ELISABETH MOSS STRIFE IMITATESART
Star says Capitol invasion is a warning that dystopian hell of show is not so far from reality
ON JANUARY 6, Donald Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol building hoping to overturn his defeat in the presidential elections.
Political leaders hid in fear as windows were smashed and five people died.
On social media many compared the scenes to the second American Civil War in The Handmaid’s Tale which created the totalitarian state of Gilead.
The Divine Republic which replaced the American Constitution made women second-class citizens, turning them into breeder slaves in an ultra-patriarchal theocracy.
Trump’s coup didn’t work but Americans were shocked that the dystopian 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood wasn’t as improbable as they thought when they first read it.
This isn’t lost on the show’s star Elisabeth Moss as she chats on Zoom ahead of the fourth series at the end of April in the US and a few days later on Channel 4.
The 38-year-old, who stars as June Osborne, claims like the characters in the book, Americans are “sort of screaming into the wind saying, ‘We will not forget’. I think that is extremely relevant”.
The actress, from Los Angeles, sees parallels between the new series and how the US is repairing itself post-Trump.
She said: “It’s about a feeling of sort of anger and the desire to sweep things under the rug, to say that everything is OK now, that it’s all going to be fine and let’s just forget everything that happened.”
The impact of the TV series was shown when protesters in the US began wearing Handmaid uniforms of red cloaks and white bonnets.
Many women felt that Trump was turning the US into a Gilead-style state – undermining civil rights, encouraging sexism and moving the country to the far right.
When Trump was given a state visit to the UK, supporters dressed up as handmaids with signs like, “This is how it starts.”
What’s more incredible is that Atwood wrote the book in 1985, yet 36 years on The Handmaid’s Tale it is more relevant than ever.
Elisabeth finds it a brain melt.
She said: “There are these gigantic events that happen in real life that have been in the book or have happened on the show.
“Margaret never put anything in that book that hadn’t happened or was currently happening. And here we are many years later, and we still feel that relevancy.”
Given Gilead was created after environmental chaos, the Covid pandemic that changed the world in
March last year also adds fresh chills. The series was two weeks into shooting the fourth series in March last year when the pandemic forced it to stop. The number of episodes has been extended – which means it’s been nearly two years since the climax of the third series which saw June shot after saving a group of children.
Rigorous restrictions helped the new series to film almost as normal. She said: “The cast had a zone A bubble that we created with very rigorous testing and quarantining, so we were able to proceed with the performances as we would have wanted to. “At certain points there were two people in the room. We were able to do what we wanted to do, the way we’d have done normally.” Elisabeth got her break in 1999 playing Zoey Bartlet in The West Wing, before portraying Peggy Olson in Mad Men, a Golden Globewinning performance in Top of the Lake and an Emmy for Handmaid’s Tale, which began in 2017. Last year, she took to the big screen in The Invisible Man but Handmaid is where her heart lies.
And she’s gone from acting, to producing (getting a credit from the start of Handmaid) to now directing episode three, eight and nine of the fourth series.
She said: “I just felt that I was up to the task after a few years of watching and learning and working with some really incredible directors and watching them with the intention of possibly doing it at some point.”
Having three hats on suits Elisabeth. But she insisted: “It’s something I’ve learned about myself in the past decade – I do operate well under pressure. I love it. The more I have to do, the happier I am.”
As for being an actress and directing an episode Elisabeth doesn’t feel conflicted claiming the show “exists in my bones”.
She added: “The thing I was nervous about was directing the actors and not knowing what to say or I wouldn’t say the right thing. But they’ve been so generous and given so much. I’m eternally grateful to them for that.”
As the world gets ready to say “Praise Be” to Handmaid’s Tale, Elisabeth is reportedly signed up for a fifth series and judging by the way she talks about the show, would happily do lots more series.
She said: “I love this show so much. I respect it and value it so much. I don’t take it for granted.
“I’ve been acting for 32 years, and you can’t take this kind of a job for granted.
“I just wanted to do it justice. I just wanted to live up to the show, live up to the material and live up to this thing that I’m so proud of.”
I do operate well under pressure. The more I have to do, the happier I am ELISABETH MOSS ON DIRECTING