Christina Hendricks talks Toy Story 4, the Mad Men legacy and her strange love of ventriloquist dolls
Being asked to voice a creepy doll in Pixar’s Toy Story 4 was an honour according to Mad Men star Christina Hendricks, and she found her character totally relatable thanks to her strange love of certain weird collectables.
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It’s been more than four years since Mad Men wrapped up after seven acclaimed seasons, but Joan Holloway is still very much a part of Christina Hendricks’ life.
Thanks to the rise of streaming services and binge-watching, audiences are still discovering the award-winning ‘60s-set drama set in the sexist, male-dominated world of New York advertising and Hendricks’ portrayal of the steely office manager with a heart of gold, which earned her six Emmy nominations.
“That’s the cool thing about how people watch TV now is that it can still be new to someone every single day,” she says.
“I don’t think a day goes by that someone doesn’t mention it and said they were a fan, or are watching it for the first time and now we all binge watch our TV it’s kind of nice because I didn’t have to fully say goodbye to it.”
While she says the time was right to finish Mad Men (“you want to quit while you are ahead”), she’s still reaping the benefits of the show, with a rich vein of form in recent years including TV series Good Girls and Tin Star, indie drama film American Woman and a voice role in the eagerly-anticipated Toy Story 4.
“I do think it opened a million doors for me,” she says.
“People saw a strength in that character and people enjoyed what I brought to her and it gave me so many opportunities that I didn’t have before. People saw me in a different way to how they had before. It changed my entire career really.”
Even more satisfying for Hendricks is the fact that she’s never been typecast, saying she’s never read a character quite like Joan.
Indeed she says that character she voices in Toy Story 4 — a doll called Gabby Gabby with a friendly, childlike facade that masks a steely, menacing interior — is her Mad Men character in reverse.
“I think it was the opposite,” she agrees.
“I think Joan had a steely facade and was actually all heart.
“But that’s what I like about (Gabby Gabby) is that it’s not just black and white. It’s not just that she is bad — she has a story and a reason and you feel for her and end up wanting to help her. That was interesting and one of reasons why kids and adults can enjoy it because it’s really smart writing.”
Hendricks says it was an honour to be asked to join series regulars Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) in the voice cast for the fourth chapter of Pixar’s much loved franchise about toys who come to life when people aren’t around.
Her new castmates in Toy Story 4 include Veep’s Tony Hale, and John Wick’s Keanu Reeves and previous chapters have included luminaries such as Kelsey Grammer, Michael Keaton and Whoopi Goldberg.
“I was thrilled,” she says of the approach from Pixar.
“I didn’t know if it was maybe a practical joke or something when I got asked to do it. And then I saw the picture of her and was like ‘this is so perfect — I’m so excited’.”
The events of Toy Story 3, which was the first animated film to crack the US$1 billion at the box office and was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, could easily have wrapped up the adventures of Woody and Buzz.
But Hendricks says she wasn’t worried about going back to the well once too often, believing that the Pixar quality control is too good to churn out money-making sequels just for the sake of it.
“I thought that this is such a legendary series of movies that I don’t think they would have tried to make one unless they thought they could do it justice and make it beautiful,” she says. “When I knew it was the whole team, I wasn’t concerned at all.”
There were also some “weird crossovers” into Hendricks’ real life.
In Toy Story 4, Gabby Gabby is trapped in an antique shop surrounded by creepy ventriloquist henchmen (who may, in fact, give younger viewers and some adults nightmares).
Off-screen, Hendricks is a keen antiquer with a thing for ventriloquist dolls.
“I am a fan,” she admits with a slightly guilty laugh. “It’s really weird. I am not actually into ventriloquists because I find that very, very creepy but I do love the look of the dolls and I do have one at home.
“So when I went there and they showed me animation I was like ‘you guys, this is a really weird coincidence — I actually have one of those in my house’.”
“I always thought the one I had was quite dapper — he had black tails and a monocle and a top hat. He was very Puttin’ On the Ritz — I thought he was quite dashing.”
Life is busy for the 44-year-old Hendricks. In addition to Toy Story 4 hitting screens around the world this week, her indie drama American Woman just opened in the US.
“That’s a movie I did with Sienna Miller that Jake Scott directed,” she says.
“It’s a drama about the resilience of a family and how you get over a tragedy and move on. Sienna’s work in it is extraordinary and I am really proud of it.
“When you get a script with fully realised characters that are multidimensional and human, you grab them and you call the director and you try to get on that project as much as possible. That’s the difference between a really good script a not great one.”
In coming months she’ll also start shooting the third season of Good Girls, in which she stars with comedian Retta and Mae Whitman as suburban mothers who become embroiled in a life of crime.
“We have so much fun,” she says of the comedy crime drama, available on Netflix in Australia. “It’s such a joy and we’re thrilled to go back in about a month and half but we talk every day. I’m just lucky because they are dear, dear friends and I get to work with them every day.”
She’s also excited about what she sees as an improvement in parts for women in recent years.
“I think there has been some change,” she says.
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“I think it’s getting better. I don’t think we are there yet until everything is 50-50 and we are hearing stories that are just as involved with women as men as filmmakers and writers and all that. We’re not there yet, but I do think there is an exciting change and some exciting stuff happening.”
Toy Story 4 opens Thursday.
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