NEW YORK – On the "Mad Men" premiere last summer, a boozy Pete Campbell hauled himself from his bachelor party to the door of Peggy Olson's modest Brooklyn apartment.

"I wanted to see you tonight," implored Pete, an overzealous ad account executive who, at that late hour, was gripped by panic at his looming marriage.

Peggy, the winsome new hire in the Sterling Cooper secretarial pool, surprised herself by letting him in.

Airing on AMC Sundays at 10 p.m. EDT, the Peabody Award-winning "Mad Men" now is in its second season. And it has kept Pete and Peggy entangled in multiple ways, none of them romantic and most of them hush-hush (including the child that Pete still doesn't know about).

Fortunately, things are much lighter between Vincent Kartheiser and Elisabeth Moss, who play that pair on the splendid '60s-era drama. In a joint interview, they tease each other, laugh a lot, and seem like pals.

Turns out Kartheiser (at 29, a former regular on "Angel," the spinoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Moss (who is 26 and played presidential daughter Zoey on "The West Wing") had met before they got "Mad Men." A few years back, both took part in a filmmaking workshop.

"You had a prima donna actor," says Kartheiser in self-appraisal, then nods toward Moss magisterially, "and Miss Perfect."

"Two sides of the coin," chuckles Moss.

Kartheiser recalls a scene: "I had a disease called congenital analgesia, which means I couldn't feel anything. My character was always burning himself with cigarettes and saying, 'Whatever.'"

"And I was supposed to be in love with you," says Moss with a grin.

On "Mad Men," they enjoy far more, um, dramatic leeway.

"At the beginning Peggy was definitely naive," muses Moss, appraising the distance she's come, "and I wouldn't say she's toughened up, but, instead, the problems hitting her now have become bigger. At first, it was learning to use a typewriter, and now it's a baby — with the father of the baby someone she works with."

But she's moving up in the agency. A quick learner, she's now helping create ad campaigns. And she's gingerly overcoming anti-female bias in the workplace — even from Pete Campbell.

Meanwhile, Campbell continues trying to win approval from Don Draper, the magnetic though tormented agency exec at the show's core. But Draper (played by Jon Hamm) hates him. Campbell, for all his skill in the advertising game, lacks people skills. He's sort of a jerk — isn't he?

"Well, it's unfortunate that you see it that way," Kartheiser tells the interviewer with mock indignation. "Some people just AREN'T as likable as others, no matter what they do. Pete Campbell does the same (stuff) as Don Draper, but Draper's way more likable, and gets away with things."

Of course, no sweeping term such as "likability" does justice to the series' world of characters, who, even as they all share screen time, emerge as complex individuals.

"Jon is the lead, and he always has something going on," says Moss. "But I don't think the rest of us feel left out, or that we don't get our moments."

"We trust Matt," says Kartheiser, meaning "Mad Men" mastermind Matthew Weiner. "I don't think anyone in our cast has any doubt that he always has the best story line in mind, and that's what we're there to serve."

"Yesterday he said to me, `The next episode we're shooting is about objects,' and I said, `OK,'" Moss marvels. "He always has this grand idea, and we're just lucky to be part of it."

Moss even feels lucky to have "carried" Peggy's "child." It was a shrewdly gradual plumping-up process that went unrecognized as anything other than weight gain, even by the unwitting mother-to-be — until, much to Peggy's shock on the season finale, she went into labor.

"Over seven episodes, I had four stages of padding and three stages of makeup," says Moss. Friends she hadn't seen in years watched the show and — shades of Kirstie Alley! — worried that she had an eating disorder. "But they didn't want to ask."

"Like: `Did you quit smoking?'" chortles Kartheiser.

But that was last season (and 1960). Now "Mad Men" has progressed to spring 1962.

For Moss, who (like Kartheiser and most of the cast) wasn't born yet, it's a history lesson she is moving through.

"But I've learned more about the similarities than the differences between then and now," she says. "Usually, you look back on another era in terms of the milestones. But at the same time, people were just living their lives."

She might have added: That's where the unexpected drama unfolds, where "Mad Men" lives its life.

Source

Q: Episode 2 has Pete coping with the death of his father -- and you coping with the death of Christopher Allport, the late actor who played him.  What was that like?

A: Christopher Allport was really great. We only had one scene with him last year, but it was a great scene. And I think the way Matthew [Weiner] handled it in the show is amazing because he doesn't play to that obvious reaction. The death of someone so pivotal in your life really creates a self-analysis...I think the bigger question about the episode is "How are we supposed to respond in certain situations? What am I supposed to be doing now that this thing has hit?" This is a very small and bad analogy, but I just had a flood at my house, and I looked at my house full of mud and I was like, "What am I supposed to do?" I knew there was something I should be doing in this situation, and I think emotionally that's what Pete's going through. I'm just thankful that my parents will live forever, because that's just how it's going to happen, okay?

Q: Do you think this development makes Pete more sympathetic?

A: I think people should be able to empathize with him on a certain level. It's hard for me to think too much about whether the viewing audience is going to sympathize or not with Pete, because this is a character that I've now been with for three years. I think there's a certain amount of people who still won't like him. And I think there are people in the world that when I hear bad things have happened to them, I won't sympathize or empathize. Some people have it coming.

Q: What's the hardest part about playing Pete?

A: The most difficult part sometimes is that people are constantly shunning him and locking him out of conversations. He gets humbled several times in the first season, and I think it's a strong character trait of his that he can take that and continue to bully his way into the next thing. But it's such a blessing to have a character like this. The words just jump off the page and the characters fall in line and very rarely or ever do you see someone going, "What am I doing this for?"

Q: Have you been paying attention to the videos of fans saying your monologue for AMCtv.com's contest to win a role on Mad Men?

A: Yeah I have. I feel anger towards all of them that they're trying to one-up me. [Laughs] I don't get it. Why don't you guys just go do Jon Hamm. Come on! Who wants to be Pete Campbell anyways? I mean, I do. But I didn't think there was any other freak out there who wanted to be Pete.

The younger generation (who would now be in their 70s) is represented by Sterling Cooper newcomer Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), a newlywed uncertain of his place in the male pecking order.

Kartheiser says there is humor laced through the darkness, especially when looking back at some of the little things about the 1960s. In one episode, for example, his character has to return a wedding gift, a newfangled "chip and dip" party dish that his co-workers find ridiculous.

Decked out in jeans and a well-worn T-shirt, Kartheiser’s youthful appearance belies the sycophantic account executive he plays.

“To say that because these characters come from a different era, that they are this whole different breed of human, it just isn’t going to work,” he said. “I think you hear now, ‘Oh, kids are growing up so fast.’ But we’ve always had weird ideas about how fast people grow up. I personally think people are always the same. People are growing up the same now as they were then.”

As the 13 episodes of the second season unfold, Kartheiser said, “You are not going to see Matt (Weiner) shy away from any of the plot lines. He’s not going to rush. The pacing of the season is beautiful and Matt is looking long-term. This is chapter two in a 25-chapter book. This is just a piece of the puzzle.”

Boston Herald

LOS ANGELES -- Advertising hotshot Pete Campbell leaned back in his chair, planted his feet on the desk and offered his guest a midafternoon shot of Jameson whiskey. One swig later, the sobering truth was revealed: The booze is really salt water.

"It helps a lot," said Minnesota-raised actor Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Campbell and was playing tour guide on a recent day off. "It's not just the attention to detail. It's the idea behind the detail. It's not just to be there. It all serves a deeper purpose."

Star Tribune

On the ‘Mad Men’ set, success sells

“I like playing Pete,” added Kartheiser. “I don’t know if I like Pete. But it’s fun to do some of the things he does.” Like trying to blackmail Draper — who viewers learned last season wasn’t who he appeared to be and reinvented himself — into giving him a promotion.

I love it that he watches Entourage. I'm such a fan of that show!

By JARETT WIESELMAN

"Mad Men" is a show littered with good people doing despicable things, but then there's Pete Campbell, arguably the worst guy doing even worse things – cheating on his wife, impregnating Peggy, blackmailing Don – and yet Vincent Kartheiser infuses Pete with a sympathetic side. Not an easy task. The Post caught up with the 29-year-old to get the scoop on "Mad Men's" hotly anticipated season two premiere.

Q: What did you think when you got the part of Pete Campbell?

 

Vincent Kartheiser: I thought, "This is an amazing role" and "This is like the Ari Gold [Jeremy Piven's character on 'Entourage'] of the show - he gets all the dialogue - and I don't have to sweat out the 15-hour days that Jon Hamm does." I loved it and right away I was like, "I can play this guy, I know this guy, I can shake him out of me."

Q: Fans might, but do you see Pete as the villain of the show?

Vincent: I think it's a real dynamic. I think the relationship between Don and Pete happens all the time in business and in friendships - often times in groups of friends, there is a guy everyone wants to be and if you're not that guy, there's a love and a hate for them - a want to be accepted, but also this want of them to need to be accepted by you, which will never happen. It's a real dynamic, one that most men can relate to.

Q: What kind of research did you do for the role?

Vincent: There wasn't a lot of research - I looked at a few books and saw a few movies, but I really depended on the people that Matthew hired and on what he told me. You know, just like today there were people who slouched and stood strong back then – it was more character stuff we talked about than 1960's stuff. You don't look at every scene like how would this have been done in 1960, you look at it like any other scene and explore the dynamic between the people - who haven't changed that much.

Q: Does the set help you set the mood?

Vincent: I think walking on to our set is not only beautiful, but it plays a role - I think we've all become a little used to it, and we own it, it's ours now, so it's not like we still walk on to it thinking, "Oh, it's 1960." When you do a show for long enough, it's yours - it's our office, it's our bullpen. It doesn't feel like 1960, it feels like Sterling Cooper.

Q: What was it like the night you won the Golden Globe?

Vincent: Unbelievable. That moment, just getting nominated was unreal and then when we heard Jon Hamm's name we all lost our minds on such an extreme level. And when it came around to "Mad Men" winning Best Drama, we were a little horse from the previous screaming, it was a great honor. It sucks that it happens to be the one year it wasn't on TV, but it pushes us, gives us the impetus to make season two even greater. And push for another Golden Globe next season.

Q: Is it nice to have a network that's so incredibly supportive?

Vincent: I think it was amazing to know the first season we had that support, but I think what's more difficult, was that the first season, not pulling rank and changing stuff and getting scared. Having the balls to do it in the first place but to stay on board with Matthew and give him the reigns to hire a bunch of no-name actors and really just create the show he wanted to create. That's where AMC stepped up and the fact that they're doing it again this year, is amazing, but we knew they would, when the show was just an idea in Matt's mind, they knew what he had.

Source: NY Post

A theme from the first year that will continue involves the relationship between Don Draper -- the very model of a self-made man -- and his young, upper-class subordinate, Pete Campbell. Draper plainly can't stand Pete, for reasons that both elude and infuriate the younger man. All through last year I was more or less convinced that this was because Draper, who literally created his own identity, could never abide a blue-blooded legacy like Pete. They could never get along, I reasoned, because they were so clearly the opposite of one another. It made perfect narrative sense.

But Vincent Kartheiser, the actor who plays Pete, gently pointed out the error in my thinking. Pete's family were in finance, his father had expected, nay, insisted, his son follow in his footsteps. Pete's decision to pursue a career in advertising had infuriated the old man so much he could barely stand the sight of him. "Pete's a self-made man too, in that respect," Kartheiser said. "He's more like Draper than Draper knows."

I stand corrected.

We also tour the set of the Draper home, their kitchen, living room and aforementioned bedroom, and then stop by the costume department.

Cast members Vincent Kartheiser, who plays scheming snake Pete Campbell, and Elisabeth Moss, who portrays Peggy Olson—and had Campbell’s illicit baby in the shocking finale of the first season—are busy defending their characters.

“He’s a very human and normal character, and I think he’s all of us,” Kartheiser tells a scrum of reporters. “We’re all a little bit of Pete Campbell. We all have that whiny little brat in us.”