The Hollywood Reporter has published an oral history of sorts on the phenomenon that is Mad Men as we approach the final seven (THAT’S IT?) episodes of the series. “The Uncensored, Epic, Never-Told Story Behind ‘Mad Men'” follows the show from conception through its growth as arguably one of the best shows on television.
Our story begins with creator Matthew Weiner slaving away at CBS writing for some sitcom named Becker, before landing an upgrade writing for The Sopranos. Weiner had been working on the script that would become Mad Men for three years when AMC, some bum-ass network that nobody respected, stepped in to finance the what would be their first scripted series.
Weiner [My agents] were like, “You’re going to be coming off The Sopranos. I know you love this project, but don’t go [to AMC]. It’s really low status, no money, and even if they do it, they’ve never made a show before, and you don’t want to be their first one.”
AND THE REST IS HISTORY. Sort of.
As you might remember, Mad Men wasn’t exactly an easy sell—a period show about a bunch of chain-smoking assholes working at an advertising agency doesn’t exactly make advertisers jump.
AMC self-financed the pilot for $3.3 million and when casting began in 2006, Weiner got AMC to agree to hiring all unknown actors.
Wayne Matt sent us two actors: Jon Hamm and Mariska Hargitay‘s husband, Peter Hermann. The quality of the that we were using sucked, and you couldn’t see how good-looking Jon Hamm was. We were like, “Really, this is who you think?” And Matt said, “Absolutely.” He’d been in the room, and he felt something with Jon. We had him come in again. We had to be sold, so we flew Jon to New York and took him for a drink at the Gansevoort hotel. He was nervous, but I knew that he had star potential. I whispered in his ear before he left, “You got the job.”
Elizabeth Moss was the first actress to audition for Peggy, which clearly worked out for her.
We’ve heard before that Betty Draper was basically an afterthought, which really does explain a lot about Betty the character, particularly during season one.
January Jones (Betty Draper) I came in for Peggy twice. Matt said, “Well, there’s another role, but I don’t really know what’s going to happen with her.” He didn’t have any scenes for me, so he quickly wrote a couple.
The casting of Mad Men‘s best worst character, Pete Campbell, and Trudy the goddess is about as adorable as they were for the first two seasons.
Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell) I only auditioned for Pete. My agents aren’t delusional enough to think that I’m a Don Draper.
Alison Brie (Trudy Campbell) I looked up a picture of Vincent Kartheiser and was like, “Oh my God. We kind of look like brother and sister. I could totally be his 1960s wife.” Couples kind of looked alike then.
Weiner Alison Brie was a big lesson because we couldn’t afford to make her a series regular. And we gambled [Community] wouldn’t happen. We were wrong.
Weiner had written an “85-page screenplay that was Don Draper’s backstory” which he used to pitch AMC executives on the meat of the show—the struggle between Don Draper and Dick Whitman.