My next guest is an Emmy-nominated actor
who stars in the NBC series Good Girls.
Please welcome Christina Hendricks!
-♪ ♪ -(cheering and applause)
Hi!
-Welcome to the show. -Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much for being here.
So many people are fans of yours from Mad Men,
-and... Yeah, yeah. -Thank you. -(cheering and applause)
And, in many ways, in many ways,
your character on Mad Men was regarded as a feminist icon.
She was someone who was breaking through in a world
that was definitely not designed for her to break through.
Some people have said that your new character
is a feminist icon as well,
a woman fighting for her own thing in the world.
-Would-would you agree with this? -I do.
I think women are really responding
sort of this empowerment feel that we have on the show,
and-and these, uh...
these three women who have this beautiful friendship
and camaraderie that I think people
are really, really responding to.
Right. It-It's a different type of empowerment though,
because it's a story of three women--
and if you haven't watched it, it's really funny.
It's a story of three women who are great friends.
And they're struggling. They're in debt.
Life is not going well.
So they decide to become robbers,
and they rob a store, which is a different type of empowerment.
I mean, I'm all for it, but it's...
-like, it's... it was crazy. -Yeah.
Worst decision ever. Yeah.
-Right. -Didn't really think it through.
Right. And what's really fun, though, is, like,
the core of it is still the friendship in the story.
Is that something that's become a dynamic
in the actual taping of the show?
Oh, yeah. We're nuts for each other.
I mean, we are texting each other all the time,
all night long, Marco Polos.
-All night long, slumber parties. -Right.
-I'm crazy for them. Incredible. -Let me ask you this,
if you were to rob a store...
what do you think you would be best at in real....
'Cause I always do that with my friends, I go, like,
"You'll never be the getaway driver, you suck."
-Oh. -And I go, like, "I would handle weapons,"
I would, like, you know what I...
We're always trying to figure...
Do you know what you would be best at?
I would not be the getaway driver, either.
No, I would probably be, uh, good at lies and distractions.
-Like... like... -I like that it's lies and distraction.
Yeah, yeah. I think I'm...
-really good at both of them. -Look over there!
Look over there! A donkey!
I lied, and distracted you.
(laughter)
Yeah, I think I would be good
-at, like, a decoy kind of situation. -Right.
Your character's really good at lying on the show.
That's, like, her mini superpower,
is that she lies and nobody knows that she's lying.
That's one of those questions where I go like,
is that something you brought from the real world,
or is this a skill that you developed for the role?
It was... No. It started out, I think,
in the pilot, and we decided that it was funny
that she could just sort of switch
into this... this incredible lie.
'Cause she's just, like, a mom and a wife,
and you wouldn't expect it.
And so it just started getting written
more and more and more into the script,
because were, like, this is such a weird...
Like, why is she so good at this?
-Right. -I'm waiting for the episode
where it explains how... why she's so good at lying.
I think it'll be fun.
Do people not trust you in real life, though?
'Cause I won't lie, there are some characters...
no, there are some characters I see on TV where I cannot forget
who they are now, or I cannot forget
that they do a certain thing.
So do you have anyone who now just doesn't believe you
when you say something to them?
Oh, I wonder, actually.
My husband's like, "Wait a minute.
For ten years I believed you, and now I'm not so sure."
-There was no donkey! -I'm a very trustworthy type.
Right. Let's talk a little bit about some of the stories
in the... in the show.
I've really been impressed by how it is funny,
it is heartfelt, it is a story about friends and family,
but there are, you know, stories that touch on what's happening
in the real world.
One of the storylines, for instance,
is where your character helped a friend of hers
who was being sexually harassed by her boss.
And you taped this before the Me Too movement.
-Yeah. -You recorded this before, you know,
the movement really built up steam.
Is it one of those stories where you're looking and go,
like, yeah, it was always happening, I wasn't surprised,
or were you genuinely surprised at how the story tied in
to what happened in the real world?
I mean, this was written and filmed far before that.
You know, I mean, I was on Mad Men for years and years
talking about these topics.
-Right. -Um, and... and, um...
people, I think, are responding to it more right now
because of what's happening, and I think that's fantastic
that it's causing conversation
and that it's a part of that conversation.
Um, but I'll tell you what, when you...
when you come around a corner and see someone you love
in that situation, whether you're acting or real...
I mean, I went into protective mode...
-so quickly and immediately... -Wow.
You really do have a very visceral reaction
when you see something like that.
And I'm very close to May, and I just...
I came around that corner, and I was like,
"Don't you dare, buddy." (laughs)
I love that. Do you... do you feel like that's
maybe why you choose the roles that you do?
'Cause it feels like all your characters
have this strength about them as a woman.
Is that something that draws you to the character?
Or do you think maybe just women's roles
are written better that just end up on your desk?
I mean, I don't... I don't choose roles
because I think, oh, she's gonna be a great role model
or she has a strength-- I mean, as an actress,
-you want to discover all sorts of things. -Right.
I just think that every woman has strength in her,
and I think we have all sorts of things,
and we have vulnerability and... and I just, um, I find exploring
and trying to find the strength in someone very interesting.
-That's amazing. You do it well on screen. -Thank you.
I don't know if you lied to me through this whole interview,
but I'll take it, either way.
I am not even Christina Hendricks.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
-Thank you. -The season finale of Good Girls
airs Monday, April 30, at 10:00 p.m. on NBC.
Christina Hendricks, everybody.