January Jones covers W: “It’s fun to imagine what life would be like as a diamond”

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As you may know by now, I’m not a big fan of January Jones. I used to like her – I used to appreciate her work on Mad Men, and think that while she wasn’t the most gifted actress, she had her talents and she was an interesting person. As time goes on, however, I find myself hating her more and more. Her red carpet interviews reveal her as a very vapid, boring person, whether that is really her, or whether it’s simply a cultivated persona, I don’t know. As for her print interviews – well, her last one, in Marie Claire UK, was just ridiculous. She doesn’t just play catty, vapid, dumb, bitchy and snotty on Mad Men – that’s really who she is. Anyway, she’s the cover girl for the May issue of W Magazine, likely to promote her work as mutant Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class. You can read the full piece here, but here’s the full online Q&A:

Emma Frost, Jones’s character in X-Men: First Class, is much darker than her pure-white ensembles. Frost can read minds and transform into a diamond: a diabolical and alluring combination. “Emma Frost was not in the earlier X-Men movies, so I wanted to make her true to the way she is in the comic books. I’m one of the most powerful mutants,” Jones said, laughing. “It’s fun to imagine what life would be like as a diamond.”

Lynn Hirschberg: Despite the fact that you are perfectly cast as the chilly, gorgeous WASP-ish housewife Betty Draper on Mad Men, you originally auditioned for the part of ambitious plain-Jane Peggy, the lapsed Catholic career gal.
January Jones: 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.

Do you like Betty? She’s superficial, strange, and often mean, and yet fascinating.
I don’t judge Betty or necessarily understand her. The audience is passionate about her. After season one they wanted her to speak out against Don and his infidelities. Then in season two, when she did, there was a huge reaction against Betty. They want her to talk—just not too much.

Like Betty, you started out as a model. You left South Dakota at 18 for New York City. Were you nervous?
Not really. I was excited to be independent, but I was also naive—I just wanted to be rich and famous [Laughs]. I lived in an apartment near the Empire State Building. There were a billion girls in New York City who wanted to be models. After a while I was immune to rejection, which helped when I went out to L.A. to become an actress. In modeling, the criteria is purely aesthetic. So when I got to L.A., I didn’t care if they said I was too small, too blonde, too pretty, or not pretty enough.

You often seem to be cast as a villain—Betty Draper has a scary mean streak, and in X-Men: First Class [out June 3], you play Emma Frost, aka Diamond Girl.
It’s a huge responsibility! [Laughs] And I’m a villain. As Emma Frost I’m telepathic, and I can turn into a diamond, which means I’m very, very cold. I always wear white: lots of iridescent stretch leather, lots of sparkle, and ass-kicking white boots.

You will get a zillion marriage proposals at Comic-Con.
Great! That’s perfect! Comic-Con is mostly male, and I don’t really have that audience. And I’m really like a guy in a lot of ways. My screen saver is a picture of me with Eli and Peyton Manning taken at the Kentucky Derby. The most starstruck I get is around football players. I like the Pittsburgh Steelers—I was going to be Troy Polamalu for Halloween.

The free-spirited, wild-haired Super Bowl champion?!
Yes, but I told too many people I was going to be Troy, so I ended up going as Yves Saint Laurent. I didn’t do nude Yves Saint Laurent, although I love that picture. Instead, I slicked back my hair and put on glasses. I wore a tux with a bow tie. Unfortunately, people don’t know Yves Saint Laurent, and they thought I was the guy in the Six Flags commercial.

A lot of people—men and women!—probably went as Betty Draper for Halloween.
Who knows? But because of the clothes, I understand. It’s strange, but when the season ends I miss wearing all Betty’s underpinnings. I love long-line bras and girdles. There’s a sexiness about girdles—on Mad Men I wear them four months out of the year, and I see my body changing. When you wear a girdle, you can’t bend in the usual way. Your thighs are cinched together, which makes your stride shorter. You automatically get a wiggle in your walk. It’s sexy.

When you’re out of costume, do you get recognized?
Yes. The paparazzi are lining my street, waiting for me to come out of the house. And I’m always doing the same thing: walking the dog. My poor dog is getting to know all the photographers. I say to him, “Why aren’t you barking?! These aren’t your friends.”

[From W Magazine]

I didn’t know that she auditioned for Peggy. Wow, I am SO glad that January didn’t get the Peggy part, that would have sucked so hard. I absolutely love Elisabeth Moss, and I love what she does with the Peggy character.

Also – I can’t believe that with all of this press about X-Men: First Class, we still don’t have any good Fassbender stories. What’s a girl gotta do to get a nice “And then Michael Fassbender came over and took off his pants” story?

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Photos courtesy of W Magazine.

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49 Responses to “January Jones covers W: “It’s fun to imagine what life would be like as a diamond””

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  1. jinni says:

    When I first saw these pictures I thought that this chick was Kate Winslet.

    Also, I think Lainey revealed her a the answer to that blind about the actress that tries to appear smart and completely ignores/is rude to other women while trying to impress the guys. So, I don’t like her.

  2. brin says:

    Well, she seems as dumb as a rock so it’s not too much of a stretch.

  3. devilgirl says:

    It’s fun to imagine what life would be like as a vacuum.

  4. Twez says:

    ..”My poor dog is getting to know all the photographers. I say to him, ‘Why aren’t you barking?! These aren’t your friends.'”<<

    I hate to say it, but that’s actually kind of funny. I’m a sucker for a dog story.

  5. RHONYC says:

    this is the best i’ve ever seen her. 😉

  6. tiki says:

    i don’t like to call attention to myself so i imagine life as a secondary gem. a garnet for example. or an amethyst. i leave the shiny, showy stones to the pretty girls.

  7. mln76 says:

    I’m soooo glad she didn’t get the part of Peggy.

  8. mariamoolah says:

    she looks like a clean ke$ha

  9. Lisa Turtle says:

    Betty is a real woman. She represents the stifled life of a stay-at-home housewife in the 1950s. Don belittles her, treats her with paternal protection, then scolds her if she tries to make decisions for herself. Plus, Don is a misogynistic, serial-cheater who has lied about his basic idenitity. Betty is treated like a child, so when she’s unhappy, she acts out like a child. What else can we expect? She’s an emotionally unfulfilled woman, with immense unhappiness in her life.

    I find her character to be the most fascinating of the bunch. Perhaps because there are some Bettys in my own family tree, but also because Betty, with all her faults, is raising Sally. Sally will be the next wave of feminism, the girls coming of age in the 1970s who burned their bras and demanded equality. The generation of Sallys, and of feminism, was born out of the generation of Bettys. The miserable, stifled housewives of the 1950s had to drink, chain-smoking and live in their fanatsies to escape the limitations on woman’s roles. Sally will not be content to be a housewife, or a secretary. She will demand more, and get it. Her feminism is influenced so much by her relationship with her mother. We’re already seeing Sally as more mature than Betty, and I think that’s only going to continue. Their scenes are my absolute favorite, and January plays the role of Betty perfectly.

  10. flutters says:

    @jinni But Lainey’s full of *$^& 95% of the time.

    January Jones hasn’t come off well in her other interviews like the Marie Claire UK one but I actually think she did well in this one. I like that story about people thinking she was that guy from the Six Flags commercial when she was trying to be Yves St. Laurent for Halloween and the dog/paparazzi thing is pretty funny too.

  11. Enny says:

    @mariamoolah – HA! LMAO!

  12. teri says:

    there’s something inescapably boring about her.

  13. Victoire says:

    Stupid, stupid girl =)

    I’m kidding, I don’t know, she doesn’t leave any strong impressions, at least on me

  14. rundee says:

    I think the pics are ok, at least not the typical american-prom-queenish-style as usual.
    And I think she´s kind of funny and honest.
    Kaiser, could it be you just hate her, b´c deep down you cannot forgive her letting Don Draper go?
    😉
    We understand that!

  15. Kate says:

    I thought those pics were of Ke$ha…

  16. rundee says:

    Oh and I agree with 9.Lisa Turtle. The generation of Bettys off course makes us sick to watch them. Because we don´t want to think of us women being that way.
    But I think she did a great job portraying that. Especially b´c my stayhome mom hates her and doesn´t want to be thought of as a Betty Draper.

  17. Alarmjaguar says:

    @ Lisa Tuttle – ITA on the larger historical point, but their relationship kills me. It makes me so sad for Sally!

  18. jover says:

    Why is the fashion world trying to turn this bland boring blonde into the next big thing?

  19. mln76 says:

    @jinni I missed that reveal (Lainey’s are easy to miss) Do you remember when she posted it?

  20. sapphire says:

    Life as a diamond=carbon brain.

  21. curmudgeon says:

    @Jover
    Cuz that’s what they do. Isn’t it fun? I think this chick is good as Betty draper because she looks and sounds like a little girl dressed up in MY mother’s clothes. It makes you realize the actual age of these women living in stuffy times and how they were expected to behave and function in relation to our own time. It’s wonderfully creepy to me. As for her own acting skills, I dont personally see her going much beyond Mad Men, but what the hell do I know?

  22. Ellie says:

    It seems as though this chick has no personality and the only reason she was cast as Betty Draper is becauser that is her true personality. She thinks she’s all that and my goodness she could be but not with that “God’s Gift mentality!” Boring and ugly if you ask me.

  23. KattyKat says:

    Kaiser – she leaves no impression on me, either way. She’s just there. In a way the perfect actress, you put the role on her like a great outfit on a coat hanger or a model. However, I totally get what you mean because you eloquently described by relationship with Katherine Heigl. I really wanted to like her. She’s normal looking. She’s not fat, not thin, not short, not tall, not gorgeous, not ugly but her personality is beyond ugly!

  24. danielle says:

    I liked this interview!

  25. KattyKat says:

    To those who are bringing up the “social construct*” of feminism in the early 1960s. Did any of you watch Swingtown? It shows what happened to these women when they became wives and mothers. OY!

    I was a little girl in the 70s ages 1-10, so my life is more or less defined by decade. For me the 70s was the best decade ever. Every day was sunny. Every show was made for family night. I played with Barbie and chased butterflies. Random flower children gave me flowers and happy faces. I learned to “teach the world to sing” with Coca Cola. I loved Shaun Cassidy and the Hardy Boys and never understood why Leif Garrett was famous (until I asked a woman born in the early 60s). Later I learned to do the Hustle in dance class.

    THEN I SAW SWINGTOWN when I was about 38, I didn’t realize how hard it was to be a woman my mothers’ age. They had to straddle the line between Betty Draper and Gloria Steinem. I wish that show would have stayed on the air. Not because of the kinky swinger aspect but because I learned so much about women born in the late 30s and early 40s, the Joans and Peggys who became the mothers of Gen X. The ones who were too young to be 50s housewives but too old to be flower children. No one ever talks about them and I want to say “thanks mom!”

    *sorry I had to use Ashley Judd’s convoluted phrasing. It still makes me laugh.

  26. jane16 says:

    She plays Liam Neeson’s wife in his latest movie, Unknown. She’s very bland in it, although that could have been the way she was directed. Diane Kruger is the real female lead in the movie and of course stole the show.

  27. jinni says:

    mln:
    She gave an obvious clue that Jones was the answer during her Smutty Tingles for April 8th.

  28. Julia says:

    Oh, my! At first glance, I thought that was Ke$ha!

  29. clare says:

    She has a very interesting face in the photographs.
    She sounded charming in the interview.
    Katherine Heigl is very outspoken, which I like about her, so maybe I would like this one as well, if that is the cause of the dislike.

  30. mln76 says:

    @jinn thanks 🙂

  31. I guess I'm Gonna Be The One To Say It says:

    Natch please. No, you are NOT one of the most powerful mutants. You must have only read the issues where the writers had a goddamn bone for the White Queen. And your most interesting powers came from other mutants. Not from you! You are no one’s favorite part of this new X-Men movie. I hate it when pretty, dumb girls pretend that they are pretty, smart girls worthy of our respect. We will respect you when you see what you really are!

  32. latam2012 says:

    this interview is alright and she seems nice enough and even a little funny, she was an absolute arse in her last one though

  33. KLO says:

    To me she is boring as hell. But I like the photos, they bring out her more unique features.
    So who knows – maybe I’ll really love her some day.

  34. Kim says:

    All she wanted was to be rich and famous? So she has no love for the craft of acting? grreeaatt! she is another girl who will be on the d list in a few years because she just wants to be famous by any means. And then she has the nerve to say her dog should be barking at the paparazzi because they arent her friends?? Pllleeaaasseee you know she LOVES the paparazzi and you know they are NOT lining her street – she isnt that important. She wishes she was but she isnt.

    Didnt this piece of work narrowly avoid a DUI and an outing of her affair with a married man recently? Classy!

  35. Kim says:

    She does look like Keisha.

  36. Trey says:

    A diamond and ice may look alike, but they are not the same thing. Just sayin’ XD

  37. Ari says:

    more like coal, maybe

  38. Deens says:

    The interview is actually interesting enough, I’m not seeing what everyone else is seeing apparently. Also I thought the general consensus about the Launey blind item was Scarlett Johansson.

  39. bros says:

    she was not bad in her in person interview on Jon Stewart…just sayin….

  40. Catherine says:

    Huh. I bet she is a lot like a modern day Betty Draper. They have the same high opinion of themselves.

  41. Lisa Turtle says:

    I don’t think she sounds like Betty Draper at all, I don’t understand that criticism.

    Betty never directly answers a question. In conversation, she is cagey and reserved. She maintains a very aloof demeanor, right up until she snaps.

  42. Myra says:

    I love the cover, love the shoot, and I love her. Everything she says is going to get twisted one way or another, and it’s really just too bad. I don’t see her as dumb, catty, or vapid and Betty Draper isn’t any of those things either.

    Just because she jokes around about how she wanted to be rich and famous doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate the craft of acting and how can she be so full of herself when she talks about how she learned to accept rejection during her modeling days? If this was pretty much anyone else, the view on this would not be the same.

    And btw, the only reason she wasn’t chosen to be Peggy was because she was too sexy, “not innocent looking” enough. It’s harder to downplay JJ’s looks than it is to downplay Elizabeth Moss’. Although she’d probably play Peggy well(let’s not forget that Peggy has had plenty of cold moments of her own), no one would probably buy that she was having trouble being seen as beautiful.

  43. Falula says:

    Hate everything about the shoulders in every picture.

    Love love love Mad Men, love to hate Betty. I’m so depressed that we have to wait so long for more!

  44. Becky says:

    That quote about living life as a diamond made me laugh out loud.

    @KattyKat-I really enjoyed “Swingtown” too and wished that it hadn’t gotten cancelled. It was one of those shows that wasn’t great but was definitely entertaining and had the potential to grow into something better. Plus, as I also was a child in the 1970’s (born in 1972) I particularly enjoyed the costumes and set pieces. Ahh, nostalgia! For some reason I just had a flashback to being 5 and watching the older girls dance to Steve Martin’s “King Tut” at the summer daycamp talent show(: I thought they were so cool! Sorry, I know I’m going way off topic!

  45. June says:

    She. Is. So. Boring.

  46. Ally says:

    Dunno. I don’t find that bitchy at all. Talking sanely about a nutty life, is all, I think.

    I saw her episode of Law & Order from 2008. It was pretty similar to Betty, I must say — just a little meaner, though her character was a conniving streetwise con artist. In fairness, though, there have been about 38 hours of Mad Men to date (yeah, I did the math) and probably about 8-10 of Betty in there, which is like the equivalent of 4-6 movies.

    I often think we’re harder on TV actors, cause we see so much more of them — we get to know their acting tics or tricks.

  47. anna says:

    I really liked this interview. I just don’t get the hate for her.

  48. Hakura says:

    @MariaMoolah“she looks like a clean ke$ha.”

    That’s what I initially thought, too. I went looking to see if I could find one. Apparently they’re close in front view, but Kesha’s version was more obnoxiously defying gravity & good sense.

    http://www.blogcdn.com/www.stylelist.com/media/2010/11/kesha-with-a-mohawk-at-us-weekly-hot-hollywood-590bes111910.jpg

  49. Ro says:

    It has nothing to do with her, but… I don’t get it. Turn into a diamond? What exactly is the point in that? I guess, now that I think about it, you’d be hard to destroy, but I still don’t see much point behind it. Does the diamond have eyeballs and a mouth? Etc. etc.

    I agree with a couple of the other posters–I’m ambivalent about January. She’s just there.

    Also, “social construct” isn’t exclusively an “Ashley Judd phrase.”