Photo: Courtesy of The edit. Of all the Mad Men alumni poised for a post-series breakout, Christina Hendricks is at the top of our list. While Jon Hamm has leading man potential, and Elisabeth Moss proved she could thrive outside the walls of Sterling Cooper with her remarkable performance in Top Of The Lake, Hendricks has something no one else does: Ryan Gosling.
Hendricks appeared opposite Gosling in the neo-noir caper flick Drive, and clearly left an impression on the actor. He cast her as the lead in his directorial debut, How To Catch a Monster, a twisted fairy tale about a mother and son who discover a secret road leading to an underwater town. In the new issue of THE EDIT, Hendricks dishes on the first-time director, revealing that Gosling was "like a kid on Christmas day. He was so excited on set, just having a blast. It makes you feel great.”
The 38-year-old actress broke out as the sultry secretary Joan Holloway on AMC's hit show, which is slated to end after its seventh and final season. As expected, Hendricks is sad to let it go. "I would like to think we were contributors in raising the bar,” Hendricks said of Mad Men's legacy. “The Sopranos before us certainly did, and it's exciting for me ending the show knowing there's some true-quality stuff out there now – I can go and find something good.”
But the show's true legacy — as we all know — is the fashion, and Hendricks agrees. "When the show came out, people were wearing jeans with their underwear out — maybe one of the worst crimes in fashion we've ever had," Hendricks said. "I think people were craving that tailored, put together sense of style and respect for fashion.” We couldn't agree more.