Alan Taylor was already a highly accomplished director before he began work on Mad Men. Having helmed episodes of Big Love, Deadwood, Sex and the City and The Sopranos, he knew the importance of preparation. By sketching meticulous storyboards to track out the details of every camera movement in difficult sequences, Taylor came into every scene with a plan on how to get the job done.
One of the more memorable scenes that Taylor directed was Betty's car accident in Episode 2, "Ladies Room." In ten pages, Alan mapped out every shot and character in a beautiful series of storyboards.
The Sterling Cooper offices are a fiercely competitive environment where every executive and secretary jockeys to gain power, prestige and the almighty dollar. Take our Mad Men Versus Poll and vote for the employees you think will rise to the top in Season 2, which begins in July.
Some awards shows make it a point to pair two unlikely celebrities as presenters and honorees for some forced moments of levity. But Vincent Kartheiser didn't have to venture too far outside of the Mad Men universe when he received his prize at Hollywood Life magazine's 10th Annual Young Hollywood Awards on Sunday night. There to crown him as Breakthrough Star of the Year for Television was his co-star Jon Hamm. The whole affair must have felt like some sort of reunion for Vincent. Right after receiving his award, Emmanuelle Chriqui, a fellow winner who appeared with him in Ricky 6 (one of their first films) gave him a shoutout from the podium. Also on hand to show support were fellow Mad Men cast members Elisabeth Moss, Aaron Staton, Bryan Batt and Michael Gladis. After the ceremony, Kartheiser and company adjourned to an after party, conveniently located upstairs at the Spider Club.
Mad Men's makeup department head explains how you can tell the age of the women by the way they apply their lipstick and recalls the day she had to buy 100 tubes of it for just one scene.
Put this video of Inside Mad Men - The Makeup on your blog:
Adman Pete Campbell may bristle when his talents aren't being appreciated at Sterling Cooper but this Sunday, the actor who plays him will be getting praise aplenty at the Avalon in Los Angeles as Hollywood Life magazine recognizes the performer's work on Mad Men with a Young Hollywood Award. The ceremony will be hosted by actress Aisha Tyler. Kartheiser's award will be presented by none other than his series co-star Jon Hamm.
Other presenters and recipients include Donald Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Rob Schneider, William Baldwin, Abigail Breslin, and Tony Hawk.
Being talked about may be devastating to some, but actressDarby Stanchfield admits wearing fake nails might have been the greater challenge... greater even than playing mother to the boss's kid.
Q: Was it tough to play someone intensely gossiped about?
A: It wasn't hard. It creates really good drama and interesting storylines. From a personal standpoint, playing someone judged negatively by her friends is not difficult. It made it really interesting to come to work to tell that story. It's really phenomenal how art can reflect life and I was able to draw on situations from my own life in which I've made choices and have been judged very negatively for them.
The second season of the Golden Globe and Peabody Award-winning drama Mad Men has officially moved from the planning stage into reality this week with the beginning of production in Los Angeles. The series which will be broadcast in both high definition and standard definition will make its bow this July. While series creator Matthew Weiner has been customarily coy about divulging potential plots points for the upcoming season, he has revealed that John Slattery will be returning to the show as Roger Sterling.
At first glance, the Hollywood restaurant Kate Mantilini's seems an unusual backdrop for life-sized pictures of Mad Men, a show set in 1960s New York. That is, until owner Marilyn Lewis provides the back story.
Q: What's the history behind Kate Mantilini's and why did you put up the Mad Men display.
A: It's been 21 years since we opened Kate Mantilini's, which I named after my Uncle Rob's mistress. My mother wouldn't let me speak to her, nobody would allow us to mention her name, but she was a very strong woman and I wanted to name my restaurant after her. My husband was under contract with Warner Brothers, and he did 50 films in the 1940s before we went into the restaurant business. The studios loved Kate Mantilini's because it had excellent comfort food, and they did their premiere parties there. We have a proscenium wall that goes about thirty feet high, and we had pictures of these very sensuous faces of actors from a premiere show. I never changed those pictures, even when other studios begged me to let them put up different pictures. Then one day I heard Matthew Weiner describing Mad Men, and I couldn't wait until I saw it. It was love at first sight. I said, "We've got to get those faces up on Kate Mantilini's wall, all of them!"
Mad Men fans looking for a music companion to the Season One DVD set scheduled for release on July 1 should have plenty to get excited about with the release of Mad Men: Music from the Series, Vol. 1 on June 24. The thirteen track compilation, from Alexandra Patsavas, the Grammy®-nominated music supervisor of Grey's Anatomy, The O.C. and Gossip Girl, will carry a retail price of $17.98.
Songs featured on the disc will include period tracks from Vic Damone, Ella Fitzgerald, and Rosemary Clooney, original compositions by David Carbonara, and the instrumental theme by Aceyalone and RJD2.
The complete tracklist of the disc will run as follows...
He's not just the oldest son of the show's creator. Marten Weiner is also one of the actors in the cast. The 11-year-old performer talked with AMCtv.com about his feelings about his character and working with his dad.
Q: What do you think of your character?
A: He's a little bit weird but he's different than me. It's not like I don't understand his problems, but it's not like I would have those problems.
Q: What's weird?
A: Some of the stuff that he did like walking into the women's bathroom. That was not like me at all. I thought that was kind of weird, but it's not like it's impossible.
AMC announced today that it will renew Mad Men for a second season. The second season will consist of 13 episodes beginning in the summer of 2008. The Season One finale will air on Thursday, October 18th at 10PM...
Alan Taylor was already a highly accomplished director before he began work on Mad Men. Having helmed episodes of Big Love, Deadwood, Sex and the City and The Sopranos, he knew the importance of preparation. By sketching meticulous storyboards to track out the details of every camera movement in difficult sequences, Taylor came into every scene with a plan on how to get the job done. 
