The Handmaid’s Tale’s star can’t help turning her characters into feminist heroes, even if she’s just trying to play a human.
COVERING THE WALLS at every booth in Elisabeth Moss’s favorite place, Cafe Fiorello, across the street from Lincoln Center, are brass plaques bearing the names of devoted regulars: Katie Couric! Paul Shaffer! Richard Belzer! And soon—major, breaking news—Elisabeth Moss and her mother, Linda, a professional jazz and blues harmonica player. “Isn’t that crazy?!” says Moss, with a breathless excitement that seems to far exceed her thrill at winning a 2014 Golden Globe for her performance as a police detective confronting her dark past in Jane Campion’s SundanceTV series Top of the Lake, or those six Emmy nominations she got for playing Peggy Olson on AMC’s Mad Men. “I mean,” she goes on, “it means so much to us! We’ve been coming here for over 20 years, so to get a plaque is just truly a milestone for us.”
In fact, her mom will be here later to meet her for dinner, which they’ve been doing twice a week since Moss got back from six months shooting the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale in Toronto, which debuted its first three episodes on April 26. It’s based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel, now back on the best-seller list in the age of Trump, about a future in which the United States has become a terrifying fundamentalist patriarchy that has stripped women of all reproductive rights. At the center is Moss, as Offred, the titular handmaid, who, like many other young, fertile women in this new world order, has been forced into a gilded prison as a “two-legged womb” bearing children for the barren wives of the elite.
Esta historia es de la edición May 1–14, 2017 de New York magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición May 1–14, 2017 de New York magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
104 MINUTES WITH... Lord Maurice Saatchi
The British advertising executive is thoroughly enjoying the rollout for his new book, Orgasm.
HOW TO CRIMINALIZE a PROTEST
In Atlanta, the George Floyd demonstrations of four years ago are being used as evidence of illegal gang activity-and the activists of today could be next.
More Than Mad
Grief drives a fantastic installment in George Miller's series.
War of Attrition
In the Kendrick-vs.-Drake battle, no one wins.
We've Hit Peak Theater
Nobody knows how to succeed on Broadway anymore.
Small Plates, Big Checks
Why restaurant prices feel so high—and why they’re going to stay that way.
Nobody Wants to Mow the Lawn at the Beach
Breck and Georgia Eisner's Amagansett retreat gives the children a cottage of their own.
CHESS BRAT
It was the biggest cheating scandal in chess history. Now, cleared of the most serious accusations, Hans Niemann is gunning for a world title-and doubling down on his opponent-trashing, hotel-wrecking, money-flaunting ways.
MIRIAM ADELSON'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS
One of Israel's most ardent supporters, she could transform the presidential election if she gives to Trump like she did in 2020.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRIAL
Trump is running for president while bumping into the past at a Manhattan criminal courthouse.