John Slattery takes a memento and explains why television is the place to be
Surviver of two heart attacks and one insane LSD trip, John Slattery’s Roger Sterling has been through it all on Mad Men. So what did the show’s resident silver fox learn over the years?
Slattery says, “I think he’s learned that it isn’t over until it’s over. I think there were moments of personal and professional crisis over the course of the period of time that we’ve been with these people…They’ve had progression and digression and I think at the end, I think what Roger’s come away with is life with worth living. And, it is in fact, finite. And he’s going to get the most out of it while he’s here.”
While Slattery has acted through some of the series’ most memorable episodes, he notes that the seven episodes coming up contain some of his favorite moments in the show’s run. “I think just in terms of where these characters have all come from and how informed they are by what they’ve been through and then going into these last seven episodes, I think they could be in fact the most satisfying in the course of the show. So, I’m looking forward to it,” says Slattery.
Mad Men entered television as the Sopranos was waving goodbye to Tony and the plate of onion rings. Television was changing and the creators and members of the Mad Men crew were taking notice. “I think Mad Men came along where you could save episodes. The DVR kind of happened at that point and I think that was instrumental, at least partially, to the success of the show and you kind of binge watch, which obviously everyone does now,” Slattery says. Not only was technology changing, but the content was as well.
Slattery notes, “It’s funny. I think there’s so much darker content available on television than there is in the movies. Now, you go to the movies and you’d see Spider Man and Iron Man, and you look to television for sophisticated adult storytelling.” He goes on to say the words every network executive is dying to hear, “I’m happy to be in television. I’m looking for another kind of long form narrative, you can dig into — the sort of hidden corners of characters and stories and relationships. And, I think television is kind of where it’s at.”
As for what he took away from the set, plenty of memories we are sure, but he also has one memento to look at. “I took the desk lamp from my office, from Roger’s office. They knew I was going to. Every time I would go into a scene, I would take these little (memo notes) stickies, and put property of me on all kinds of stuff for years.”
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