So somebody at Christina Hendricks’s old talent agency probably got super fired.
Hendricks got a number of parts in television series, including ER and Without a Trace, but nothing really took off. Then the script for Mad Men came across her desk and immediately she felt it was special.
“I love the idea I have a desk,” she giggles now. “It makes me sound very professional.”
Both she and her manager wanted her to take the part of Joan. Hendricks’s agency didn’t agree. “They said, ‘It’s a period piece, it’s never going to go anywhere. We need you to make money and this isn’t going to make money.’ They ended up dropping me.” [Guardian]
In the defense of whichever person or persons made the decision to drop her, you’ve gotta admit that it didn’t seem like a great idea on paper.
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: Good news! I found a role I want!
AGENT: Wonderful. What show?
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: It’s from one of the writers of The Sopranos…
AGENT: Great! People love mob shows!
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: Well… it’s not a mob show. It’s a show about advertising executives in Manhattan.
AGENT: Okay. We can work with that. The cutthroat world of modern-day advertising. It could work.
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: Well… about that. It’s a period piece.
AGENT: Set when? The 80s? Like a Wall Street thing?
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: The ’60s.
AGENT: Ah, the late ’60s. The sexual revolution. Now we’re talking!
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: Actually… it starts in the early ’60s.
AGENT: How early?
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: 1960.
AGENT: And HBO is letting this Sopranos guy make this show? Well, I guess it must be good.
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: Well… HBO passed on it.
AGENT: So who’s making it? One of the networks? Nothing like that sweet network money, right? Who bit? CBS? ABC?
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: AMC.
AGENT: What the…? The channel that shows Kickboxer sequels in primetime four nights a week?
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: They’re branching into original dramas now.
AGENT: Well, at least you’re the star. What are you, like, the boss of the agency? Or the tough but loving wife of the biggest ad man in town?
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: Um… I’d be the office manager.
AGENT: What is that? Like a secretary?
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: Kind of. But the boss of the secretaries.
AGENT: [rubbing temples] Listen, Christina. Sit down. We need to have a talk.
But hey, at least she got the last word, right?
