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May 15, 2015 Jay R. Ferguson By Austin Trunick

[As a tribute to AMC’s award-winning drama Mad Men—which wraps its seventh and final season this Sunday, May 17th—we’re speaking with the actors who played several of our favorite characters on the show. We’ll be discussing many specific moments and episodes from the series’ run, so please take warning: these interviews will contain many spoilers for those not caught up on the show.]

Stan Rizzo was hired by Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to replace fired art director Sal Romano during Mad Men’s fourth season. At first his brash—and slightly chauvinist—attitude puts him at odds with Peggy Olson, but in time he came to admire her for standing up to his bullshit. The two grew to become compatible colleagues and, eventually, good friends. As the sixties rolled on, Stan’s attitude continued to mellow. By season seven he was sporting a large beard, wearing beads and tasseled leather jackets, and smoking pot at the office, completing a hippie transformation that was a far cry from the clean-cut jock we met three seasons earlier.

Jay R. Ferguson has been acting since the early ‘90s, when he starred in the television series based on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders. Since then he’s had more than 40 film and TV credits to his name, including roles on the shows Evening Shade, Sleeper Cell, and Surface, and in Michael Winterbottom’s film adaptation of The Killer Inside Me. We spoke to him about bringing Mad Men’s Stan Rizzo to life.

Austin Trunick [Under the Radar]: I know it’s been a few months now, but were the last days on set emotional for you? Was there a good wrap party?

Jay R. Ferguson: Yes, it was very emotional. Really, the last month or two of shooting was pretty emotional, but of course the last day was really emotional. Over the last couple of months of shooting every day it seemed was somebody’s last day. So everybody would come to the set even if we weren’t working, to be there for whoever’s last day it was. There was always a toast, you know, and the person would say a few words, and Matt [Weiner] would say a few words. Everybody immediately was pretty choked-up. And then we would all stay and celebrate after the person was done with work, and hang out. Have some bubbly. We repeated that several times over when each respective person would be wrapping up.

The last day, of course, everybody came, whether they were still working or had already left. It was very surreal. As emotional as it was for me, I can’t even imagine how emotional it was for the folks who had been there since day one. I was there for the second half of the run, but there were people like Lizzie (Moss)—almost her entire 20s were spent on that show. The amount of children that were born, and the number of people who were married during that time… it was a big deal. The wrap party was a little more lively. I think we went a little bit over schedule, if I remember correctly. It had to be reserved several months in advance, and we couldn’t change it by the time we found out we were going over schedule. So our wrap party actually happened like a week before we wrapped. So, people were still living in denial and happy, because the end hadn’t actually happened yet. But it was a lot of fun. We made sure we left no stone unturned at that wrap party. It was great.

One of your very first episodes—if not your first—had that great scene where Stan and Peggy to strip down while they’re working.

That’s correct, yeah.

How much were you told about Stan when you auditioned for the show?

Really zero, aside from the little amount of dialogue I read for the audition, and what I was assuming myself and what Matt had told me that day. It was very little. I had no idea who I was working with. They famously did this throughout the run of the show—the character’s name that you saw on the pages you were given were not the names of the real characters. I think my character’s name was there—I saw “Stan”—but the character that I was acting with was not named Peggy. It was some other name. They do that to maintain the secrecy of the show and so that no one could leak out anything.

So, I didn’t even know who I was working with until I got [the part], and they told me, and they sent me the pages. And then even at that point, I wasn’t a regular until the next year. So all throughout that season, the only script that I would get were my pages—my scenes. Those were the only things I would get in advance; I wouldn’t get a full script until I went to the table read for that episode. And that’s how they did it for everybody. But once I became a regular, like all the other regulars I got a full script. But they were very careful and calculated about what they put out there. And they somehow managed to pull it off, too! It’s a miracle that they’ve been able to be as spoiler-free as they’ve been during the whole run of the show. It’s really incredible.

Something that’s so great about the show is how much the characters changed over time. You’d have a hard time recognizing many of the characters this final season next to their first appearances. Did you have any hunch Stan would become the agency’s hippie-type character?

Well, what had happened leading in to the season when Stan started to go hippie, they had asked all of the guys on the show—a few months before we reported to work—to not cut our hair and to not shave. It wasn’t specifically one person; I think it was pretty much across the board. When we all showed up for a hair and makeup test before we started shooting, they basically lined everybody up—for lack of a better phrase—and decided who was going to have what. Who was going to have long hair; who was going to have a moustache; who was going to have sideburns, a beard, whatever. And really, if I remember correctly, what you ended up seeing in [this season’s] premiere, with Roger having his moustache, and Ted, the sideburns, and all these other things—I think they’d initially planned to start that the year before, and they decided not to. They’d decided to hold off on some of the other characters. But I remember at that hair and makeup test there were other people who had facial hair, but they just opted out of it at the last second.

It wasn’t until I found out I was going to have a beard—they told me not to cut it, obviously—and we figured out what the new hairstyle was going to be. Then I went to the fitting and saw my new wardrobe, and started getting some accessories and what-not. But, actually, it was in the very first episode of that season, I think, where Stan’s smoking a joint in the office. I think it was at that moment, when I read he was becoming a weed-smoker, that it really started to resonate that they were going in that direction with him. Up until then I just thought, “Oh, he’s a creative guy. He’s growing his beard out. There’s not too much more to it than that.” But, there was a lot more to it. [Laughs]

Stan and Peggy have turned into one of the show’s few genuine, seemingly-healthy friendships, but there was a romantic, will-they-or-won’t-they thing going on there for a while. Did you ever think they’d up an item, or did you always guess Stan was barking up the wrong tree?

When it started, I did think that was where it was leading. I’d never been part of a show that didn’t do the obvious thing. And, to me, that seemed like the obvious way to go: you start off with them not liking each other, but it’s just a trick. I even expressed as much to Matt when it was beginning and he was like, “No, that is not where this is going. You’re way off base.” I think that’s a testament to this show: they don’t do what you would ordinarily see other shows do because they don’t like to do what people are expecting. Those were the only kinds of shows, for the most part, that I had experience working on. And that’s not a knock on any of those other shows—it’s just what makes Mad Men unique, and why other shows are now starting to do the same thing. You just don’t know which way it’s going to go. No matter how much you think you might know, it’s not going to wind up playing out the way you expect it to.

As that first season went on—where I was just a recurring character on it—and Stan keeps kind-of flirting with her but he’s still his piggish self, I thought that unless they let this guy soften up a bit, he wasn’t going to last on the show. There was no way, because she won’t put up with it and he’s too pig-headed to accept her as an equal. I knew that something was going to have to give: either they were going to have Peggy fire him, or he was going to have to soften up. And then, of course, they had him soften up, which I thought was great. And really, was who I felt he was probably all along.

Do you have a favorite Stan moment or episode from the show?

As far as a single one—because I had so much fun doing so many different things—I think that the episode from season six where everybody took the “vitamin” shot in the ass which ended up being speed, or something. That was a lot of fun to do—it was probably the most fun I had doing anything, because we got to do a lot of physical comedy and stuff that I really enjoy.

Of course, my very first episode has a special place in my heart. The interesting irony is that I was this over-confident guy with this crazy bravado, just strutting around with all this swagger, and the reality was that—in real life—I was terrified while we were shooting it. I’ve probably never been more proud of a performance of mine than I am of that first episode, knowing how terrified I was and how confident I had to come across. [Laughs] That was probably the hardest I’ve ever had to concentrate at acting and staying focused, and keeping my eyes on the prize.

Do you have a favorite scene from the show that didn’t deal with your character?

Yeah. I think my second episode, “The Suitcase”—I was in it, but I wasn’t in it a lot—was a great one. I also really loved the one last season where Peggy and Don have their dance, and they dance to “My Way.” I loved the stuff between Lizzie and Jon in that episode.

Well, here’s a theoretical question. I know in real life that you’re a big Dallas Cowboys fan –

Oh, yeah. Diehard.

Having worked in a New York office, I know something like that wouldn’t fly without some ribbing. But Stan’s a New York guy, and has a bit of a jock background. Would he be a Giants or a Jets fan?

Well, you know, originally when Matt found out I was from Dallas, he was going to make the character be from Dallas. And I think that—in my mind, even though we didn’t specify it—I just went forward with assuming he was from Dallas. So, I would say he’s a Cowboys fan.

Now that the beard’s gone you probably have more options for roles. What’s next? Where should we watch for you once Mad Men’s over?

I’ve got a couple of things going on right now, but I did just do a pilot for ABC that’s loosely based on the childhood of Dan Savage. Martha Plimpton and I play the husband and wife with three kids, and the middle boy comes out to the family in the pilot. It’s a single-camera, half hour comedy. It’s really funny. Great writers. Great director.

What were your favorite things about working on Mad Men, and what are you going to miss most about working with the cast and crew?

Well, it was a very special and unique job for me. One that gave me an experience that I’ve never had before. It made me better, and the people that I worked with—primarily Lizzie—made me a better actor. So I’m definitely going to miss that. I hope that I was able to learn enough, and that I’m able to carry what I learned on that show with me to my next jobs down the line. And hopefully the magic doesn’t wear off when I’m not working with those guys. [Laughs] From a creative standpoint, that’s what I’ll miss the most. And, just being part of an operation where everybody at every position—whether actor or crew member—were the best at what they do. Just being part of a all-star team like that is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

From a personal standpoint: the friends I made on that show, and the time we would spend together outside of the show, when we weren’t working, between the scenes. It was the first job I’ve ever had where everybody wouldn’t go back to their trailer when they weren’t working. We’d hang out, and play games, talk, and be together. That formed a bond like none other that I’ve ever experienced. From a personal standpoint, I’ll miss that the most.

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For more information about Mad Men, head to AMC’s website.