Everybody knows so-called gay-for-pay porn stars get all boozed for their bosom butt-buddy shoots, but how do “legitimate actors” pull off their gay scenes? “Close your eyes and pretend I’m Christie Brinkley,” openly gay actor Bryan Batt (playing the closeted art director Sal Romano in AMC’s Mad Men) suggested to hottie up-and-comer Orestes Arcuni (playing Batt’s on-screen interest, a hotel bellboy) before shooting their first make-out scene for this season’s opening episode of Mad Men.

The show — AMC’s brilliant series set in the ’60’s advertising business — portrays an era when being out obviously wasn’t as accepted as it is now, but Batt was thrilled his curious character was finally able to get some man loving. “I was hoping something like this would happen for Sal,” he says. “I think everyone was wanting Sal to have some kind of experience, to recognize these feelings he has, and act on them.”

Didn’t catch Mad Men‘s third season premiere earlier this month? Check out the show-stealing make-out scene here: