I have such affection for Elisabeth Moss. I know that I shouldn’t believe this, but I really do think she’s one of the “realest” and most accessible actresses out there. Like, she’s accessible in a way Jennifer Lawrence could only dream about. And yes, I know she’s a Scientologist. I’m not giving her a pass on that, but I do think it’s different for the people born into CoS, which is what happened with Moss. Moss covers the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter, and it’s sort of a victory lap for The Handmaid’s Tale, which just picked up 13 Emmy nominations. Many believe Moss and the show will end up winning many of those Emmys too. Moss not only stars in the show, she’s a hands-on producer and this is really her baby. Anyway, I enjoyed the hell out of this THR piece. She’s very real – she just lives in New York with her two cats, Lucy and Ethel, and does her work. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

She’s never won an Emmy, despite being nominated 7 previous times: “It’s lucky number eight. But if you’ve been nominated seven times and lost seven times, you learn to be pretty excited about being nominated. You feel this sense of, ‘Well, at least I seem to be doing well consistently.'”

What she’s learned about women’s rights: “What I’ve learned is, now is not really a time to stand in the middle. You’ve got to pick a side….[Before now] I guess I just didn’t know anyone gave a sh-t about what I had to say.”

When asked how she deals with the rape scenes: She tells a story about Isabelle Huppert discussing whether those scenes are difficult to film: “She was like, ‘Noooo.’ Like, ‘It’s my job, and I go and do my work and I go home.’ I was literally like, ‘Praise Jesus, she is my f–kin’ hero.’ Some of the other actresses [at the table, including Natalie Portman and Amy Adams] probably wanted to answer like that, but sometimes you feel like you shouldn’t because you should take things seriously. But I just love that she is so f–kin’ French that she just was like, ‘Noooo,’ and that’s more of the camp that I subscribe to.”

Her quip about ex-husband Fred Armisen: She said, years ago, “The greatest impersonation [Armisen] does is that of a normal person.” While she learned quickly that “if you don’t want people talking about stuff, don’t talk about it yourself,” she can acknowledge it was a good line, adding with a chuckle: “I was holding on to that one for a while.”

The conversation about Scientology: “It doesn’t surprise me [that it’s always mentioned] because I think if there was anything unusual, it would be there [in a piece about me],” she says with a shrug. “So when it was my marriage and I was going through that, it was that. If something else happened to me, it would be that. And I [understand the interest], I’m happy to read about the thing that I don’t know anything about, too. There’s just not a lot else to explore here. I mean, my cat has asthma. It’s something that we’re dealing with: medicine twice a day and she gets a little inhaler. You want to talk about that?”

How she screwed up a question about feminism a few months ago: “I was asked a question about my character, and I was thinking about my character and about the TV show, not that I was speaking for feminists. If you’re spending a year on something and you’re thinking about it, you’re reading a book over and over and you’re having to do these scenes, it sinks in, this idea of like, what happens if we don’t say anything or what happens if I don’t speak up?” she says. She has started donating to both the ACLU and Planned Parenthood and has found ways to incorporate the organizations’ pins and ribbons into her red carpet looks and her Instagram feed for her quarter-million followers to see.

If she worries about alienating people by talking about women’s rights: “I’m such a staunch believer in women’s rights, I don’t really give a sh-t about anybody who isn’t. It’s like, I don’t need them to watch the show. At a certain point, things are more important than your job.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

I love that last quote: “I’m such a staunch believer in women’s rights, I don’t really give a sh-t about anybody who isn’t. It’s like, I don’t need them to watch the show. At a certain point, things are more important than your job.” Exactly. She’s one of the few celebrities who seems to “get” this. So many of these celebrities are quietly donating to to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood and are quietly voting for Democrats and I’m fine with all that too, but there comes a point where you actually have to put your career on the line and risk alienating your potential audience by standing up for what is right. If someone isn’t going to see your movie or watch your show because you talked about being pro-choice in an interview, then f–k them.

Photos courtesy of Olivia Bee/The Hollywood Reporter.