In David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow,” Elisabeth Moss plays a temp whose life is transformed when a Hollywood hotshot asks her to read a spec script. It’s supposed to be a “courtesy read,” but Moss’ character doesn’t know that. Suddenly she’s obsessed with spirituality and radiation, two things that rarely figure in films, even in plays about films. In real life, Moss – who’s up for a SAG award tonight as Peggy Olson in the AMC hit “Mad Men,” and this week got engaged to “Saturday Night Live” comedian Fred Armisen – takes her reading pretty seriously.
“I was always sort of an avid reader,” she tells The Post’s Barbara Hoffman. “I was one of those kids with a big imagination, always carrying a book around. I went through all the customary girls books – Nancy Drew, Laura Ingalls Wilder, stuff like that, before I graduated to Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte.”
Here’s what else she’s loved.
Charlie Chaplin: My Autobiography
by Charlie Chaplin
That was the last book I’ve read, and it’s fantastic. It focuses mostly on his childhood and early career and getting hugely famous. What he had to say about comedy and art and acting is astounding.
Franny and Zooey
by J.D. Salinger
The first time I came to New York to do a play, I was 19, and it was “Franny’s Way.” It was set in 1957, when “Franny and Zooey” had just come out and my character, Frances, has fallen in love with it . . . That started a love affair with Salinger’s work. I’ve always wanted to play every character in every Salinger book.
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
I hesitated to say this – everyone in the world has read this book five years ago! But I finally got around to it last fall during rehearsals and I fell hook, line and sinker.
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas
It’s one of those sprawling epics with adventure, romance and revenge – one of those classic, great stories. It’s also one of those books I feel I can read again and again, because I forget all that happened.