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Next on Mad Men
Season 5, Episode 10: Christmas Waltz Airs: May 20, 2012 at 9PM.
Christmas wishes come true. Harry helps out a friend.
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Calendar
TELEVISION
- Inside The Actors Studio (May 14)
- Graham Norton (June 01)
EVENTS
- Apple's Regent Street Store in London (June 01)
Projects
Million Dollar Arm Role: J.B. Bernstein Status: Pre-Production
Mad Men (2007-) Role: Don Draper Status: Completed Airing: March 25, 2012
Friends with Kids (2012) Role: Ben Status: Completed On DVD/Blu-ray: July 17, 2012
Q: In your day job on Mad Men, you play a character in the 1960s. Was it good to be in a film that is set in the modern day?
A: It was nice to do something other than my day job. I was a huge fan of Ben Affleck’s work in Gone Baby Gone. He knew exactly what kind of film he wanted to make and it was the kind of movie I wanted to be in.
Q: What’s the craziest thing you’ve had to endure from the fans?
A: I was in Canada and a gentleman came up to me in a restaurant and asked me to sign his arm with a Sharpie marking pen. I signed it and said: “You got it. There you go buddy, knock yourself out.” He might have been a little drunk. By a little drunk, I mean wasted.
Q: Did you ever ask someone for an autograph?
A: It was probably a baseball player. I grew up in St Louis, Missouri, and used to wait for the players to come out at the end of the game and ask them to sign my book.
Q: Do you remember what you bought with the first big pay cheque you got?
A:I worked on a TV show called The Division and bought myself a new car. It was a Volkswagon Jetta. I was 31 and it was first time I had ever driven a new car. That felt pretty good.
Episode Description
Stop: It’s Hammer Time. Star of AMC’s hit series, Mad Men, Jon Hamm, visits Sklarbro Country and takes a stroll down St. Louis memory lane with Randy and Jason. The brothers and Jon discuss everything from bad local commercials to cat rape to why bed bugs are like Fuzzy Zoeller. Racist Vin Scully stops by and makes everyone a little uncomfortable…everyone except our Douchebag of the Week, Randy Quaid. Sklarbro Country, episode 9, man it’s mad. The first 15 people that follow this link and post on the wall that they heard about the Sklar’s Hollywood Improv shows on Sklarbro Country will get free tickets one of the shows on Sept. 25, 7:30pm and 10pm. We hope to see you there! To view the Rally Cat video the Sklar’s discussed with Jon Hamm, click here.
Jon is on the cover of the October issue of Gotham Magazine out soon.
As Mad Men’s Don Draper, Jon Hamm is a master-of-the-universe type in stylish suits and “helmet hair.” But off-camera he’s just a baseball-loving, New York City foodie who’s not afraid to look like an idiot.
Before AMC cast Jon Hamm to play Don Draper on Mad Men, his acting gigs peaked out with various smaller parts such as an 18-episode run on the series Providence, a two-episode run on CSI: Miami and a supporting role opposite his girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt, in the 2001 movie Kissing Jessica Stein. Three years later, it’s hard to think of contemporary culture without the impact of the runaway hit Mad Men, a show that’s become shorthand for a very specific time, place and look, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Michael Douglas ruled Manhattan as Gordon Gekko in the original Wall Street. This fall the 39-year-old has two films out—The Town, directed by and costarring Ben Affleck, and Howl, a biopic about beat poet Allen Ginsberg—and though he’ll admit that Don Draper has changed the landscape of television and the lives and styles of many of its viewers (especially those in New York), at 8:30 on a Saturday morning before his first cup of coffee, he’d much prefer to talk about baseball and The Big Lebowski. And so we did. Eventually.
Here’s a really nice little interview from People (09/27/10). Thank you so much to Lianne for the transcript!
The Mad Men star is tough on crime in The Town but a softie at heart
Fave Mascot
The Phillie Phanatic, because there is no reason that mascot should exist. A strange alien creature that somehow represents Philadelphia perfectly.
Worst Nickname
Well, when you have the last name Hamm, there are tremendous amounts of nicknames that get assigned to you. I’ve been “Ham and cheese,” and “Hammy.”
He Cries Watching
Marley and Me. Holy cow, if you could have a dog, forget about it. It will crush you. My dog (Cora, a mutt) is in L.A.-probably on the couch when she shouldn’t be.
Fave Toy As A Kid
I was a big collector of Star Wars figurines, so anything that had to do with Star Wars I could not live without for four or five years of my life.
Favorite? Boba Fett.
Workplace Perk
I have a Nespresso espresso machine in my trailer. It helps with the long hours. There’s no cleanup, it makes fantastic coffee, and it’s immediate.
Exclusive Lunch for Two with Jon Hamm for The Adrienne Shelly Foundation
About this nonprofit:
The Adrienne Shelly Foundation supports the artistic achievements of female actors, writers and directors through a series of scholarships, grants, and industry mentoring. Reflecting Adrienne’s generous spirit, our goal is to recognize the tremendous passion and commitment of women artists in creating their own work.
On this frigid spring morning in 2009, the fourth floor of the Bronx courthouse is littered with movie and TV stars who mingle in the crowded hallways with Average Joes slated for face time with a judge. Literature lovers all, the bold-face names are here to make the movie Howl, a cinematic homage to Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s poem directed by Oscar-winning documentary directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and starring James Franco as Ginsberg. Franco, not filming on this morning, is scarcely missed by star-watchers. Jeff Daniels condenses his tall frame uncomfortably on a wooden bench while studying his lines; Mary Louise Parker scurries quietly past on the way to the courtroom set; David Strathairn spreads cream cheese on a bagel at the craft services table and Treat Williams, star of the 1979 movie version of Hair, holds forth with crew members about the new production opening on Broadway.
But if only a few passers-by are not too preoccupied with legal matters to gawk, most of those heads turn toward a relatively new face in the fame firmament. “Have you seen that show, ‘Mad Men?’” murmurs a briefcase-toting lawyer in a heavy overcoat to a female colleague as they navigate the busy hallway. He gestures with an elbow: “That’s the guy…”
Her head snaps to the side and she fixes an appreciative gaze on a figure leaning against the wall. Jon Hamm, looking Don-Draper-dashing in his 50s period suit and slicked-back sable hair, doesn’t notice her; he is texting intently on his iPhone.
What did actors do on breaks, Hamm is asked, before the invention of PDA’s? “Smoked!” he says instantly, then cracks a dazzling grin befitting a Disney cartoon prince.
Hamm, 39, came out of seemingly nowhere to win the Golden Globe best actor award in 2008 for his iconic role in Mad Men, AMC’s drama about corrupt Madison Avenue executives in the early 60s. It was an era in which litter was tossed from car windows (and women were almost equally disposable), cocktails were consumed at the stroke of 5 – even by pregnant women – and everyone, in fact, smoked.
Up close and personal, Hamm loses something of Don Draper’s sociopathic sheen, but none of his square-jawed sex appeal. And, perhaps because he is new at this fame game, he is still accessible: cheerfully chatting with cast and crew, making jokes, thanking everyone who falls at his feet with a muttered I’m-such-a-fan. Hamm is the high school quarterback you wanted to hate because he was handsome, popular and smart to boot – but you couldn’t because he was so damn nice.
After Hamm’s uproarious comedic turn in three 30 Rock episodes as Tina Fey’s boyfriend (a hapless doctor who could not perform the Heimlich maneuver), Fey was quoted as saying that just to look at Hamm’s gorgeousness, one is required to first poke a hole in a paper plate. Asked about it, he blushes, then demurs: “Tina Fey makes a very good living as a comedian doing exaggeration.”
He clearly would rather discuss the project at hand – the movie Howl, which opens Friday in select cities – and why he was drawn to a small-budget film when blockbuster scripts are being lobbed at him daily. “I feel strongly about the messages in the movie,” he says in between takes, perched on jury bench in the hallway. “And I was also drawn to the character. Jake Ehrlich was a bit of a dandy and a real showman – and a very successful litigator.” Ehrlich was the Northern California attorney for poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Howl’s” publisher, who faced a six-month jail sentence for daring to print Ginsberg’s sexually explicit, Odyssean poem. Ehrlich, who took the case pro-bono, would become the inspiration for the television series Perry Mason.
“The important thing I’m trying to get across in this character is that he believes people should not be censored,” says Hamm. Is he a fan of Ginsberg? The former English major pauses, chooses his words carefully. “I am very familiar with Ginsberg’s work, but I would not say I am a huge fan. But you can appreciate something’s artistic merit without liking it. And I do understand the significance of it. And that mirrors what this trial is about: you don’t necessarily have to like something to understand its importance in an artistic sense. Sometimes when people are challenged by something they will assume it’s worthless, or doesn’t count. And fortunately, the trial got it right. It came to the conclusion that ‘Howl’ was a significant work.”
A make-up artist fusses with Hamm’s slicked-back hair as he sits very still. Has this look become like a comfortable old shoe – easy to slip on?
He laughs. “It certainly takes a lot of variables out of the equation. It’s an era that sits well on me. I wonder if people will think Don Draper is trying to keep the world safe from censorship?”
Hamm is called again to do a courtroom scene, and while he waits for directors Friedman and Epstein to roll cameras he fidgets, slaps his abs with his open palms, snaps his fingers, whistles. When they say action, he is all business with his lines, taken verbatim from the 1957 obscenity trial transcript.
Hamm as Ehrlich: “Do I understand you to say that Ginsberg used the Walt Whitman style?”
Daniels as expert witness David Kirk: “Yes, the form of the book ‘Leaves of Grass.’”
Hamm: “Who did Walt Whitman copy?”
Daniels: “No one…”
Hamm, interrupting: “But you don’t know – isn’t that your answer? You don’t know?”
He plays the flamboyant Ehrlich like a coiled snake: controlled but capable of mayhem.
Done for the day, he ruminates on “Howl’s” descendants as he walks toward his dressing room. “If you read the poem, you’ll see that the language is pretty salty even for today! The guy had something to say, and this is how he chose to say it. And people reacted. We’ve had this same conversation over and over again as a culture. Whether it’s Robert Mapplethorpe, or Andres Serrano, people have wanted to put their own particular moral take on the outrage of the moment. And we’ve seen that usually, art will find its own way out, and for the most part, we live in a society that allows that expression to take place. This film is a reflection of that.”
As he passes down the narrow hallway, through a cluster of avidly chattering women that includes producers Elizabeth Redleaf and Christine Walker, their conversation comes to a grinding halt. Aware that all female eyes are on him in an unholy way, he doesn’t speed up his pace.
A journalist asks if he is enjoying his time in the sun.
Jon Hamm talks “The Town” and his connection to Milwaukee
And here’s a very funny video about Meredith Vieira interview last week on ‘Today”.
“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno poked fun at Meredith’s interview last week with “Mad Men” actor Jon Hamm.
Looks like Jay noticed something that we missed: She was overtly flirting with him! Watch the video below to find out what she was doing.
“Ladies, do you blame me?” Meredith asked the crowd on the plaza (before insisting the video was fake).
Jon Hamm makes little effort to imitate Jake Ehrlich in the movie “Howl,” which is about how Ehrlich defended Allen Ginsberg’s epic poem against charges of obscenity. There didn’t seem much point to aping the famous San Francisco attorney, after whom Perry Mason was modeled, when few people are around who recall what he looked like in his heyday in the 1950s.
Ehrlich’s flamboyant side – he favored gold watch chains, oversize rings and scarves – is played down. Hamm, who has a slighter build than Ehrlich, wanted to avoid being weighed down by accessories.
His concern when “Howl” opens this week isn’t that people are going to say “He doesn’t look anything like Jake Ehrlich,” but whether audiences may wonder “What is Don Draper doing in a courtroom?”
In his fourth season playing the super-cool advertising executive in “Mad Men,” the 39-year-old Hamm is becoming harder and harder to distinguish from Draper. When he came to the Sundance Film Festival with “Howl,” he had grown a full beard, an effective disguise, especially when coupled with a ski cap and parka. Eerily, the beard turned out to foreshadow the 5 o’clock shadow the previously meticulous Draper has sported in recent episodes, illustrating how he has let his appearance slip since his divorce.
Hamm has a way of leaning toward you when he talks that comes across as friendly. Asked if he thinks audiences may have a hard time accepting him as anyone other than Draper, he smiles an easygoing smile and allows, “Well, there is that. That may be a hang-up for some people. I realize that, being on a television show as someone who is cool and has slicked-back hair, it may be a difficult prospect for some people to reconcile that with my role in ‘Howl.’ Part of being on TV is, unfortunately, sometimes these things can carry over.”
The ironic thing is that he believes Draper and Ehrlich have a lot in common. “They are very similar in the way they express their points. They are very persuasive in getting things across. Don would have been a really good lawyer, actually.”
In his conversation it becomes clear that he sees Don Draper as someone almost real. “I don’t think I would ever want to do what Don does,” Hamm said. “Yes, he is such a charmer, but that is separate and apart from doing what he would do. He makes some pretty bad decisions.”
His personal life appears to be a model of stability, unlike Don’s, which could generously be called a mess. Hamm has been with actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt for 13 years. He appeared in her best-known movie, “Kissing Jessica Stein.” She was his date for the past three Emmy Award shows at which he’s been nominated for outstanding lead actor, only to lose (including three weeks ago when he lost the same night Draper picked up a Clio award for an ad campaign).
Speaking about his relationship, Hamm told the New York Post, “We may not have a piece of paper that says we’re husband and wife, but Jennifer is more than just a girlfriend. What we have is much deeper and we both know that.”
There may be a marriage in Don’s immediate future, if not in his. “The idea of being a single man of a certain age in that business world will be seen as a liability and a little bit of a strike against you. So I don’t know how long Don will be divorced. It presents a lot of fertile ground to plow for the narrative, so I am looking forward to it,” Hamm said.
Committed to show
He is committed to staying with “Mad Men” until the final episode. “It is really up to Matt,” he said, talking about the show’s creator, Matthew Weiner. “As long as he wants to make the show, I will show up and say his words.”
That, however, doesn’t mean he isn’t interested in the occasional movie gig. He immediately said yes to “Howl,” which was written and directed by Bay Area filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.
“I wanted the opportunity to be the voice of rational thought and the defender of artistic expression,” said Hamm, who sees similarities between the “Howl” obscenity case and Proposition 8. “The larger point is that we are all Americans and we are all here to support what we believe to be Americans’ freedom of expression.”
The kind of bravery Ginsberg showed in writing “Howl” and also in being “stridently homosexual” in an era when almost all gays were closeted, Hamm said, “deserves to be defended.”
There are no tapes of the trial, so all Hamm had to go by was the court transcripts. “I don’t know how many legal transcripts you have ever read, but it is tough reading,” he said with a laugh.
Hamm has been busy on his off months from “Mad Men.” He made “The Town,” a crime thriller directed by Ben Affleck, and “Sucker Punch,” “which is a very, very strange film that I can’t begin to describe.”
He hopes to continue moving between TV and movies, “but it is not always up to us as actors to do that. We have to be picked.”
Career had slow start
Hamm knows only too well what it is like not to be chosen. He was unemployed for much of the mid-1990s, and in 1998 the William Morris agency dropped him as a client.
The early phase of his career is similar to George Clooney’s in “being kicked around for a long time.”
“Was George a worse actor back then? I don’t think so. He just didn’t have the opportunity. I would say that about myself, too. I don’t think I’ve suddenly swallowed a magic pill that made me a better actor. I think I finally got an opportunity where everything fit, and there it was – my opportunity to shine.”
Million Dollar Arm 
Mad Men (2007-)
Friends with Kids (2012)
