"There's only one Don Draper," Vincent Kartheiser says, "and when you work alongside somebody like that, you make your peace with being a beta male." Kartheiser is talking about his Mad Men character, Pete Campbell, the ambitious WASP who has never quite matched the profile of his ad-agency superior, played by Jon Hamm. But that dynamic might shift.
"Pete got a promotion, he's feeling more comfortable with his status, and he knows more about who he is," Kartheiser says. "His angst is down and his confidence is up."
His marriage is better, too. Pete and Trudy (Alison Brie) weathered his affair with the au pair, and Pete is feeling committed for once.
"It was as if Pete had to take on the image of the playboy only to realize he isn't really that guy," Kartheiser says. Still, it's unclear if Pete will give in to pressure to adopt a baby. "I don't think he's hip to that idea," reveals the 31-year-old actor, who, despite the show's success, still lives in a modest bungalow and takes public transportation or walks to work. "People see me on the streets of L.A. and they must think, 'Hey, there goes that guy from Mad Men. But look at him, he's all sweaty.'"
source: seattlepi
