‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Elisabeth Moss Says 2 Scenes Were Hardest to Film – 1 Involved Jelly

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 is a reminder that The Handmaid’s Tale has always been a franchise full of bleak moments. During interviews, The Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss revealed some of the scenes of the show were very hard to film, however, this wasn’t because of their dark content. Here’s a look at how cream cheese and a car factored into those difficult scenes.

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ star Elisabeth Moss on an uncomfortable scene involving cream cheese and jelly

During a 2019 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Kimmel asked Moss about the most difficult scene of the show to film. “Probably the birth scene in season 2, where I had to give birth by myself, naked,” Moss said. She was referring to the time Fred Walton (played by Joseph Finnes) kidnaps her character, June, and she goes into labor under difficult conditions. “Yeah, we had a couple [babies],” Moss continued. “There was one baby that, in order to get that post-birth look — the guck that comes on a baby — they put cream cheese and jelly on the baby.”

Moss recalled the mix of cream cheese and jelly smelled terrible. “And it hated it, so it was screaming so loud,” Moss recalled. “So I was doing this really emotional scene; I’m like naming the baby after my mother. It was all very emotional and this baby’s just screaming at the bottom of its lungs in my ear.” Kimmel joked Moss transformed the baby into an English muffin.

Elisabeth Moss said she acted like a ‘moron’ while working on this scene from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

During a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, Moss gave a different answer as to which scene from The Handmaid’s Tale was the most difficult to film. In this interview, she said it was the scene where June sees her daughter, Hannah. “Partially just physically, because I’m a moron, I decided to just give myself every single take 100 percent and throw myself around the car,” Moss recalled. Despite this, Moss didn’t feel the scene was physically challenging. Her ultimate goal was to give the scene justice.

Did Elisabeth Moss get anything rewarding out of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ despite the difficult scenes?

Clearly, Moss has occasionally had a difficult time with scenes from The Handmaid’s Tale. This raises an interesting question: Did she receive adulation for her role on the show? According to the Los Angeles Times, Moss received the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of June. In addition, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series because she was one of the producers of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Despite the difficulties of some scenes and The Handmaid’s Tale’s dark subject matter, Moss told Kimmel she enjoys acting on the show. She considers it an incredible opportunity. In addition she finds it fulfilling — even if it meant getting cream cheese and jelly on an agitated baby.