Christina Hendricks On How Audiences Have “Learned A Little Bit Of Manners” Since ‘Mad Men’ & Why Shows About Hollywood Feel In Vogue

Mad Men star Christina Hendricks thinks audiences have “learned a little bit of manners” since the days she was playing Joan Holloway in the AMC smash.

Reflecting on a decade having passed since the end of Food but, Hendricks told Deadline society has improved for the better in terms of the way in which men in particular discuss female actors.

“I think people have learned a little bit of manners now and know you don’t ask about physicality and bodies straight up when you have never met them,” said Hendricks, who was six-times Emmy nominated for Mad Men. “It’s really none of their business. I think there has been a big change since then.”

Hendricks, who has spoken in the past about the difference in audience reaction to Mad Men’s male and female breakouts, noted that the show “was aesthetically accentuated, which was a thrill and a highlight,” but said “the way people asked and went about [exploring this] was incredibly inappropriate and hopefully people have learned their lessons a bit.”

Across nearly 100 eps, Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men was one of the American tentpoles of the golden age of TV, making stars of the likes of Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Hendricks.

Hollywood on TV

Since breaking out, Hendricks has landed a wealth of high-profile TV roles including Sky’s Small Town, Big Story, which has international premiere next week at the Series Mania confab in Lille.

In Small Town, Big Story, Hendricks plays Wendy Patterson, a Hollywood hotshot producer who returns to her Irish hometown with a major film production only to shine a spotlight on a hidden secret. Chris O’Dowd’s series, which launched late last month, also stars Paddy Considine, Clarke Peters, Tim Heidecker and O’Dowd himself.

Shows about Hollywood feel in vogue, with Seth Rogen’s Apple TV+ series The Studio about the fictional head of a big American player set to launch in a week.

Hendricks said the reason for this is two-fold. “The general public who are not in filmmaking have always been interested in this industry and they don’t know what it takes to get projects onto screen,” she elaborated. “And then in Hollywood we like making fun of ourselves. And people enjoy making fun of us – they admire this industry and are confused by this industry.”

This was true of Small Town, Big Story, she said, which takes a light-touch approach to the themes it explores via the comedy stylings of The IT Crowd, Bridesmaids and Girls star O’Dowd. Hendricks drew comparisons with 1990s CBS hit Northern Exposure about the eccentric residents of a small town in Alaska.

“This is a specific kind of piece,” added Hendricks. “It’s a stylized piece that I enjoy watching. It has that quirky humor and small town vibe, and a sense of community that a lot of people search for.”

While she joked that the mostly-outdoors filming in Ireland was dogged by “cold, wet, rain and wind,” she said she feels the show could run for plenty more seasons. “When you get a script you think, ‘Could this be the next five, 10 years of my life?’ and [with Small Town, Big Story] I immediately thought, ‘Yes’,” she said. “There’s a lot of characters to discover and play around with within these relationships. It’s fun and charming, so there’s a lot we can do there.”

Hendricks has been prolific of late and today also sees the launch of her Hulu series Good American Family, while the next season of Apple TV+’s Bridgerton-esque The Buccaneers returns in June.

Good American Family tells the shocking-but-true story of the adoption of Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian-born American with dwarfism whose adopted family abandoned her after claiming she was an adult. Hendricks said the show, which is based on an Investigation Discovery doc, is poles apart from Small Town, Big Story.

“It’s a completely different tone, completely different subject matter and a different character, but that’s what’s fun for me as an actor, being able to do so many things,” she added.

Small Town, Big Story screens next Wednesday at Series Mania and Hendricks will be in France.