Based on Thomas Maier's book 'Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virgina Johnson, The Couple Who Taught America How To Love,' Lizzy Caplan will play Johnson to Michael Sheen's Masters, the '60s-era scientists whose research into human sexual behavior greatly influenced the sexual revolution that led to a more modern, liberated era where you can show people doing it on premium cable.
So what attracted Caplan to the Showtime drama series, and just how far will it actually go? "It goes far. It goes crazy far!" reveals the Los Angeles born actress in a candid interview with Collider. "The explicit sex scenes were certainly not what drew me to it. There’s this strange thing about doing nudity on camera now, with the internet and everything. I’ve only done it on one other job, which was True Blood, and yet it seems like something that I do all the time. At least, people seem to think that. It was more that I was drawn to the character of Virginia Johnson, who I find to be the most fascinating woman. And a huge part of her personality and who she was, was a woman who was completely comfortable with her own sexuality, at a time where that was almost unheard of, in the Midwest during the 1950′s. It’s crazy that she even took lovers that she didn’t want to marry, eventually. That was her whole thing."
The process of getting the part was lengthy and complicated for Caplan. "John Madden directed it and he's this very fancy, amazing guy who did Shakespeare in Love," she told The Insider. "He really saw me in this part way before I actually saw myself in the role. Typically you're typecast in your comfort zone but this is so far outside that for me. This is a true period piece drama, but when I read the book this show is based on, the character and I are so alike, so I could really see myself in her. Plus, she's such a pioneer and a total badass. If I can raise awareness for what she did at this strange time in America, then sign me up!"
Which raises the obvious question of exactly what did Virginia Johnson do? "A lot of people are familiar with Kinsey – they did questionnaires asking people about their sexual preferences, which was ground-breaking at the time," she answers. "Masters & Johnson were research scientists – well, he was and she pretended to be. They would wire people to electrodes and heart-monitors to watch them masturbate and have sex [in hopes of figuring] out the science of an orgasm. People were adhering to Freudian ideas, which were so masculine and female sexuality was so far in the background. Masters & Johnson, combined with the sexual revolution, gave women power over their own bodies."
Pondering if it easier to perform sex scenes or watch other actors perform sex scenes, Caplan admits: "I get a weird kick of out shooting sex scenes because they're just so awkward. They're so uncomfortable that the situation makes me laugh. There's something sort of fun about it since you're usually doing it with a good looking co-stars, so, whatever, it's part of the job. I'll take it. So I thought watching other people pretend to have sex would be so easy, but I was so uncomfortable. It was so weird to watch other people because it makes you self-conscious and think about what you look like when you're shooting a sex scene. But I better get used to it because [Masters & Johnson] watched a lot of people do it. I mean, they observed over 10,000 orgasms."
Caplan says she knew going for the role that being comfortable with explicit material would be necessary because it’s just at the core of who this woman was. "It’s why she was so helpful to [Dr. William] Masters," she explains. "Why their studies were so successful was because she understood sexuality, more than he did. He understood science, and she understood the human element of it. And she’s such a complicated woman. It’s, by far, the most challenging part I’ll ever play. It has been the most challenging, up until this point. And the story is just amazing and riveting."
People will probably be tempted to say, 'Oh, they took it really far. It’s a cable show. Of course, they’re turning it into this overly sexualized thing,' thinks Caplan. "But, it’s based on a biography of the two of them and all of the stuff really happened. We’re not amping it up. It really was that strange, and they were doing it for this greater purpose. They really believed in the science of the project. I really believe in this project, so it’s like, 'All right, if I have to be on the internet naked for a few more years, then whatever.'"
In considering how she would crack the code as to who Virginia Johnson was, Caplan says she read the book extensively and picked up on little things peppered throughout that were pretty strange coincidences. "Just little tiny things that wouldn't be mind-blowing but that I started to feel sort of connected to her," she explains. "And there was something so brave to me about this woman who was so comfortable with her sexuality at a time where women weren't. They had no ownership over their own sexuality. And she was this twice-divorced woman with two kids and a nightclub singer and she sort of hustles her way into this hospital and becomes this doctor's assistant all by virtue of her own moxie and personality. And she becomes half of what is the most important sex researcher team that I think has ever been."
As one of half of the team that will ultimately carry the show, Caplan says Michael Sheen is an actor she respects so much. "I refer to him as a real actor because he's like played Hamlet and is one of those trained actors," she laughs. "And it felt like the dynamic was already in place because I felt like this scrappy little comedy actress coming in and playing with this big gun. And that was how it was for the two of these people, so before we even started rolling it was like, 'Okay, whoever's casting this show is smart because they're setting up this like power situation like from the get-go.' And Michael and I have since become good buddies and we're gonna have a blast shooting the show. He’s so awesome and so game for everything that we’re going to have to do. We’re going to be really getting into some stuff, so luckily we get along with each other. It would be a nightmare, otherwise."
All of which explains why Masters of Sex clearly had to be on a channel like Showtime. "Yea. It's interesting still how male full frontal nudity is still taboo most of the time," she says. "I'm going to really push for Michael to show his parts on this show. As an actor, you just really admire the bravery of other actors to do that because it's weird not only for them to have to perform in front of a small crew, but to do it in front of other actors watching them. It's ridiculous."
And the craziest sex fact that she has learned as a part of this gig? "The craziest sex fact that I learned was that before Masters and Johnson kind of blew the lid off this, everybody considered the male orgasm to be the only important orgasm, the only one that mattered," she answers with incredulity. "It's all Freudian shit, like the virginal orgasm was the only one that counted and a clitoral orgasm was bullshit. And like people really lived their lives like that. That's crazy. I'm gonna have to say the word 'clitoral' so many times in the next year!"
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