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Elisabeth Moss Stuns in Brandi Carlile's Video About Lesbian Love

Elisabeth Moss

The Handmaid's Tale star and Nicole Disson play a female couple navigating the fits and starts of a relationship in the video for Grammy-nominated Carlile's 'Party of One.' 

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Emmy winner and star of The Handmaid's Tale, Elisabeth Moss appears in the heartrending video for Brandi Carlile's "Party of One," off of her Grammy-nominated 2018 album By the Way, I Forgive You.

The video, directed by Berenice Eveno and created entirely by women, stars Moss and relative newcomer Nicole Disson in a story that chronicles the ups and downs of a lesbian relationship.

And Carlile knows a little something about queer domestic life considering she married Catherine Shepherd in 2012 and they have two daughters. Recently, Carlile, who performed at Joni: 75, a star-studded concert for Joni Mitchell's 75th birthday in Los Angeles, conceived of the lyrics for "Party of One" while listening to Mitchell's unparalleled 1971 album Blue, she told Rolling Stone Country.

"I was drunk. I was listening to [Joni Mitchell's] Blue in the hayloft of my barn, and I was feeling an insane amount of pressure to make my domestic life work, more pressure than a straight person," Carlile said. "We've been witnessing an entire generation being granted access to a civil right and all of the pressure and all of the joy that comes with that."

Early on the process of creating the video, Carlile knew that she wanted Moss --who rose to fame on Mad Men--and she essentially courted the sought-after actress.

"When I thought about making a video for 'Party of One' I couldn't stop picturing Elisabeth's face. I believe she is the absolute best actor out there right now, no one has ever impacted me so much without saying a word," Carlile said in a release for the video.

"I never even asked anyone else. I sent Elisabeth a letter and she called back and suggested creating a love story about two women and using a female crew. A brilliant group of women are responsible for every part of this incredibly human love story and I'm more proud of it than anything visual I've ever done," Carlile added.

As it turned out, Moss was equally smitten with Carlile's work. Moss said in a statement for the video:

"The main reason I wanted to be involved in this music video was because of this incredible song. I had accosted Brandi when we were both on Ellen because I had been obsessively listening to her cover of Bryan Adams 'Heaven' to help me prepare for a cover I had to do it of it for the movie Her Smell. When she sent me this song and asked me to be involved in the creation of the video shortly afterwards, I said yes immediately after I listened to the track because I fell so head over heels in love with it. It's one of those most beautiful musical pieces I've ever heard, right down to the string arrangement at the end."

Watch the moving video below.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.