Tete a tete with Elizabeth Moss

Elizabeth Moss is a well-known American film, theatre, and television actor. She is best known for her roles as Zoey Bartlett in television series The West Wing and as Peggy Olson, the secretary-turned-copywriter on the hit TV show Mad Men. She’s also a six-time Emmy award nominee and a Golden Globe award winner for her role as Robin Griffin in ‘Top of the Lake’ which is currently being aired on Zee Café every Thursday at 10pm.

What is ‘Top Of The Lake’ about?
‘Top of The Lake’ is about a detective who returns to her home town and gets involved in the case of a 12-year-old girl who is pregnant and then goes missing. It’s about her search for the girl but she also dives into the world of this town and its secrets and starts unearthing the story of a bunch of characters. It becomes a search for herself as she’s also diving into her own past that she’s been running away from. It’s a detective story, it’s a mystery, it has all these elements about it that are sort of tried and true. But what makes it different is it’s got the Jane Campion touch.

So, everything is just a lot darker, a lot stranger, a lot more complicated than that. The lakes and the water in New Zealand here have this quality of becoming like glass on the top – impenetrable, smooth and so beautiful. But you don’t know what’s underneath. This story is about unearthing deep dark secrets and truth and the way that people cover those up. Whether it’s in yourself or in a family or in a community. It’s about finding what’s underneath the top of the lake, what’s in the depths.

Tell us about your character Robin Griffin?
Robin Griffin is a detective who works mainly with children. She is incredibly strong and incredibly fragile. She’s a series of dichotomies - she’s very smart but very naive, she’s strong but very vulnerable, she’s learned a lot but is incredibly damaged, and she comes back to a place in her life she’s been trying to run away from so she has to deal with that.

What made you take up this project?
I’ve always been a huge fan of Jane Campion, she does such incredible work, so many different kinds of things, but they always have her own sensibility about them. She is the epitome of the actor’s director, so getting the opportunity to learn from her and be challenged by her has been such an incredible part of this experience. Robin is one of those incredible female roles that are rare where you have a character who is strong and feminine, who has a lot to do and who has an incredible emotional journey.

How does Robin compare to Peggy (Mad Men)?
On the surface, she is very different. Robin’s a modern woman, she’s emotionally and mentally stronger. She is a much harder woman than Peggy is, much tougher. She can handle a gun. But Peggy is often described as a mystery - you never really feel like you know what she’s going to do - and so they have that in common.

Did you have to face any fears on this project?
Yes, I definitely had to systematically face my fears! I’ve never really handled guns before, that was actually a little bit scary and ended up being fun. Eels – terrified of them, don’t like them at all. Not too happy with the water so I had to face that. At one point, I had to hold a trout and I don’t even like fish - so I kind of had to conquer my fears as time went on. I had to learn how to throw darts, shoot guns, chop wood, run, go in the lake. Actually, the funniest stuff that I’ve done on this show has actually been the cop stuff – the running around with the guns and the hiding and the shooting and all of that kind of thing.

How have you spent your time in New Zealand away from the set?
Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world and I am the least adventurous person in the world. So, it was kind of funny me coming to a place where there’s like paragliding and parasailing and bungee jumping and all this crazy stuff that I would never do in a million years. So, I’ve taken the calmer route of Queenstown which is the lovely restaurants, the wineries, the steam ship.

I’ve taken the more “old lady” route. But actually, the best thing about this project is that it’s been like a tour of the South Island. So many times, we’ll be shooting in the bush or by a lake and it’s just so extraordinarily beautiful. So, I’ve been so lucky, I’ve gotten to see a lot that I don’t know if I would have known to go and see because we shoot there.