{"id":14990,"date":"2018-03-27T15:02:51","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T19:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/?p=14990"},"modified":"2018-03-27T15:02:51","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T19:02:51","slug":"elisabeth-moss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/en\/2018\/03\/27\/elisabeth-moss\/","title":{"rendered":"Actress Elisabeth Moss Helps Lay Foundation For the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

With back-to-back television successes, Elisabeth Moss is helping lay the foundation for the next generation of female actors and producers.<\/p>\n


\nThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> may be set in a not-so-distant future, but step through the doors of the sound stages in Toronto, where the TV series was shot secretly, and you\u2019re instantly transported to a puritan past where a rigid caste system and loosely translated biblical values reign supreme. Dimly lit sets and a thick haze comprise the now signature backdrop of the show, which garnered two Golden Globes and 13 Emmy nominations, as the camera pans in \u2014 capturing, an intimate expression on Elisabeth Moss\u2019s solemn face.<\/p>\n

But the moment episodic director Mike Barker yells, \u201cCut!\u201d on that shot \u2014 affectionately dubbed \u201cthe Lizzie lens\u201d by the crew \u2014 the energy immediately shifts. Moss bounds over to Barker to inspect the replays and confers with him. Figuratively swapping the character Offred\u2019s face-concealing bonnet (inspired by the 1940s packaging for Dutch Cleanser) for an executive producer\u2019s cap is an ongoing act for Moss. It\u2019s an intricate tango that this 35-year-old has been dancing well before her first table read of novelist Margaret Atwood\u2019s prophetic dystopian tale came to life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Her tale of success: Elisabeth Moss, \u201cQueen of Peak TV\u201d actor\/producer<\/a><\/div>\n

Everyone on set \u2014 from her co-stars and the crew to her fellow executive producers \u2014 responds to Moss\u2019s enthusiasm and team spirit. During an outdoor shoot on a blustery day, she sends out for rounds of Tim Hortons coffee and doughnuts. And on another day, for a fun break \u2014 and to lighten the mood, given the show\u2019s dismal material \u2014 she arranges for food trucks on-site. Moss also spends long hours dissecting musical choices, potential directors and other \u201cproducery things,\u201d as she puts it, proving that her off-screen role isn\u2019t a vanity title but instead something she takes just as seriously as being number 1 on the call sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized how dedicated Lizzie is as a producer when she was in Australia shooting [TV mystery drama series] Top of the Lake<\/em>, season 2,\u201d recalls fellow executive producer<\/p>\n

Warren Littlefield, who ran NBC in the mid-\u201990s during the Friends<\/em> and Seinfeld<\/em> era. \u201cWe\u2019d just begun prep for Handmaid\u2019s<\/em> and I would send her a list of films to look at for various concepts. She was starring in a big-event miniseries on the other side of the planet, but within days, I would get back this complete analysis on everything I\u2019d sent.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That work ethic was instilled in Moss from an early age. She spent her teens cutting her teeth on meaty Aaron Sorkin material on The West Wing<\/em> and later went toe-to-toe with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie in the haunting 1999 psychological drama, Girl, Interrupted<\/em>. Still, Moss recalls spending her early 20s, living off \u201ctiny residual cheques\u201d and wondering about her next gig. It wasn\u2019t until she won over producer-director Matthew Weiner for the revolutionary role of secretary-turned-ad-woman Peggy Olson in Mad Men<\/em> that viewers began to see Moss as all grown up. The 2007 period piece is often cited as a frontrunner of the Golden Age of television, and Peggy was one of the reasons why.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Peggy didn\u2019t do] anything that extraordinary,\u201d Moss says of the inherent sexism the character battled for seven seasons while climbing the corporate ladder under Don Draper (Jon Hamm). \u201cIt\u2019s just our perception of what she is. In the 1960s it was expected that\u2019s what a secretary did\u2026. Women are allowed to speak out against it now, whereas then, that was just the way it was. It was an accomplishment to be admired by your boss and to be liked by him. That meant you were doing well in the workforce.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The \u201cQueen of Peak TV\u201d \u2014 a Moss moniker, given her subsequent pioneering roles in Top of the Lake<\/em> and The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> \u2014 has proven that her own ongoing success is more complex than her on-camera roles. Her penchant for dark motherhood roles and challenging the status quo factors into it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is all the different ways somebody can be a mother,\u201d Moss says. \u201cBy virtue of my age, that\u2019s going to be prevalent because for women in their 20s and 30s, that is a prevalent issue. I\u2019m not a mother yet myself, but I\u2019ve had to explore it in many different ways. What is on purpose is picking things I haven\u2019t seen before or that seem complicated to me.\u2026 I don\u2019t think there is a \u2018too dark\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s not about that for us [with Handmaid\u2019s<\/em>]. It\u2019s about reality and honesty and reflecting the truth back at the  audience.”<\/p>\n

Moss has raked in eight Emmy nominations (and celebrated her first win last fall for Handmaid\u2019s) and won two Golden Globes, but beyond the hardware and accolades, it\u2019s her transformation into a face of feminism that has spilled the most ink. Myriad Internet memes with her face, some of which she\u2019ll pull up on her phone as favourites, are proof.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFeminism is better than it\u2019s ever been,\u201d Moss notes. \u201cWomen and men are really embracing it in a way they never have before. It obviously needs to be reflected more in our politics and government. But as a people, we\u2019re pretty much on the same page. Art often reflects what\u2019s going on in the world and we\u2019re seeing stories that are very diverse and made and led by women because that\u2019s what we have. That\u2019s what\u2019s in our world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, if only everyone got that memo.<\/p>\n

\n

By Amber Dowling – *This article originally appeared in INSIGHT: The Art of Living | Spring 2018<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Maarten de Boer, Getty Images<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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