Why Hollywood can’t get enough of Mad Men star Elisabeth Moss.
Japan was the latest location for Elisabeth Moss (left) to display her acting talents, this time in the SoHo short film Tokyo Project. Jane Mulkerrins reports.
After a range of acclaimed performances, Elisabeth Moss has quickly turned into one of Hollywood’s most-indemand actors.
The former Mad Men leading light, who also played Zoey Bartlet in The West Wing, has become hot property after star turns in both of Jane Campion’s Top Of The Lake series and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Which is why writer and director Richard Shepard was so thrilled to have her on board for his short film
Tokyo Project, on SoHo. “I imagine it would probably be very tricky indeed to get hold of her these days,” reflects Shepard, who wrote the script with Moss in mind.
Tokyo Project executive producer Lena Dunham, best known for her work on Girls, called Moss as soon as she had read the script to offer her the role. And Moss, 35, was delighted to accept.
“I guess that’s how it works,” laughs Shepard. “Famous people just know other famous people and their phone numbers.”
Before working on Tokyo Project, Shepard had met Moss only briefly in person but that was enough to win him over. And he was also hugely impressed by her ability to light up the screen.
“I was obsessed with how good an actor she is,” admits Shepard. “It is a very rare actor where you can actually see what they are thinking and Lizzie is one of those actors.
“And in a movie with so many different layers and undertones, I wanted someone who conveyed more than one layer of feeling.
“With Elisabeth, people would think they knew what they were watching, but also suspect that there is something more going on there too.” Tokyo Project tells the story of two strangers – Claire (Moss) and Sebastian (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) – who meet by chance at a hotel
in the Japanese capital and are immediately attracted to each other. Their paths keep crossing but all is not what it seems between these two Americans in a foreign land.
Tokyo Project is described as a love story with a plot twist.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who is best known for playing Desi, Marnie’s musician husband in Girls, says recreation, romance and fantasy are all key elements of the story.
“When you are travelling abroad, especially alone, you can totally recreate yourself, and that becomes a really easy template for fantasy,” says Moss-Bachrach, 39.
“And travelling alone has an element of romance too, so you can project all sorts of things on to other people you meet.”
Moss-Bachrach’s character of Sebastian is a sharply dressed salesman who is in Tokyo to do a deal on behalf of his family’s business – a range of men’s grooming products, based in Brooklyn, New York.
“But he is clearly not fully there,” says Moss-Bachrach.
“He is haunted by something. And then we see her and we wonder if she’s really there at all.
“It feels like a ghost story. And I love the idea of wondering, ‘Is this a dream? Whose dream is this? Who is a ghost, and who isn’t?’ ” If Tokyo Project looks and feels like Girls, that is hardly surprising with several people being heavily involved in both projects. This includes Richard Shepard, who was behind the lens on some of Girls’ most notable episodes Shepard intentionally cut back on dialogue in Tokyo Project as he wanted it to be musically and emotionally driven. Moss-Bachrach says so much can be conveyed without words. “This is part of the genius of Richard Shepard,” Moss-Bachrach says. “In a very short film, without much dialogue at all, he conveys a fully formed story, with lots of history. “These characters are having a visceral, sensory experience, and so much is conveyed through that, rather than through lots of talking.” Tokyo Project was shot on location in Japan in just seven days, using minimal crew and equipment. “I wanted it to feel almost like a student movie, except with a crew that knew what they were doing,” laughs Shepard. “At some points, it was just a three-person crew, so there was a real intimacy.” And for everyone involved, the prospect of seven days in Tokyo was a huge part of the appeal. “I am one of those millions of Americans who romanticise the place ad nauseum,” admits Moss-Bachrach about the delights of Japan. “It is so alive and there’s so much energy. I had spent a while in Kyoto and had an almost psychedelic experience there – my pupils were dilated and my mind was blown. “I wanted that experience again.”