Jon Hamm on life beyond Mad Men
MAD MEN IS gone, but Jon Hamm still has his Don Draper moments. One of them comes five minutes into his new movie, the comedy Tag. Hamm sits behind an office desk, immaculate in a gray suit, perfectly pressed and set off with a matching tie and white shirt. Poised, even cocky, he looks like he owns the world.
And then a guy in a janitor’s outfit ambles in, slaps him on the chest and screams, “You’re it!” In seven seasons of Mad
Men, that never happened to Don Draper.
“If it’s not what the audience expects from me,” Hamm said, “then I’m really happy.”
Early on a Friday morning in Beverly Hills, the actor stepped out of his car in front of a hotel where he was to conduct interviews on behalf of Tag, and a small crowd of waiting fans buzzed appreciatively. One fan whispered, “Does he ever age?”
“Not a day,” her friend replied. His latest movie Tag is all about ageing. The film revolves around a group of middle-aged men, friends since their youth, who annually devote the month of May to an elaborate game of Tag that escalates to the point of risking life and limb.
Playing tag
The 47-year-old Hamm plays Callahan, a flourishing business executive who leaves the corporate world behind to return to his hometown, where he and his best friend, Hoagie (Ed Helms), and several other players hope to finally stop their buddy Jerry (Jeremy Renner) from winning the game, as he does every year. To do so, they plan to infiltrate his wedding and work together to tag him once and for all.
“The remarkable thing is that this film is actually based on a group of real-life adults, with real jobs, who take this month to actually play tag,” Hamm said. “They don’t do this for money. It’s just about the pride of not being the last one tagged. These guys want to win the game, but it’s not just about the game.”
There’s even a message behind the laughs.
“It was fascinating because it’s really about this idea of lasting friendship in our busy world of being in 20 places at the same time and being glued to our phones,” Hamm said. “These people play this game,
Playing a character (Don Draper in Mad Men) for that long is a blessing and a curse. It’s great to actually have a job and go to work each day. And look at the people I got to work with – a dream come true.” Jon Hamm
but what they’re really doing is spending real time with the people who have been and continue to be important in their lives.”
The actor liked the idea of playing a business mogul with an unexpectedly crazy, fearless side.
“That’s the thing,” he said. “You never want to assume too much about people or characters. You start the movie thinking this is a serious guy – but not true. He is driven to win this game, but shows his silly side along the way.”
Tough going
Tag doesn’t sound like an action movie, but it was surprisingly tough going. “Jeremy did break both of his arms on Day 3 of production,” Hamm said. “He’s in Avengers and has come through that without a scratch. Then he does Tag, and his arms are both broken.”
Hamm himself emerged relatively unscathed.
“It was a lot of running,” he said, “which takes a toll.”
Mostly, though, the shoot was literally fun and games.
“Jon is so playful and willing to try anything,” said Helms, who knows about comedy after seven years on The Office (2006-2013), in a separate interview. “Jon is such a cool guy who loves to look ridiculous. We were literally chasing each other around and hitting each other with things. There was so much great physical comedy. “It was Andy Bernard from
The Office vs. Don Draper vs. Hawkeye from Avengers.”
Dan Draper, Ham’s character in Mad Men, was anything but admirable – he smoked too much, drank too much and womanised way too much – but for seven seasons audiences couldn’t get enough of him. Why?
“Don was the American dream,” Hamm said. “He was a self-made man who won, but also failed miserably at life at the same time.
“He makes bad decisions about his wives and children while remaining brilliant in business,” the actor continued.
“He’s not a superhero. That’s what I loved about him: His struggles and wrong decisions made him human.”
Thanks to Netflix, Mad Men remains current, and its fans won’t let Hamm move on.
“People want to talk about the show with me all the time,” he said. “They don’t just want to talk about Don. They want to get into long discussions about Peggy and Roger and Joan. I always enjoy it, unless I’m late and have to be somewhere.”
He laughed. “The fact that the public still wants to talk about these characters is the most obvious expression of being invested in something,” he said. “It’s the ultimate compliment for an actor. It’s lovely, because it says to me that the show and these characters linger.”
Hamm was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Actor in a Drama seven times, but went home empty-handed each time. He was nominated again after Mad Men’s final season, and finally won.
“I didn’t expect to win ever,” he admitted. “It was lovely to be honoured, but just as amazing to be on the list of nominees with that kind of talent each
year. I’d look at that list and think, ‘I love that show and that show and that show.’”
After Mad Men
After Mad Men wrapped, Hamm had to make sure that the show wouldn’t be the only thing people ever thought of when they saw him. “My main goal afterward was to make sure that I didn’t play some version of Don Draper again,” he said. “I think a tiny part of you thinks, ‘I’ll never work again’ or ‘I’ll never work at that level again.’ It’s up to you as an actor to find the great work.”
Nobody is likely to think of Draper when they see Hamm as cult leader Richard Wayne Gary Wayne on the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. After Tag, Hamm will return to the big screen with Bad Times at the El Royale, with Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth and Dakota Johnson.
Thereafter, he’s open to anything. “I’m reading things – including texts,” he joked.
Hamm realises, of course, that Don Draper will always be with him. “Playing a character for that long is a blessing and a curse,” he said. “It’s great to actually have a job and go to work each day. And look at the people I got to work with – a dream come true.”
But … “The cost is a lot of mental and emotional baggage that gets torn through and weighs upon you from such a complex character,” he said. “It even impacts your life.”
He shook his head, then smiled. “But, like I’ve always said, it’s not like I’m a miner,” Hamm said. “Come on! When you like what you do, it ain’t really work. I knew what my dad did for a living, and that was work. I’m extremely lucky.”