'Weekend Drive': Christina Hendricks

Bill Weir goes for a ride with "Mad Men's" sexy star.

ByABC News via logo
April 23, 2009, 11:44 AM

April 25, 2009— -- Christina Hendricks offered to take "GMA Weekend" on a Weekend Drive to her hometown of Twin Falls, Idaho. Hendricks is best known for her role as Joan Holloway on "Mad Men," a television series set in an ad agency in the early 60s. Hendricks is not new to acting. She's been on stage most of her life.

When we asked if we could get to know her better she suggested we meet her in Twin Falls where she got her start. Until now, Twin Falls was most noted for Evel Knievel's 1974 failed attempt at jumping the Snake River Canyon. Hendrick's recent rise to stardom may override the city's claim to fame. Bill Weir drove around town in a 1958 Chevy Impala with Hendricks to capture the lost pastime of Weekend Drives.

BILL WEIR: How has the success of the show changed your life?

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS: It's changed my life in every way possible. It's really nice, as an actress, you, you plug along for a while and you work on shows. And, and every time one ends, you gotta start from the beginning and start auditioning again and prove yourself each and every time. And for once, people already know what I've been working on. I don't have to work so hard to convince someone to audition me. So it's helped in that way, just walking into a room and not feeling so beaten down. People respect the show and they're excited about it, so that's been really nice.

WEIR: How do you regard the audition process?

HENDRICKS:I wish I knew a better way. I wish I knew a better way that wasn't so soul-crushing. I don't know of one. It's just a necessary evil and you have to go into that room and your hands are shaking and trembling. I get very scared for auditions. I get incredibly nervous.

WEIR: What kind of kid were you? Did you dream of stardom when you were living here?

HENDRICKS: I was always making up dances. I had choreography going every day and would invite the other girls to come over to my house. "Do you want to come over? I'm gonna choreograph a dance this afternoon. I could really use you in the number." We'd go to the Salvation Army and get great things for costumes and put on little shows.

WEIR: Are you a singer?

HENDRICKS: I sing all the time but I'm not that good.

WEIR: Will you ever sing for a role? Would you? Would you do a musical?

HENDRICKS: Absolutely. I would, I would train my butt off. I would study and study and study. Yeah, I would absolutely do it.

WEIR: Why do you think people respond to "Mad Men's" Joan Holloway so strongly?

HENDRICKS: Well, she's just written so fabulously. I can't think of another character like her on television. And I think that she's great because she's one of the guys and she's one of the girls. And she's not a pushover, but she can also be very vulnerable.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU LOVE -- JENNY LEWIS

DUNCAN -- PAUL SIMON

FALLING -- BEN KWELLER

A CASE OF YOU -- JONI MITCHELL

I FEEL IT ALL -- FEIST

RENO DAKOTA -- THE MAGNETIC FIELDS

AROUND THIS CORNER -- SARAH HAMER

GOODBYE -- PATTY GRIFFIN

THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK -- SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

THE 6THS -- YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU

SPARK -- THE BIRD AND THE BEE