rex Harrison.

Q: Lane Pryce is an outsider at Sterling Cooper. Is that how you felt coming onto the show in Season 3?

A: Yeah, they all know each other so well. They've got a shorthand with each other. So it took a little bit of time getting up to speed. Also, on this particular show they're very strict on you following the script to the letter. That's an unusual thing and takes a little bit of time getting used to. Not that it's a problem; actually there's a certain freedom in it, which I enjoy. Any questions about choices that are made just bounce all the way back up to the top. Thank you so much for taking that one off our shoulders!

Q: You've played both Andy Warhol and John Lennon, both of whom came to prominence in the '60s. Was that helpful in preparing to play Lane?

A: It was the other end of it as far as Lane Pryce is concerned. He's very establishment-orientated. I'm enjoying those kinds of limitations. The restraint this character has compared to the other ones is great fun. But yes, all the research that I did for those characters about what was going on at the time makes that research that I have to do about the '60s a lot easier. I'm already up to speed on a lot of it.

Q: Your parents thought you would grow up to be a lawyer. Can you see any of those qualities in Lane?

A: Oh yeah [Laughs]. I think I'd be a lot more argumentative than Lane Pryce. Lane Pryce is a sort of iron fist and a velvet glove, but he's more velvet glove in the way he won't confront problems head-on. He'll try and find diplomatic ways. I think I enjoy a really good argument and a good battle of wills and wits; I would have been a much more combative lawyer.

Q: You spent several years in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Is that helpful in portraying a proper Brit?

A: I remember the first job I had, even before the RSC, we were doing Treasure Island. And one of the theater members of the company was quite similar to Lane Pryce -- very old-school, incredibly well-spoken, very well-dressed. But when he was a young man he had a very strong Cockney accent. And what happened was he was a tail gunner in the Second World War, and he got very badly wounded and he couldn't speak for ten months. So he had to retrain his muscles like a child does, and the person who taught him how to speak had been trained at drama school. So he learned how to speak the most perfect King's English. Suddenly he couldn't go back to his old life because no one recognized him! Something about that reminds me of Lane because England is such a class-conscious place. At the end of the day everyone knows where you came from. And Lane, wanting to fit into the world, has learned how to behave and speak in a certain way.

Q: You often play villains and eccentric characters. Is it nice to play someone so normal for a change?

JH: [Laughs] Yeah. I'm grateful to Matt for giving me a chance. I imagine some part of that slightly-off quality is what he was after -- it's why he cast me. It's a counterbalance to the normalness of the character. A part of the bargain you make if you come to this country being a foreign actor is that you're going to be playing the villains and strange characters until you get to a certain point: If you put bums on seats, then you'll be playing the lead.

Q: Lane is about the same age your father, Richard Harris, was in the '60s. Did you rewatch his old movies to get a sense of how Lane should act?

A: Acutally not him, because he was more of an alpha male in the sense that Don's character is. He was a kind of rough and tumbling wild, unpredictable, drinking and whoring Irishman. So he wouldn't be useful for Lane. I thought, for my references, a lot more about Rex Harrison, who my mother married after my father. There's a certain genteel quality in the way he carried himself and at the same time he was absolutely bloody minded and could have a filthy temper. He was always more aware of his appearance. I imagine Lane is always aware of presenting a certain demeanor to the public -- to the troops, if you like.

Be sure to also check out the interview with Lane's executive assistant, John Hooker (Ryan Cartwright).