Known for her nuanced portrayal of Peggy Olson in Mad Men and her fierce Offred in The Handmaid's Tale — Elisabeth Moss' performances have earned her critical acclaim and several awards. This includes an Emmy for her work in Tale. Her latest project is The Veil, FX’s new spy thriller which she both acted in and produced.
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For her Treat, Moss discusses her deep connection to composer Max Richter's work, particularly his piece "On the Nature of Daylight.” The composition impacted her so deeply that she used it in one of The Handmaid's Tale episodes she directed. She shares how listening to the piece helps her get into the right mindset for acting. Moss also reveals how she went from devoted fan to collaborator. Over the years, she’s forged a friendship with Richter. The two recently worked together on The Veil and a music video for "On the Nature of Daylight”.
This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
From my ballet background, I grew up working with music and dancing to music. There's an artist, a composer named Max Richter, who I fell in love with many years ago. In particular a piece of his called ‘On the Nature of Daylight.’
It just changed the way that I heard music. It changed what I thought a score could be. Since then, I've actually managed to weasel my way into becoming friends with him and he's done some of the music on The Veil, my new show. And I got to produce — in a full circle moment — I got to produce and star in the music video for ‘On the Nature of Daylight,’ and I also got to use it in The Handmaid's Tale, in an episode that I directed.
But that piece, and then Max Richter as an extension of that as a composer, so much of his music is a constant inspiration for me. It is the thing that I can listen to and [it] immediately puts me in whatever place I need to be as an actor. It's so often what I use as a temp score as a director, and for me, it defines so much of the work and the characters that I play.