Why Christina Hendricks' Agency Fired Her After She Signed on for 'Mad Men'

They were so against her playing Joan that they dropped her.

ByABC News
August 4, 2014, 12:15 PM
Actress Christina Hendricks attends the season 7 premiere of "Mad Men" at ArcLight Cinemas on April 2, 2014 in Hollywood, California.
Actress Christina Hendricks attends the season 7 premiere of "Mad Men" at ArcLight Cinemas on April 2, 2014 in Hollywood, California.
Jason LaVeris/Getty Images

— -- Christina Hendricks' character on "Mad Men," Joan, is one of the most powerful and beloved women on TV, on one of the most critically acclaimed shows on TV.

But it wasn't always that way, especially when the actress first signed on for the role.

Read: Why 'Mad Men' Star Christina Hendricks Says She Doesn't Want Kids

Hendricks told the Guardian that she and her manager loved the role when they first saw it, but her agency felt otherwise.

"They said, 'It's a period piece, it's never going to go anywhere. We need you to make money and this isn't going to make money.'" she said. "They ended up dropping me."

But Hendricks didn't let that incident stop her from taking this role she said she was "in love with."

Hendricks also remembered her mother's reaction to the "Mad Men" pilot in 2007.

"I turned to them [her mother and her mother's friend] and said, 'Is it good?' And they both said, 'Oh yeah, it's good.' I said, 'Is it boring?' and my mother said, 'No, but I didn't like that he [Don Draper] was cheating on his wife at the end,'" she said.

Now, Hendricks has been on the show eight years and the role has led to movies like "God's Pocket" opposite the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and other projects like "Dark Places" alongside Charlize Theron.

Looks like that agency was just a little wrong about the whole "Mad Men" slight.