If Elisabeth Moss didn’t already have an extensive filmography, she has now added a spy show into the mix as well. A far cry from playing Peggy on Mad Men, her latest project sees her don the hat of a spy in an international thriller written by Steve Knight of Peaky Blinders fame. With FX’s ‘The Veil,’ Moss finally got to get down and dirty and delve into the realm of action (even hurting her spine during the making of the show). We sat down with the actor to understand how she got under the skin of her character in an exclusive.
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GRAZIA: What drew you to the script of The Veil?
ELISABETH MOSS: The genre and the tone of it are so fun for me. I love spy stuff and action, so the chance to do something in that genre is something I'd been looking for and wanting to do. This is the kind of thing I've been wanting to do for a while.
G: How would you describe your character 'Imogen' in your own words?
EM: She is essentially indescribable. That's the best way to describe her. She's a chameleon, and she's a shapeshifter. Her greatest gift and strength is being able to play different people and inhabit other worlds. She can change who she is to get what she wants out of her target, and that's what she's so good at. And she can connect and get somebody to tell her something they don't want to say. She does this by being as honest about her lie if that makes any sense at all. You cannot put her in a box.
G: Early in the show, Imogen and Adilah have this camaraderie even though they don't trust each other. Tell us about their relationship throughout the show.
EM: Yeah, it changes in every episode. And that's what is so fun about it. What you see in the first episode changes in the second and third. It's a very dynamic relationship. There's a connection between them that even the two don't understand yet. They both see themselves in each other, and it's up to the show whether they discover whatever ties them together.
G: Do you think the similarities between the two tie them together?
EM: Absolutely. Their similarities and differences are the subject of the show. There's something amongst women that just makes them understand each other. It's hard for me to go any further without spoiling things. But that's what Steve (Knight) did that was so brilliant. He wrote this story set in a profoundly political landscape but made the premise about these two women.
G: How did you prepare for the role, given that it explores a susceptible topic: the Syrian refugee crisis + the Islamic State?
EM: Well, luckily, I didn't write it. I definitely need to be more intelligent in doing that stuff. I just followed Steve's lead. He's a very learned person and an excellent writer. And the best thing about a story like this is that you don't have to make up your own story or background. You can follow the writer's vision, and that's what I was able to do. He approached the story delicately since it was a sensitive topic, and we had to follow through.
G: How did you prepare for the action scenes in the show?
EM: I did a lot of fight choreography, rehearsals and stunt practice. We started in December, and I would have started earlier. We kept practising each fight sequence until the day we had to shoot it and then move on to the following sequence. You need to keep doing it until it starts feeling like second nature.
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