"It Was Like a Weird Dream": Elisabeth Moss On Working With Wes Anderson

This has been a good year for Elisabeth Moss. Not only is Moss receiving accolades for “Her Smell,” a film about a self-destructive musician, she also starred in the third season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and is set to revamp the Universal Monsters pantheon with her horror director Leigh Whannell. Oh, and she also starred in some little no-budget film called “Us,” which only dominated the cultural conversation for a couple of months. No big deal.

READ MORE: We Talk “Her Smell” and Hard Work With Elisabeth Moss

Needless to say, big years warrant big interviews, and that’s what inspired IndieWire to sit down with the actress and talk about everything from independent cinema to the artistic stylings of Wes Anderson. In the interview, Moss opens up about the scheduling challenges that come with shooting a season of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” “I can’t shoot anything else when we’re doing the show,” Moss told IndieWire. “It’s just fucking impossible. I don’t get more than three or four days off. I would say I get a total of two weeks off in six or seven months.” That means that Moss is, for the time being at least, grounded – except for the occasional dalliance with a minor role in a Wes Anderson movie.

READ MORE: Portions of Wes Anderson’s New Film Will Be Animated and Black and White

That film happens to be “The French Dispatch,” Anderson’s upcoming 2020 film that has been positioned as Anderson’s “love letter to journalists.” The film includes a typically all-star cast of Anderson regulars and irregulars – yes, this does include Bill Muray – and gave Moss an opportunity to work with the iconic director during a break from her show. “I went to France and did two days of shooting, and it was the most surreal experience because it was like stepping into a Wes Anderson movie,” she said. “Everyone looks like they’re in a Wes Anderson movie — and they usually are — and there’s Wes Anderson, and he looks like he’s in a Wes Anderson movie. It was like a weird dream. And everyone’s so nice. Somebody will be reading, and someone’s listening to music, and there’s people chatting and eating croissants. It’s the most civilized experience.”

So there you have it – it turns out that the most Wes Anderson thing of all is Wes Anderson himself. Raise your hands if you’re not surprised.