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<em>Mad Men</em> Bellhop Talks
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 19, 2009
Modified Aug 19, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 19, 2009
Modified Aug 19, 2009
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Okay, by now you've hopefully watched the season premiere of Mad Men—and if you haven't, consider this your spoiler alert. In it, Bryan Batt's character, art director Sal Romano, finally gets some male lovin' from a hotel employee while on a business trip with Don Draper. Batt has talked plenty about the scene (video after the jump), saying he told his on-screen interest, "Close your eyes and pretend I'm Christie Brinkley." We talked to the actor who played that full-service bellhop, Orestes Arcuni, and he told us a little bit more about being transported to the mid-century set.
Arcuni says Batt is a pro, and prior to filming they "chatted about ourselves and our backgrounds and joked around a bit. He made a difficult scene easier to shoot by simply being a nice guy." Nice, sure, but how was the kiss? He tells us, "The kissing and sex stuff is so technical that it only resembles something romantic when spliced and edited together. It took about four hours and about ten different camera set ups to shoot. The actors are not having a romantic experience, that's hopefully the result of good editing, a good story, and ultimately what the audience brings along with them to the viewing experience." Well it sure seemed believable, and we're secretly hoping that Sal leaves New York to return to that Baltimore hotel sometime this season!
You can hear more from Arcuni here and, this weekend, meet the real ad men of New York when Art & Copy hits theaters.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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