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Cara Buono may have been an important part of the recently concluded Stranger Things, but she also starred on another TV series that dominated the cultural zeitgeist a decade earlier: Mad Men. Recently, Buono discussed her time on the AMC period drama at a panel at Fan Expo Portland moderated by Collider's Maggie Lovitt. Buono had nothing but praise for the series, which she described as having "a lot of dialogue" and, approvingly, being "very slow." She went on to say:
"I don't think they could make that show today. It's very character-driven, you know, no special effects...it's like a play every week. I loved that show. Like I couldn't believe I got on that show with such a good role."
She enjoyed her time on the series, playing a recurring role in its fourth season. She came in well into the show's run, which wasn't a new experience for her: "Actually, most of my career I've been added to shows, like Third Watch, Person of Interest. I'd actually never started on a show before Stranger Things. I've probably auditioned for like 80 pilots in my life and never got one, and the first one I got was Stranger Things, so that worked out." Buono went on to explain that after one bad experience, she expected to always feel like the new kid on the block when joining a series. Luckily, that wasn't the case for her tenure on Mad Men. She told fans:
"I've only ever been added to shows at the end. It's scary, because I had a bad experience once: I don't want to say what show it was, where I got on, and they were kind of cliquey and kind of mean to me...and kind of trying to mess me up and stuff. It's like when you transfer schools and people are mean to you. I know, it's hard to believe, and I was like, "This is how it is when you join a show, and you're not part of the group yet," but that was an anomaly. Everyone was very welcoming, yeah."
Buono can next be seen in The Big Break alongside Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, and Jesse Eisenberg; the latter also wrote and directed the film.
Who Does Cara Buono Play on 'Mad Men'?
Buono appeared on the fourth season of the AMC drama as Dr. Faye Miller, who was employed by a market research company. While working with ad agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, she soon found herself attracting the romantic attention of top ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm). She eventually gained his trust, and she became one of the few people he entrusted with the true secret of his past: the real Don Draper had died in Korea, while "Don Draper" (really Dick Whitman) had stolen his identity by switching dog tags with the dead man. However, Don ultimately chooses to marry the younger Megan (Jessica Paré). Heartbroken, Faye tells Don to make sure Megan understands that he "only likes the beginning of things."
Mad Men has gotten a big visibility boost in recent months. The series, newly available on 4K, debuted on HBO Max to great viewership. However, a few hiccups arose early on, as the incorrect versions of some episodes were mistakenly uploaded to the streamer; in the most notorious example, a scene where a hungover Roger Sterling (John Slattery) throws up now included a special effects technician and a "vomit machine." These errors have since been rectified.
Mad Men is now streaming on HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Release Date 2007 - 2015-00-00
Network AMC
Writers Jonathan Igla, Robin Veith, Carly Wray, Kater Gordon, Bridget Bedard, Cathryn Humphris, Chris Provenzano, Brett Johnson, Rick Cleveland, Tracy McMillan, Andrew Colville, David Iserson
English (US) ·