Q&A - Abigail Spencer (Suzanne Farrell)
AMCtv.com chats with Abigail Spencer (Suzanne Farrell) about joining the cast for Season 3, and playing Don Draper's latest "other woman" who just might be Mad Men's first flower child.
Q: When did you first find out about getting the part ?
A: It was a very fast process. People had been telling me I should be on the show, that I have that feel, that look. I had my manager talk to casting. And they had something! A few weeks passed, then I had an audition. My son was seven months old, so I was just happy to get out of the house!
Q: What was the audition like?
A: You walk in the room and are given a few out-of-context scenes with random character names. There was something about the character -- she felt different, more progressive. I met Matt [Weiner], and I liked him so much. He was so clear about what he wanted. He got very serious and said, "This character is like nobody else on the show." I kind of felt like that was it. At 7PM that day they called and said, "Can you be on-set at 7AM tomorrow?"
Q: Are there qualities you share with Suzanne?
A: She thinks with her heart, which I feel is a rare thing. She's a bit odd in that world: Peace, love, all these aspirations, it wasn't normal then. That is something that we share. I loved her simplicity and warm manner. She reminded me of my mother, who was also a schoolteacher, made her own clothes and was still single in her mid-twenties, like Suzanne. Actually, maybe I share more with the character than I think! Matt is infamous for that.
Q: Any fashion envy for the snazzy outfits worn by Rachel Menken and Bobbie Barrett in earlier seasons?
A: My first reaction was, I'm on Mad Men, and I don't get to be Mad Men-ed out? Then I met with Janie [Bryant, costumer designer], and hair and makeup, and they all loved the vision of Suzanne. It was really fun to see how we could present the character in 1963 -- even though she is, in some ways, a flower child ahead of her time. At that time you very rarely see characters that dress plainly, with no makeup, natural hair. I ended up loving it. I was definitely more comfortable than other women on the show!
Q: How does it feel to play Don Draper's latest "other woman"?
A: It felt tricky as an actor. You don't know much about her. It just comes down to committing to what is being called for and being honest about it and being open to whatever. It didn't hurt that Jon Hamm is probably the easiest, nicest, most respectful actor I could ever act with.
Q: Do you remember your teacher from when you were Sally Draper's age?
A: My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Laucella, really introduced me to art. She loved Picasso and modern art so we spent a lot of our days doing art and singing "American Pie."
Q: What's the reaction on the street to your character?
A: What is so great about the show is so many of my friends are uber-fans. On Sunday night or Monday morning, every person I know will have some opinion about what happened on the show. At first, everyone thought I was going to be the new "Patio" girl. Then they thought, "You're a stalker, you're a bunny boiler." You just accept it because there's nothing you can say. Before shooting Episode 9, Matt told me to listen
to a Leonard Cohen song, Suzanne. If you read the lyrics, you'll get it.
Be sure to also hear from some of the "other" women in Don Draper's life:
• The Season 2 interview with Melinda McGraw (Bobbie Barrett).
• The Season 1 interview with Maggie Siff (Rachel Menken).
• The Season 1 interview with Rosemarie DeWitt (Midge Daniels).
Suzanne was one of my favorite songs growing up, and it sure does not make me think of Miss Farrell at all. Plus it didn't come out until 1967. I am glad they did not play it, MW is very strict about accuracy so I sure he knows.
There is that one line, though, "You know the girl's half crazy..." Wonder what's up with that?
I must have missed something with the whole "bunny boiling" thing. I've seen every episode this season at least twice and never noticed her boiling bunnies...or is that just a figure of speech, i know it's a famous reference to basic instinct or one of those movies that came out when i was two years old. can someone explain why everyone is calling Ms. Farrell a bunny-boiler?
@draper daniels...The movie was Fatal Attraction with Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. Miss Farrell doesn't boil any bunnies on MM, but there is a scene in Fatal... where the audience sees a huge pot of something boiling on a stove. It turns out that there is a family pet rabbit in the pot. I won't give more details, you may want to see the movie now with your "grown-up eyes"...
The point is that some posters were sure that Miss Farrell was a stalker, a la Glenn Close in the movie, and kept referring to her act of revenge as "bunny boiling".
Personally, I never trusted the Farrell character but did think the portrayal by Miss Spencer was well done.
I love the character, and Abigail is playing her spot on with what I imagine the writers had in mind. Suzanne is my second favorite of Don's "mistresses" next to Rachel Menken. The scene when they were watching the eclipse drove me crazy, like it did Don. Mixed signals like that are hard to get out a man's mind, for some reason. She is a teacher, so we can assume she is learned and intelligent, but her visceral side is much more striking. It's an enticing juxtaposition.
Great acting, Ms. Spencer...I was not one who particularly thought you were going to end up a bunny boiler.
Actually,I did not really know what to expect...such a different character than the rest of the cast. I did think (and still do) that there will be more coming from Suzanne and her brother...maybe not blackmail, but something!
I could feel the heartbreak when Suzanne was on the phone during the "breakup" with Don. I felt so sorry for her!
My first guess as to where the name "Suzanne" came from was Suzanne Pleshette, who played the school teacher Annie Hayward in Alfred Hitchcock's "THE BIRDS" (1963). There are many names derived from movies (especially Hitchcock's) of that period in MAD MEN.
The character "Midge" recalls Midge in "Vertigo"(1958) played by Barbara Bel Geddes. "Harry Crane" (Rich Sommer) recalls Marion Crane played by Janet Leigh in "Psycho" (1960). And of course, "Peggy Olson" (Elisabeth Moss) whose last name directly refers to Miss Olsen from "The Apartment" (1960).
I thought that the naturalism of Suzanne Farrell seemed odd, especially during the May Pole dance scene. But as time has gone on, her look seems to fit into the increasingly longer and less artificial hair styles of young women as the sixties progressed.
Re the name "Suzanne Farrell": It might be more than a coincidence that the more famous (and real) Suzanne Farrell, the great ballet dancer, was once a teacher of a young Elisabeth Moss.
Yes, SC, Abigail Spencer did a good job at conveying ambiguity to keep viewers guessing about what she was going to do next. Is she crazy? Is she just a burgeoning flower child at least 3 years too soon? Is she like almost every other woman who has had an affair with a married man, secretely hoping he'll leave his wife and run off with her?
She definitely kept us guessing, and I don't necessarily think she's done yet. She may still do something crazy.
So many artist from folk to pop recorded Leonard Cohen's poem turned song, Suzanne, with varying degrees of success. I went through a folk/rock phase in the early 70's when I was in High School, and I loved this and other poem/songs.
Even Neil Diamond recorded a very good version on his "Stones" album. It is a great song, but seems to me to fit an artsy type in Greenwich Village or Chelsea, not Ossining. I always associated the song with the Beat Generation, not late 60's flower children. It suits Midge Daniels a lot more than Miss Farrell in my opinion. Maybe MW is using her to further amplify the dichotomy of Don/Dick's personality.
I don't care for the character or the timing of it, but I love the show and whatever MW wants is OK with me.
Her first appearance gave us the impression she was a budding "flower child" simply because she danced around a maypole... Upon hearing her talk? She sounded totally crazy, and YES we did think Fatal Attraction. Nothing else alluded to her being a free thinker. Just another woman falling for Don's charm. She was weird as hell though......She may come back. She was pathetic when she asked if her job was safe. She'll probably not play with fire again...Weird character. Who knows? Matt leads us down one street-then goes totally for a loop and back to a place you never expected to go.
I liked Suzanne better in the gypsy and hobo episode than in previous episodes. Previously, like many other maddicts, I thought she was turning into a fatal attraction. But last Sunday's episode showed her in a kinder, more sympathetic light. I finally see what Don sees in her.
I hope she never comes back. There is no place in the new SCDP and the life of the newly single and hotter than ever Don Draper for such a needy, clingy character. he just got rid of one basket case; he sure does not need another. didn't anyone notice how she was starting to act in The Gypsy and the Hobo? Don was already starting to "work" her to keep her from getting all weepy and dramatic over their lack of a future.
if Matt weiner wants to give don an exciting new woman for S4, he should think about one of the 60's style models or a secret romance with Joan.