Rich Sommer spills the beans on this season's 'Mad Men' (ok..not really)

Rich Sommer, who plays Harry Crane on the incredibly awesome Mad Men, did a Q&A with the Washington Post recently.

Here are the goodies.

From the washingtonpost.com:
Kalamazoo, Mich.: Half the fun of watching “Mad Men” is figuring out what Matt Weiner really meant. Does the cast do that, too? And, was there an episode that puzzled all of you?

Rich Sommer: I have no idea what Matt means in many of these scripts, but I don’t think it matters. I had a professor tell me in grad school that theme is not the actor’s job, so I took that to heart.

Sometimes, Matt will grab me and say, “you know this episode is about X, right?” And I will say, “sure, sure.” And it’s always enlightening, because it feels like a code being cracked. But I don’t work too hard on trying to figure it out on my own, because I’m not that smart.

Bethesda, Md: For some reason, the part that I remember most from “Mad Men” is when you “accidentally” open your coworker’s check and then realized you ruined the envelope. I could actually see the sweat bullets coming off your face. As an actor, do you call up a time in your life when you were panicky nervous for such a scene? Or do you just ‘wing it?’

Rich Sommer: I loved that scene. I have certainly had moments where something fell in may lap that shouldn’t be there, and I was faced with the choice of doing the right thing or doing the shady thing. Good ol’ Harry let me play out the shady thing.

But as far as any sense memory or anything like that, no. I think the situation we had set up was tense enough, so it made my job easy.

Have I mentioned that our writers are amazing?

Minneapolis: It seems like a cast of very talented, smart, grounded folks. Are there any signs that egos are growing?

Rich Sommer: Not that I’ve seen. Jon Hamm remains one of the greatest guys in the world to work with, and one of the greatest to grab a beer with after work. The same can be said for the whole group.

I work with amazing people. They blow my mind every day I have the chance to be around them.

Michael Gladis and I went to play pool yesterday, and then decided, on a whim, to track down a Bingo game. We ended up at a hall in Canoga Park, Calif. It was awesome.

Wait — did I get off track there?

No. No egos.

San Bruno, Calif.: How do you prepare for your role in “Mad Men”?

Are there any specific books or movies of the era that you refer to?

Have you talked to the Mad Men of that era?

Rich Sommer: I skimmed the Mirror Makers (is that what it’s called?), and I finally watched “The Apartment.”

But, no, I didn’t do much research beyond specific things mentioned in the script. Like I said earlier, I think we’re at our best when we’re playing the characters in the context of their current scene, and worrying less about the times they’re in. Does that make sense?