Hamm a fan of Canuck skating stars
TORONTO — You can count actor Jon Hamm among the legions of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir fans.
The former Mad Men star, whose new film Beirut hits theatres April 13, says he was glued to the TV as the beloved ice dancers captured gold — and the world’s attention — at February’s Pyeongchang Olympics.
Hamm was thrilled to meet the Canadians recently on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“They were so great and they were such nice people,” Hamm said Wednesday in a phone interview from Los Angeles.
“It’s so funny, you meet them in person and you realize, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys are so tiny,’ and I guess you have to be to spin around like that and throw people up in the air.”
Hamm said he first remembers the two “making a big splash” when they claimed gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
He was in Vancouver when he was cheering them on this year, shooting the upcoming film Bad Times at the El Royale.
“Between curling, women’s hockey and them, it was a very exciting Olympics, especially for Canadians — although the curling didn’t work out so well,” Hamm said.
“But [Virtue and Moir] were just so exciting to watch. I would sit in the Keg, it was right next door to my hotel, and watch the Olympics every night and have dinner and everybody was staring at the TV. It was kind of nice.
“Everybody was pulling for them and it was so great that they won.”
Hamm was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show the same day as the two-time Olympic champions last month and popped by their dressing room next door.
“I knocked and said ‘Hi,’ ” he recalled. “They had the gold medals and it was really cool. I didn’t touch it, I didn’t want to jinx it or something.”
Beirut stars Hamm as a former U.S. diplomat who returns to Lebanon 10 years after leaving in a bid to negotiate for the release of a kidnapped friend.
Hamm noted the screenwriter Tony Gilroy also penned the Hamilton-shot film The Cutting Edge, “about a hockey player and figure skater who fall in love.”
“It’s sort of a proto-Virtue and Moir story, kind of I guess,” he said with a laugh, referring to rampant speculation among fans about whether they’re a couple, which they’ve denied.