Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Matt Weiner Interview Tonight



I'm so excited!! I just found out I'll be going to an interview with Matt Weiner tonight. I'm trying really hard not to turn this into an all Mad Men Blog, but I wanted to let people know. I think there will be a Q&A part and I need intelligent questions. So please leave any questions you have in the comments. I'll pick the one I can pronounce. I'll try to take some pictures and video if possible.
Thanks for your help!

UPDATE: INTERVIEW NOTES



Last nights interview was so great. Mary Melton of Los Angeles Magazine conducted the interview and asked all the right questions. I took as many notes as I could So here it all is.

Her first question was about how Mad Men came to him.
His answer was long but I'll give you what I got. His parents were The Drapers age, and came through the 60's slightly radicalized. They were pre-baby boomers. While his parents are not Don and Betty they are a bit like them. He also talked about how the popular show of his youth were Happy Days and MASH all of the late 50's early 60's period.

Which character came first?
He answered this by saying that the first line was "I'm not going to let a women talk to me like that."

From here we branched off on to how this world of sexism/racism lasted into the
80's. He said that the line "Adding money and education doesn't take the rude edge away from people" that Pete delivers referring to jews, was something he actually over heard while teaching in private school in LA.

This all came back around to the premise of the show. No matter how sucessful you are, what kind of family, or riches you acheive, there is still a feeling of, is this all there is. Dissatisfaction.

Conformity
How this country is based on conforming. Our grandparents wanted to learn english and loose their accents. It's still that way right or wrong.

Talking about Pete
He is the most truthful, unedited person and always on the edge of a tantrum.

Talking about Don
Don's talent is being open to others and being a conduit

Talking about Joan
Is sure of what she knows. Confident. Matt said that she went through with the marriage to the doctor even after he raped her. She thought she was getting one thing but it was all false advertising.

Talking about Betty
She stayed with Don to see if the baby would save their marriage. But it hasn't.

Talking about Suzanne
Matt was shocked that people thought she was going to tell Betty about the affair with Don.

Talking about Sally
The actress is 9 years old and amazing. Sally is an entry point for many viewers, as they were her age in the early 60's.

Talking about critisism of Betty's parenting
Matt kind of laughed and said that it is basically how his parents raised him and most people of that generation were raised that way too.

On Grandpa Gene
The entire death scene of grandpa Gene happened to Matt. His grandfather died in a Sees Candy shop while Matt was at Hebrew school. He waited for him to pick him up and then walked home. Even the police man coming to the door happened.

Peggy( Not Betty) and the priest
The priest was in love with Peggy (not Betty) but he choose to stay with the church. He was a priest and that is all there is. Thanks Cherie for pointing this out. As always I must stop drinking and blogging.

Finally, I asked when the next season would start and that there was a rumor it would come back in January. He said it takes a really long time and there is no way it will be back before August. I told him he was breaking my heart.

Christina Hendricks/Joan was there too, though she just sat in the audience, I talked to her after and she couldn't have been sweeter.

10 comments:

Sarah Auerswald said...

OMG, you must be like in Heaven! How awesome you got to hear him and ask him a question! Fun!!!

Elise Crane Derby said...

if anybody knows or is the lady I took the picture of with Joan ask her to email me again. Somehow I've lost both emails she sent me and now I can't send her the picture. HELP!!!

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