Jon Hamm discusses comedy, directing, and being Don Draper
Don Draper took Jon Hamm from someone you may recognize, to an icon in the television world. For the past six and half seasons, Don Draper has taken us to his personal hell and back again.
Hamm, much like Weiner and Slattery, agrees that Mad Men entered the television landscape at just the right time. Hamm says, “[Mad Men] was kind of co-existing with and on the backs of shows like the Sopranos and The Shield and Deadwood and these really, I wouldn’t want to call them experimental, but at least highly character driven stories that were driven much more by character than genre.”
Getting in on the ground floor of AMC’s scripted television market didn’t hurt the series either. Hamm goes on to say, “I think we landed right in this really wonderful sweet spot and honestly we have landed it at the right place with AMC. They gambled big and they won and we won.”
Playing Don Draper for so long has given Hamm plenty of opportunities to throw a number of things into the character along the way. When asked what his favorite tick or mannerism he gave to Draper was, Hamm politely backed away from giving himself any credit for anything Don Draper became. But he does acknowledge two Don Draper quirks saying, “My favorite [Internet supercut] is just me saying, ‘what?’ Which I think Matt [Weiner] must really like the way I say the word, ‘what,’ because he writes it for me to say an awful lot. And I know Matt has a real love for the way I do business. And I don’t mean do business in a work sense but the way I handle props.”
Though he calls those two tricks “a pretty lame bag of tricks,” they are still a part of what makes Don Draper, Don Draper. Viewers can attest that while those tricks are great, Don Draper is a far more complicated character. Hamm agrees as he responds to why people still find ways to root for Don after all these years. Hamm says, “But I hope that my portrayal of what is a wonderfully written character, flushes out that side. And hopefully it is something that the audience can identify with. But at least as you say find some sort of empathy or sympathy.”
With the final seven episodes upon us, Hamm is no stranger to getting asked where the end of the series will find Don. He does not understand the appeal of finding out the end before you have all the facts. He says, “I don’t like to read the last page of a novel first. I like to read the whole story and hopefully the novel will keep my attention and keep my interest all the way through.” That’s what he hopes Mad Men is doing.
After seven years playing the most serious guy on television, Hamm has taken a few spins in the comedy lane to balance things out. Between 30 Rock, Bridesmaids, and his most recent stint on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Hamm may be dipping his toe in the comedy waters, but he is not going to give up dramas any time soon.
“I don’t enjoy one over the other. Look, as a struggling actor in the late ’90s in LA, I would have happily taken the part of a dancing slice of pizza to pay the rent! I have gotten the chance to work with some of the funniest people on the planet multiple times. And also my day job is a pretty compelling piece of work too. I really do appreciate both sides of it. Because I certainly know the alternative I guess and this is better than that,” Hamm says.
For how he chooses what projects he will be a part of, that is easy. Hamm says, “Obviously there are other considerations at work but mostly I have been able to work with fun people who are very talented whose work I respect. And if that is the case then I really don’t care how big or little the part is I just I am glad to be a part of it.”
Looking beyond Mad Men, Hypable has the chance to ask if Hamm saw anymore behind the camera work in his future after directing two episodes of the series and producing A Young Doctor’s Notebook. Hamm responded saying, “I don’t necessarily know. Directing television is very different skill set than directing features and directing other things. Your job basically is to not get in the way and mess it up. And I have understood that very, very intuitively when I came in and directed Mad Men…I thought that it might be something fun to do just because there are so many shows on television that I love. But, the downside is, if you do mess it up then it is your name on it. I will never say never either way.”
Finally to wrap up his time on Mad Men Hamm has nothing but fond memories and great appreciation for the world that took the show in and gave Don Draper and company the chance to thrive. Hamm says, “For me, which is really all I can say, it was an incredibly meaningful, creative experience.”
Watch the final episodes of Mad Men season 7, episode 8, “The End of an Era,” Sunday, April 5, at 10:00 p.m. ET on AMC.
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