Based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, the Hulu original series The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of life in the totalitarian society of Gilead, in what was formerly the United States. In this stark and frightening world that strips you of your individuality, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is one of the few remaining fertile women, forced into sexual servitude in an attempt to repopulate a world in which anyone could be a spy and you must fight to survive.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, actress Elisabeth Moss (who is also a producer on the series) talked about why it took her over a month to decide whether to sign on for The Handmaid’s Tale, being on the exact same wavelength as the showrunner, not taking dark material home with her, how much more important the reaction to the series is to her because she’s so heavily involved, finding her own voice in this business, and Offred’s journey, this season. She also talked about returning to Top of the Lake for a second season, and why she wanted to make sure it would be different.
Collider: This material is not light fare. Because of that, did you have to really think about it, before signing on for something like this, or was there no way you could say no to this?
ELISABETH MOSS: Both. I thought about it a lot. I took over a month, I think, to decide. I was also working on the second season of Top of the Lake, at the time, so I was a little distracted. I was hesitant for a few reasons. Doing another TV show is, obviously, a commitment. The other thing for me was, what would the quality of the show be like? What kind of show would we be making? Were we going to shy away from that darkness and edginess, or were we going to be embracing it and pushing it? Would we be watering anything down or taking anything back? Were we going to be able to do justice to the book? How were we going to adapt the book? There were a million questions, and I just wanted it to be what it should be. And then, I spoke to (showrunner) Bruce [Miller] for an hour on the phone, and we just got along so well, right off the bat. We were just like girlfriends. Everything that I asked, he had the right answer for, and everything that I wanted to do, he wanted to do, down to the look of the show and the cinematography. Everything was like, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I want to do! That’s amazing!” I asked to see the second script because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a really good pilot, and the second script was better than the first one. Eventually what it came down to was incredibly selfish. I could not stand the idea of anyone else doing it. I thought about someone else doing it and I had this stab of jealousy that was painful, and I was like, “I have to do it! I can’t say no!”
It’s such an incredible story and character, but it also seems like you have to be in a particular headspace for this.
MOSS: I’m not a method actor, at all. Also, I love doing dark shit and I love doing dramatic shit. Anything else is kind of boring. That’s what I look for and that’s what I want. I don’t take it personally. I don’t take it home. I don’t even take it off of set. I don’t even take it in between takes. I’m not that person. It’s just better for me to work a different way, so that wasn’t a problem. For me, it was like, are we going to make it dark enough. I wanted to make sure it was truthful.
Did you want to also be a producer on this because you spent so much time thinking about it?
MOSS: Yeah! At a certain point, if you’re going to do something at this stage in your career, you have to have a voice. I play the lead character. I’m the representation of the show and the person that everyone is going to be looking at, so I want to make sure it’s something that I’m proud of and that I want to be involved in. And so, there’s no way I wouldn’t have wanted to be a producer, and there was no argument about it either. The only thing is that I did say, “I hope you guys understand that this is not a vanity title. I’m gonna be a producer and I’m gonna be helpful, super annoying, and all up in your shit, all the time.” I think even then, maybe they didn’t think I was going to be doing that. Now, they know. It’s been so challenging. It’s been a lot more work than I thought it was gonna be. Basically, when you’re a producer and an actress, the work never stops. It’s not just about the scene that you’re doing or the day, it’s about everything else, in between scenes, before work and after work. I watch all the cuts and give notes, and I read all the early drafts and give notes on those. I’m involved in everything, from the casting to the crew hiring. The only thing I’m not involved in is the budget and the money.
When do you feel like you really found your voice, in this business?
MOSS: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I’m 34, and I think it happened at some point in the last five years. Having been involved with Mad Men for so long, you really got to know how things worked, in all the different departments. I was always watching, listening and learning about what’s a good thing to do and what’s not a good thing to do. At a certain point, I feel like you know a little bit about what you’re doing, what you want to do, and the kind of thing you want to make. It’s not just about the scripts, but it’s about the tone, the taste level, what it looks like, and the audience that you’re trying to get. As just an actor, you don’t really have that same power, unless you’re Brad Pitt, but he’s a producer on all of his movies. So, I knew that, in order to get behind this project as much as I needed to get behind it, I knew I needed to have a say. It wasn’t like I woke up one day and was like, “I want to be a producer.” I’ve been doing this for 28 years, so at a certain point, you know all that and you want to be able to use that. At the same time, I have learned so much, in the past few months, about being a producer and about how a show is made. I don’t feel like I know exactly what I’m doing yet, but I feel like I’m learning.
Does that make the possibility of future seasons even more exciting, now that you’ve done a season and know what the demands as a producer and actor are?
MOSS: Totally! Being a producer on something, you’re just far more invested in it. You care so much more because you’re more involved in everything that it took to make it. For me, I care more about how this show looks and what people think than I maybe would, if I was only an actor on it. When you take on a new challenge, it’s also really scary, too. It’s scary, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Are you more interested in the reactions from viewers than you normally would be?
MOSS: Yes, 1,000%. I’m far more invested and nervous. I’ve got butterflies, and I shouldn’t be getting butterflies when I do press because I’ve done so much press. But I really care about this show and believe in it, and I think it’s really good. I’m proud of it, so I care more.
What can you say about Offred’s journey this season?
MOSS: What’s interesting is that naturally you’d look at it as she’s the victim, so it was important for us to have complexity in that and show how maybe she doesn’t always do the right thing. She has to become a part of the world, in order to get out of it. She has to join her enemy, in order to escape. You’re going to see her completely fall apart, several times, and each time she’ll get up a little stronger. She’s also going to have to do some things that are questionable, in order to find her daughter and get out and get what she wants. She also does some things that are questionable, morally, when it comes to the happiness or comfort you might seek in such a dark world. It was really important to us to not just have a story of a heroine that’s a victim who triumphs. She’s a real person. She’s you and she’s me. She’s what we would be like, in that situation. That was really important to me when I was trying to figure out how to play her. I wanted her to be who I would be, in that situation. That’s been really important to us to show. You’re going to see her find strength, but not in the way you would expect, and in a very real way. She’s not going to grab a gun or a sword and fight her way out. That’s not real. She will find her way out, in a way that is very truthful.
Does Offred have anybody who she can really trust, or does she really just have to turn to herself for that support?
MOSS: It’s so interesting that you ask that because that’s what Episodes 8 and 9 are about. In the end, she has to be able to turn to herself because she doesn’t have anyone. It’s an important lesson, at a certain point, to learn that you can do so much yourself. There’s a quote in the book, “One can mean thousands,” and that’s what Offred has to realize and come to, through various circumstances. She is alone, but that doesn’t mean that she can’t get out and that she can’t find her daughter. One person can be very powerful. She doesn’t have anybody. Everyone is taken aware from her. They’re taken away from her before she got to Gilead and while she’s in Gilead.
At the time this book came out, the real-life possibility of a world like this seemed so distant. But now, it seems like it’s not that far off from becoming a possibility. Is that terrifying?
MOSS: It does feel so much more real. This totalitarian fundamentalist regime that exists as Gilead has an even greater relevance now, in our country. It’s not so crazy, the things that are happening in the book. That’s scary. At the same time, we don’t want to take ourselves too seriously. We don’t work for non-profit organizations. We’re a television show. It has to be entertaining. But it is nice to be able to do something, as an actor, that maybe sheds some light on a situation. I want to entertain and I want people to just want to watch the next episode, and I want people to laugh and cry and be stimulated, but is it nice to go to work and feel like you’re doing something? Yeah, that’s awesome! In a way, it’s been helpful, as a person who believes in human rights, to be able to do something about it and shed some light on this situation. We talk very specifically about America in the show, and the book did, as well. I asked Margaret Atwood, “Do you feel like you predicted the future?,” and she said to me, “Everything in the book had already happened or was happening. It just wasn’t in America.” As Americans, we feel like it’s so much more relevant and present because there are certain things happening here that remind us of things in the book, but these things have been happening, all over the world, for a long, long time, with rights being infringed upon. It’s important to remember that. We’re not just telling an American story. We’re telling a global story.
Your work in Top of the Lake was so great!
MOSS: Thank you!
What was it like to return to that character, after such a long break?
MOSS: It was cool! It’s really rare you get to do that, four years later. It was awesome because I got to bring everything I had learned, as an actor, in the last four years and the life that I had lived. It was awesome! To be able to love a character so much and love playing it so much, and then to get to go back and do it again, is a dream come true, as an actor. At the same time, I really wanted it to be different. I wanted it to be more challenging and darker. If you play something and it’s successful, whatever that means, why would you do it again, unless it could be more challenging, which is what I said to (show creator) Jane [Campion]. That was my only caveat for doing a second season. It had to be darker and more complicated, and I had to be challenged. I regretted those words because it was insane, the amount of challenge. The first season is like an episode of Modern Family compared to the second season. It’s so much darker.
The first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale premiere on April 26th on Hulu, with the remaining episodes being released every Wednesday after that.
