January Jones Is Still Trying to Convince Us She's Special
Despite evidence to the contrary, human ice luge January Jones is still trying to convince us that she is something more than a pretty face. Now she's saying her Mad Men role was created just for her.
Ms. Jones appears on the cover of the most recent issue of W—giving us some Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner realness in the accompanying photo shoot—shares a very interesting story about her casting on highbrow TV fans' favorite show.
There was no Betty in the pilot when I auditioned. Matthew Weiner, the creator of the show, had no intention of showing Don Draper's home life. I read for Peggy two times-it was between me and Elisabeth Moss, who eventually got the part. At the end of the scene, there was a casual mention that Don was married. Matt went home that night and wrote two scenes that featured Betty. I auditioned a couple of days later, and he made me a verbal promise that the character would grow. I took the part on faith-there was no script or fleshed-out character or Betty plotline.
Oh my God, can you imagine how awful she would have been as Peggy? She really makes it easy to irrationally hate her. But we guess it makes sense that Betty Draper was built for her, since neither she nor Betty seem to be capable of anything other than mugging woodenly and pouting for the camera.
In the interview she also talks about her role as telepath Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class so now fans of low culture can see how it feels when she ruins one of their favorite characters too!
