Film critic Matt Zoller had this wonderful interview last year with Mad Men’s creator Matthew Weiner, just before the series finale:
At one point (around the 1 hour 22 minute mark), Zoller shows the audience a clip of a monologue by Michael Ginsberg, a deranged ad man, telling another character, Peggy, that he’s not a human at all, but a Martian, a full-blooded Martian; this, even though they tell him he was born in a concentration camp, where his mother died, and then sent to a Swedish orphanage when he was five.
Ginsberg’s face is seen in a mirror as he speaks. This was an episode written by Weiner, but not directed by him.
“I also love that almost that entire monologue, when you see his face is not him, it’s a reflection of him,” Zoller says. “That was one of those lovely, understated directorial touches”
“That was in the script,” Weiner flatly responds.
The interview is worth your time, if you enjoyed the show even moderately (I know I did; it’s one of my favorites). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a creator open up so much in public to explain the motives of his characters, and the context in which he sees them.
By the way, Weiner’s dad took the family on a sabbatical to Europe when he was seven: to Sweden.
