There’s A Lot More To ‘Maggie Moore(s)’ Director John Slattery Than Roger Sterling
THE ‘MAD MEN’ ACTOR AND FILMMAKER TALKS ABOUT HIS LATEST DIRECTORIAL FEATURE, HIS 15-YEAR WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH ITS STAR JON HAMM, FORMATIVE EXPERIENCES WATCHING ‘THE DEER HUNTER’, AND THE LOSS OF A BELOVED MENTOR AND ‘MAD MEN’ COLLEAGUE.
If you’ve watched any amount of American dramatic television in the 21st century to date, you at least recognize his face, the flash of white hair, the distinctive - almost Transatlantic - Bostonian voice and, above all, the immediate and unforgettable charisma. John Slattery has been a fixture on our television screens for more than thirty years, from his key role as Al Kahn on ‘Homefront,’ through a diverse catalogue of starring roles including ‘Maggie’ and ‘Jack and Bobby,’ and two dozen other TV gigs throughout the ‘90s and aughts. He’s been in more than thirty films as well, with his most notable big screen role being Tony Stark’s father Howard in several Marvel Cinematic Universe entries.
It was his lead role as Tommy Flannegan, however, in the one-of-a-kind HBO offering ‘K Street’ - a guerilla filmmaking, largely improvised look at political dealings in Washington where Slattery shone in one-on-one banter opposite a playing-himself James Carville - which raised his profile as an unmissable performer, before AMC took a shot on a pilot whose script was creating a lot of buzz, about ad men on Madison Avenue in the 1960s: ‘Mad Men’ was born, and with it, Roger Sterling became a television character you couldn’t take your eyes off of. It’s a testament to Slattery’s abilities that, even as a supporting player to Jon Hamm’s medium-defining performance as Don Draper, Roger is arguably the single most entertaining element of ‘Mad Men,’ armed with an endless cache of one-liners and charm that cuts right through the smoke-filled offices of Sterling Cooper.
But, as with most actors who crafted such an iconic, career-defining character, said character is only one pin on the map of their artistic endeavors. ‘Mad Men’ is also where Slattery made his bones as a filmmaker, directing five episodes of the show with a frequently interesting eye, but also an impeccable actors’ touch. The Slattery-helmed ‘Signal 30,’ a fifth-season character study of Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) which also served as the final work of legendary writer Frank Pierson, might be the finest episode of a show which turned out a couple dozen other masterpieces, the likes of which most any other show would find itself lucky to craft just one. Today, Slattery, 60, is coming off of his second directorial feature film in ‘Maggie Moore(s),’ a murder mystery about a small town in Arizona which sees two women with the same name murdered within days of one another. The film stars Hamm and Tina Fey, and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last month.
Jon Hamm and Tina Fey in ‘Maggie Moore(s)’ (2023).
“It’s not dull, it’s sort of nerve-wracking,” Slattery observes of the premiere. “You’re standing in the back of the room, and you think you might have a heart attack. If a bottle fell over on the floor, you think, ‘that’s it, it’s over!’ But it was a big room, it played really well.” Slattery was involved with ‘Maggie Moore(s)’ from the developmental stages. “I read the script and pitched how I would do it, and they liked that. They saw ‘God’s Pocket,’” Slattery remarks, referring to his directorial debut from 2014 which featured one of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final performances. The production of ‘Maggie Moore(s)’ faced several hurdles before it was finally shot in 2021. “The initial production fell apart, but we found different producers. Then COVID happened, so it fell apart twice.”
In ‘Maggie Moore(s),’ there is never any mystery as to the culprits behind the titular murders. It’s a ‘howcatchem’ in the same vein as the classic ‘Columbo’ TV movies. “A howcatchem? I’ve never heard that term before,” Slattery remarks amusedly. “‘Columbo’ didn’t occur to me [as an influence]. It was everything Coen brothers, ‘No Country for Old Men,’ it has a specific tone of comedy with thrilling aspects.” Slattery has a deep film knowledge, and rattles off a remarkable list of influences on his film. “Everything from ‘Body Heat’ to ‘Lost in Translation,’ ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ ‘Nebraska,’ ‘The Long Goodbye,’ we looked at ‘Bullitt’ and ‘The Seven-Ups’ for car chases. While we were in New Mexico, before shooting started, we watched at least one or two movies every night.”
The “we” Slattery refers to constitutes himself, writer Paul Bernbaum, and director of photography W. Mott Hupfel III. Slattery never fails to credit his collaborators beside or even before himself. When praised for ‘Signal 30,’ Slattery immediately passes the credit onto Pierson’s “great script.” When the most successful element of ‘Maggie Moore(s)’ is highlighted - the dynamic between Hamm and Fey - he is effusive in his praise for their talent. “They play beautifully together, and for my money they work as two people we haven’t seen,” Slattery muses. “They’re both very smart and intuitive. You don’t have to tell them who these people are. Tina would describe herself as a writer first, but she’s a great actress. They come and knock a scene out of the park, like, five times, and then you’re done. They don’t need a lot of adjusting.”
Slattery’s work as a director has always been informed by his own experiences on set, and as an actor directed for so many years by other filmmakers. “A big concern of mine, every time I direct, is to let the audience know exactly where they are, so they can listen to the story,” Slattery explains. “Ultimately, to me, it’s the performances. That’s what’s moving people. You need to make it look a certain way, but it’s all emotional to me.” He laughs. “I sound like I’m giving directorial advice, but everything in the frame has to tell the story. Being able to be in the edit is a huge part of it, too. I really enjoy all of it. Each time out you learn, and if you can communicate well to someone, you don’t have to do their job for them.”
In our talk, Slattery reveals one of the earliest works which served to push him towards the art of performance. “I do remember watching ‘The Deer Hunter,’ before I’d ever acted,” Slattery noted. “It was the first time I got what was happening on screen. When Robert De Niro comes back and goes hunting, and screams ‘okay,’ just surrendering to what was happening, I understood he couldn’t live in this world anymore because he was almost more comfortable in Vietnam. It took me a little longer to figure out that acting was what I wanted to do, but that moment stuck with me, and changed the way I looked at storytelling.”
From left to right: John Slattery, Robert Morse, and Nathan Lane in ‘The Front Page’ on Broadway (2016). Photo by Sara Krulwich.
When asked about the recent passing of Robert Morse, who portrayed Roger Sterling’s surrogate father and mentor Bert Cooper on ‘Mad Men,’ Slattery does not become mournful, but instead celebratory. “What a career,” Slattery exclaims. “I’ve never seen anybody, before or after, so loose on stage. One of the things I’d seen before ‘Mad Men’ was ‘Tru,’ where he played Truman Capote. He won a Tony and then an Emmy, deservedly. It’s one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.” The pair worked together outside of ‘Mad Men’ as well. “I’d done plays with him,” he reminisces. “We did ‘The Front Page’ on Broadway after ‘Mad Men.’ He was so smart, he would sit there in rehearsals of scenes he wasn’t even in, and he always had great notes. He’d wave me over and say, with a prop, ‘when you hold this up, don’t put it down until you’ve said the line,’ and I’d try it, and it would get a huge laugh.” Finally, with an air of melancholy, Slattery is succinct. “Bobby Morse was a pretty special person, the best person. I loved him.”
‘K Street’ just turned 20 years old, Slattery observes towards the close of our conversation. “It has its fans. I just was in D.C. with Mary McCormack, and was reminded it was 20 years, which of course made me feel even older.” I mention watching the show as a kid, transfixed by the raw filmmaking, not comprehendign the politics at the time. “Neither did I,” Slattery immediately adds, and it’s the biggest laugh of the entire conversation. Finally, when asked what’s coming up for him, particularly in regards to his continuing working relationship with Jon Hamm, Slattery reveals that “Greg Mottola’s trying to get another ‘Fletch’ made,” Slattery and Hamm having starred together in last year’s ‘Confess, Fletch,’ written and directed by Mottola. “That was a lot of fun. I hope that happens.”