CARRIE-ANNE MOSS ON THE MOB

Playing the role of tenacious Assistant District Attorney Katherine O’Connell on the hit CBS show “Vegas,” Actress Carrie-Anne Moss is up against some pretty tough guys in a pretty tough town in the 60’s.  The period piece centers around former Sheriff Ralph Lamb’s battle with the Mob.  On the show, Moss’ character proves to be equally as tough.

Featured on the cover of Vegas Magazine’s October issue, we caught up with the star at the monthly magazine party.

TMM: You play a character in an interesting era here in Las Vegas – a time when the Mob was really in its hay-day.  Talk about your character and what intrigued you about this role.

CAM: Well, I loved the piece as a whole.  When I first signed on to it, the role wasn’t developed at all. It was given to you in a little bit – the pilot episode.  I love the period and I love playing in periods.  With the whole modern world today, I’m interested in what happened before and getting dressed in that costume and embracing how different it was for women and for men.   We’re doing a procedural show without cell phones.  The other day, I had a note to give somebody – how do you get the note to the guy?  We text it now!

TMM: And you’re thinking in modern era

CAM: Yeah, and it wasn’t that long ago.

TMM: When you look at the role and the era, it was still sort of a boy’s town in Las Vegas – is it hard to step back in time like that being a women?

CAM: I think unless you experienced that, it’s just an idea.  I think we can still feel a little bit of that in our world in different ways.   It was a very different time.  I’m sort of strong and confident women naturally – that it’s hard for me to give that such weight for what that would be like.  I would’ve been insisting that I get what I wanted.

TMM: Did you know much about the Mob before taking this role?

CAM: No, only what I had seen in the movies.

TMM: And your thoughts now?  You’ve probably learned about the multitude of connections the Mob has with everything.

CAM: It’s sort of overwhelming.  And yet, there’s a human side to it too.  I look at Michael’s (Michael Chiklis) character and he just genuinely wants to make it better.  They kind of have – him and Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid) want the same things – they’re just going about it differently.

TMM: At that time – in that period – there really weren’t a lot of laws to go after the Mob.  The RICO Act didn’t come into play until the 70’s.  With your character, do you find it tough to go after the Mob in the way you would like?

CAM: Yeah, I mean for my character, my passion is going after that.  Not only that – but the guy above me is crooked – not that I know that — but we do as viewers.  I have a scene coming up in the next episode where I go to him and tell him some really important information and as I’m reading I’m like “Oh no, don’t tell him that – he’s in with them too.”  It’s everywhere you look.

TMM: And as an actress you may find it interesting that Los Angeles based Mobster Mickey Cohen tried to infiltrate Hollywood and the unions at one point – do you personally think the Mob still exists today?

CAM:  It must, right?  You know – you tell me.