Friday, June 2, 2017

June 2017 - News - Jon Hamm

https://aboutactorjonhamm.blogspot.fr/2017/05/may-2017-news-jon-hamm.html
Hamm and Paul Reubens will perform Saving Charlie Chaplin....Sat, June 10, 2017

Baby driver interview 
  
 
Jon Hamm Jokes His Signature Scent Is Dog Hair | InStyle
                                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3DlS_dgREo

The next time you’re at a play or a dance performance in Los Angeles or New York and you’re sitting near a tall, broad-shouldered guy in a baseball cap who unexpectedly bursts into tears, look closely. If the cap has a St. Louis Blues logo and its brim is curved in classic frat-boy style, chances are he’s Jon Hamm.
The actor, 46, says he has always been an unrepentant softie when he’s in the presence of a good work of art. “I’m just blown away by the beauty of it all,” he says. “Especially when I see anybody performing at the peak of their ability. I see it, and I f—ing weep.” 
Hamm and I are in the midst of a long, candid chat at a restaurant in the Hollywood Hills. I’ve already assured him I won’t spend this entire story comparing and contrasting him with his stoic Mad Men alter ego, Don Draper, which is the main angle of pretty much every Jon Hamm profile ever written. And yet throughout the conversation we can’t help repeatedly circling back to that hard-drinking 1960s adman. It was 10 years ago that the then-unknown Hamm débuted in the role, creating an icon of cool, inscrutable masculinity: the bad guy in a good suit whom women couldn’t help falling for even though they knew better. Hamm’s performance also helped make Mad Men, with its glamorous yet cold-eyed take on power, gender, and seduction, a standard-bearer of TV’s new golden age. And although Hamm is a true Midwesterner who’s instinctively averse to boasting, he acknowledges being very proud of the show’s enduring resonance.
We all want to be involved in something that takes hold of the culture and makes people sit up and say, ‘Hey, that’s interesting,’ ” he says. “Actually, that’s all I ever wanted. I never wanted to be a Tom Cruise type of megastar.”

For Hamm, life after Draper has come with some inevitable complications, including a few personal ones. In 2015 he split with his partner of 18 years, writer-director Jennifer Westfeldt. How fun is single life for a perennial on those sexiest-man-alive lists? Hamm looks down at the table. “It’s fine,” he says before adding quietly, “It’s hard. It’s hard to be single after being together for a long time. It’s really hard. It sucks.
Two years ago Hamm did a stint in rehab for alcohol addiction, and although he prefers to keep the specifics to himself, he’s outspoken about the benefits of therapy. “Medical attention is medical attention whether it’s for your elbow or for your teeth or for your brain,” he says. “And it’s important. We live in a world where to admit anything negative about yourself is seen as a weakness, when it’s actually a strength. It’s not a weak move to say, ‘I need help.’ In the long run it’s way better, because you have to fix it.”
Meanwhile, Hamm has shown in his choice of projects an up-for-anything openness, shining in supporting comedic roles like that of a wacko cult leader in Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. This month he turns villainous in Baby Driver, a heist film–cum–romance in which Ansel Elgort’s character drives the getaway car for a gang of bank robbers played by Jamie Foxx and Kevin Spacey, among others. Hamm had fun strutting around with his arsenal of guns, but the biggest draw for him was English director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), who propels the story with innovative editing and musical flourishes, even synching the soundtrack with the gunshots. “Edgar is an original artist, and I just love his work,” says Hamm. “Whether his films are commercially successful, I don’t give a s— about.”
Hamm suddenly excuses himself to say hello to “a friend”—that would be Sean Penn—at a nearby table and returns about 45 seconds later, apologizing for the interruption. With his Blues cap, bro-ish saunter, and generic outfit (a blue American Apparel shirt, black jeans), Hamm goes mostly unrecognized in the restaurant. For much of his life, he says, he’s been “oblivious” to fashion, but that changed when he began suiting up for his role in Mad Men. “I started to buy clothes that fit,” he says.
Does Hamm pay much attention to what women wear? “I do, man,” he says. “I’m a heterosexual male, and I love a lady with style.” Aside from a few “ridiculous” fashion trends that leave him bewildered, Hamm likes it when a woman is confident enough to express her individuality through her clothes. “I think anything that serves to accentuate whatever your thing is and makes you feel good shows in the way you carry yourself,” he says.

On most fronts these days, Hamm seems determined to tune out trivialities in favor of all things substantive and real. He’s one of the few actors he knows with zero social-media presence. “The point of life is not to put dog ears on yourself and post it online for everyone to see,” he says. “It’s fun, it’s adorable, but it’s the visual equivalent of masturbating—there’s no point other than immediate gratification.” (He does have a stealth Instagram account where he follows photographers and artists and a few travel sites, but he’s never posted anything.) No personal trainer visits his home in L.A.’s Los Feliz neighborhood; instead, Hamm plays league baseball on the weekends in a public park, mostly for the camaraderie.
And he still gets a lot out of his shrink appointments. Hamm, who lost both his parents to illness before he finished college, says there’s some truth to the theory that many actors’ careers are essentially lifelong attempts to heal their childhood wounds. “I’m certainly damaged—there’s no denying it,” he says. “I was talking to my therapist yesterday, and she was newly flabbergasted at something I told her. I think she’d just forgotten it. I was like, ‘We’ve already gone through this!’ But if you look at the history of my life, it’s not great. When your mom dies when you’re 9, and your dad dies when you’re 20, and then you live on couches in other people’s basements … I mean, there’s certainly a version of that person who does not come out of it as successfully as I have.”
Hamm says that before his mother died, she imparted some lessons about engaging fully in life: “Be smart, learn, sign up for stuff, play sports, do it all. Be the best that you can be.” If that carries echoes of the Boy Scouts motto, it also helps explain Hamm’s competitive streak. (On the Mad Men set, he says, he showed up every day thinking, “I’m going to be the best person on this show.”) Applying those drives to a Hollywood career can be a tricky endeavor right now, at a time when even movies based on comic books need to be dumbed down for a global mass audience. Hamm says he’s eager to start “self-generating” projects in the manner of actor-producers like Brad Pitt and Reese Witherspoon: “These guys find something they want to do, and they take it to Warner Bros. or HBO, and they get it made.”
As he sips his third and final cup of black coffee, Hamm ruminates on a few of the larger problems of our era. There’s the current surge in anti-intellectualism combined with a growing suspicion of excellence and achievement. (“Curiosity is under siege. It’s a bummer.”) There’s the new U.S. president and the chaos in Washington. (“A disaster—a real disaster.”) And, on a personal note, there are the paparazzi who still stalk Hamm in Los Feliz from behind their cars’ tinted windows, hoping to catch him picking his nose.
It’s all enough to make one wonder: What would Don Draper do? But Hamm, a self-declared optimist and “believer in the human spirit,” knows that Draper is just about the worst role model of all when it comes to interacting with real, live people.
I may be a narcissist in the way that most actors are,” he says, “but I think it’s not to the detriment of those in my life. I try to be a good friend, a good partner, and all that stuff. I’m not perfect, and it hurts when you hurt other people. But the hope is to find the right balance so you can care about your own stuff enough to live your life and do your job well while also not being a monster.”
 July issue of InStyle, available on newsstands and for digital download June 9.

  
 
 gossip...and more mention for Baby driver....
Jon Hamm "couldn't leave" Kate Beckinsale at a screening of his new movie.
An onlooker told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: "They were flirting and he kept going back to her all night. It was like he couldn't leave her.
"She had a friend with her, but they were kind of ignoring her and just talking to each other. He was leaning in to talk.... . . [Kate] was laughing and giggling.”
 grabbed coffee....June1
 
  
Seth Meyers
Who used to be your favorite guest host to work with on SNL?
It’s so many favorites. I love Jon Hamm, Julie Louie Dreyfus, Melissa McCarthy. I have a great jealousy for the people that when they come back and host and I’m not there, I want say, “You know, I was there the first time they hosted.”  People like Zach Galifianakis, who brings a slightly different sense of humor........
Marjorie Prime, the Jon Hamm and Geena Davis-led film adaptation of Jordan Harrison’s 2015 play, will receive its New York premiere this summer.
The movie, which won the Feature Film Prize at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, will be released in New York City August 18 prior to a national rollout.
June 6...grabs dinner at Little Dom's  
 
  
 Al Madrigal, Paul F. Tompkins,Jenny Slate, Jonathan Katz, Kristen Schaal, Laura Silverman attend Audible Launch Event for Dr. Katz: The Audio Files at The CineFamily on June 6, LA

 
Audible Inc., the world’s largest seller and producer of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the release of Dr. Katz: The Audio Files, based on an original comedy series from the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning animated show, Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist. The cult classic returns as a 15-episode audio series with new guest stars including Sarah Silverman, Ted Danson, Ray Romano, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Maria Bamford, Pete Holmes, Dana Gould, Emo Philips, Ron Funches, Andy Kindler and more. For a limited time, the first three episodes are now available for free at Audible.com/DrKatz, where listeners can also find additional information and latest episodes. New episodes premiere every Thursday all summer. A special recorded live episode will feature guest stars Jon Hamm, Kristen Schaal, Jenny Slate, Al Madrigal and Paul F. Tompkins.
Jon Hamm on Walt Whitman
 ...................................................................................

producer Sarah Jaffe
What was the casting process like? What, in particular, made you decide to cast Jon Hamm as the narrator?
The moment I took on this production, I knew Jack Engle needed a special reader, both to do justice to Whitman’s writing and also to bring a broad range of ears to his work. Again, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an English major’s dream. So I started by making a dream casting wish list—in a perfect universe, who would I want to read Walt Whitman to me? I knew Jack Engle needed a narrator who was a reader himself, someone with a classic storyteller’s voice, who could capture the humor, the poetry, and the Dickensian pulp factor; someone with a timeless sound and a nice balance of warmth and gravity. You can’t get much better than Jon Hamm for that blend. He’s got that beautiful deep voice that can seamlessly pivot from playful to gruff within the span of a sentence, and he’s such a nuanced, intelligent actor. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also the face of a very different “story of New York at the present time” in Mad Men. I knew Jon had expressed an interest in audiobook narration for the right book, and I had a hunch that an opportunity to be a part of Walt Whitman’s legacy might appeal to him as much as it did to me. I’m still in delighted disbelief that he said yes!
I have to admit, though, that I was a little ambivalent about casting such a big name for this book. Walt Whitman published the story anonymously when it was serialized in a New York newspaper, The Sunday Dispatch, and it faded into obscurity....also consulted Zachary Turpin, the University of Houston scholar who rediscovered Jack Engle, and he was really excited that Jon Hamm was slated to read. Once I got Zack’s blessing, I knew it was the right choice.

What was your favorite part of the production process?
 Can I say all of it?  It was a pleasure to immerse myself in the text itself, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with Zack, whose intelligence and love for Whitman’s work beam right up off the page. His experience in front of a classroom prepared him well for his work in front of the mic. And then, of course, getting to spend two days in the studio with Jon Hamm was probably some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my (already extremely fun) career. Jon is a brilliant reader. In addition to having a rich narrative voice, Jon was also able to quickly parse the long, antiquated sentence structure and tease out its meaning, and to magnify the very modern human quirks of his characters along with Whitman’s big sparks of humor and observational wit. You can definitely tell Jon was an English major. He also took direction remarkably well—all I had to do was give him the tiniest feedback and he instantly understood what I wanted and adjusted his performance perfectly. It made me incredibly envious of every film and television director who’s gotten to work with him. Plus, y’know, any day spent listening to Jon Hamm read to you for hours on end is a very good day indeed.

What are you most excited for listeners to experience with the audiobook?
 I think I’m most excited for listeners to experience the whole thing together, from the period music at the start of the audiobook to the historical and literary context Zack provides in the afterword. But Jon Hamm’s subtle, straightforward narration is a standout! He smooths out the long sentences and clauses for you, and lets the language shine through, whether it’s a Dickensian adventure sequence or one of the later, more meditative chapters where you can hear Whitman growing into himself as the writer we all know and love. His few character voices are also a delight. This is just a really special audiobook, and I’m so excited for it to be out in the world for listeners to discover.
June 7
Jon Hamm/Curtis Sittenfeld event...tickets are already sold out for the July 22 event.
Money from the event will help finance an upcoming library literacy program. At $25 per ticket (and 800 tickets), Hamm's appearance will raise about $20,000.
An oral history of Bonnaroo’s comedy tent ......Rick Farman, Bonnaroo festival organizer
Zach Galifianakis comes to mind as another favorite human of mine who’s just a generous, nice person, and really authentic. You feel it. He has his farm in the Carolinas, and it’s not far. Every year or every other year, I’ll throw out a text and say, “If you’re around, you’re welcome to come. Your buddies are around.” I’d let him know what the lineup was.......
 got a text from him that he was working in Atlanta, and he asked if it would be all right if he came down. My Morning Jacket was playing, and he’s friends with them… so he grabbed Jon Hamm and came to the fest.
Zach Galifianakis: One year, Jon Hamm and I were working near there and decided to drive up. I did stand-up. I asked Jon to throw gummy bears in my mouth as part of my show because that’s how we killed time on set. We would throw things at each other’s mouth. Why would anyone want to see this? I am not sure they did, but we did it regardless, and it was dumb and fun. It’s not that experimental when I think about it but more in the moment. Later we introduced Belle & Sebastian and continued with the gummy mouth trick there, too. You won’t get that kind of high-end entertainment at some of these other festivals.
Actress Lily James said she was "a little star-struck" while shooting with actors like Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm and Kevin Spacey for the forthcoming film 'Baby Driver'.
"I was a little star-struck at first. I mean meeting someone like Jamie Foxx for the first time - I think he's just the most phenomenal actor. The same with Kevin Spacey."
"And I love Jon Hamm. I think he's so great and so brilliant in this film, too, totally different than anything he's played before," James said in a statement.
Jon Hamm Reveals His First Celebrity Crush | InStyle   
                                                                      or
Who was my first celebrity crush ? That’s a tricky one, cuz I’m so old. It was in the age before celebrities. They didn’t have them when I was young. I grew up in the 70s and there was a lot of awesome ladies from the 70s. Three of whom got together and sortifying crimes, worked for this guy named Charlie. And now they worked for me my name is Charlie. Probably any of those Charlie’s Angel were my first celebrities crash, celebrity crashes, celebrity crash, celebrity crashes. I saw  Smith out of dinner and I said wow still looking good.
Jon Hamm Won’t Finish Bad Books, So Read His Top 3 Picks
I don't finish bad books. If it's bad, I'll just pull the ripcord. [MUSIC] I'm reading a couple books right now. I just finished a book called The Circle, which I know came out five years ago. But a friend of mine told me about it, and I read it in two days. Michael, I never know how to say his last name, Chabon? Chabon, Chabon. C-H-A-B-O-N. His newest. I've started. It's pretty good. I read a really good non fiction book called Command and Control. About America's nuclear arsenal oddly. Which is very informative. Maybe some people in the administration could read it. It might be nice. Get a little working knowledge of our A good triad, but that's neither here or there. I don't really, like, subscribe to a book club or reading type book review or anything like that. If you hear about it in the zeigseit, or somebody recommends it to you is how I'll pick it up.
                    
Actor Jon Hamm tells Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist that he credits a large part of his success and “existence” to teachers he’s had through the years. The “Mad Men” star also reveals he’d consider going back to teaching, and he has already come up with a name to call the class!
 
 
Hamm in the cast  of the comedy Tag....Jeremy Renner, Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Annabelle Wallis and Rashida Jones are already on the call sheet for the film, which is set to begin shooting in Atlanta later this month. 
Tag is based on a true story featured in The Wall Street Journal about a group of friends who have been playing a no-holds-barred version of the children’s game Tag for the last 30 years.
Tag is slated for a June 29, 2018, release.
video

instylemagazineJon Hamm’s advice for passing the time in traffic? Cat documentaries. Watch him explain why the last thing he Googled has everything to do with felines. 🐱
 video
Abigail Spencer Recalls an Awkward Moment in Bed With Jon Hamm on Mad Men
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner had a very specific note for the Rectify actress about her makeup
 ou

Baby Driver - Video Clip - Jon Hamm

 
 June 9... grabbed...lunch
she is not a mystery brunette....
  
 
video
  
 
Saving Charlie Chaplin...June 10                      

 
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Jon Hamm outside Montalban Theatre in Hollywood  

 video
Jon Hamm on why 'Mad Men' became successful: 'They did it right'
 or
After ‘Mad Men’ Ended, Jon Hamm Knew He Didn’t Want To Play Don Draper Again
                                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4fxkGaNciM

   June10...with...Jenny Slate....
  
video
The new movie “Baby Driver” is a heist film with a twist: music is a key element. TODAY’s Sheinelle Jones went behind the scenes to talk to the stars and take a heart-stopping ride in the movie’s stunt car
or
                                          
 'Baby Driver': Jon Hamm, Ansel Elgort & Jaime Foxx On What Makes The Film So Special 

 
 Marcia Gloster—Author of “I Love You Today”
KF: What is your own take on Mad Men? Was it accurate to your experience?
MG: I actually wrote an article about watching Mad Men. I saw the first two seasons and thought they were interesting. Then when they concentrated more on Jon Hamm’s character Don Draper, it didn’t interest me that much. But I did watch the final season, and it was accurate in many ways, but there were other things they missed. I thought the costuming was terrible: we were all wearing mini-skirts, bright colors, stuff like that. It was totally “nerdville” on the show: plaids and stripes, which no one wore. There was a scene at a table where two women were having a meeting with two men, who were literally leaping across the table to try and paw the women. I didn’t think that was true, it was too exaggerated: in meetings men were not that blatantly sexist.
Hamm was at Max Mara Celebrates Zoey Deutch - The 2017 Women In Film Max Mara Face of the Future at Chateau Marmont on June 12, in LA 
       ........................................................................................................................................................
Hosted by Nicola Maramotti, Max Mara Ambassador and Ownership, and Vanity Fair Executive West Coast Editor, Krista Smith(Hamm good friend)
        ............................................................................................................................................................Every year, for the last 12 years, MaxMara hits the Hollywood circuit hard — but not necessarily awards season itself. In Los Angeles, the Italian brand has established its own award show: the Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award.......
....In the Champagne-glistening garden of the Chateau, the swarm of actresses, models, and their entourages included Ireland Baldwin, Katherine Schwarzenegger, Sophia Bush, Olivia Culpo, Talita Von Furstenberg — and, oddly, Jon Hamm (Hamm IS single, after all).
https://www.thecut.com/2017/06/photos-maxmara-celebrates-women-in-films-face-of-the-future.html
                
Last night, Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont was buzzing with beautifully brave women – and Jon Hamm – to celebrate actress Zoey Deutch as the 2017 Women In Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award recipient. She will be awarded formally at tonight’s Crystal+Lucy Awards where Elizabeth Banks and Tracee Ellis Ross, among others, will be honored for making change in Hollywood.
Hamm – whose most recent film Baby Driver releases the end of this month – was chatty and social. And he’s a big supporter of women, like Gal Gadot in the smash Wonder Woman, showing Tinseltown that there’s no such thing as a cinematic glass ceiling.
I’ve had the very good fortune to work with a lot of really talented women on both sides of the camera and I hope that that ceiling is cracked enough that it comes down, because it’s silly,” Hamm told Yahoo Style.
https://www.yahoo.com/style/one-veteran-actress-concurs-yes-pretty-hard-women-Hollywood

while the East Coast braved sweltering temps, the West Coast was cool, collected, and chic. And last night, Max Mara toasted bright young thing Zoey Deutch at their annual Women in Film celebration. Joining in celebrating Deutch were her mom, actress Lea Thompson, and sister Madelyn, joined by a gaggle of the next gen of Hollywood including Alexandra Shipp, Angela Sarafyan, Isabele Furhman, and Serayah, amongst others. And while some including Ireland Baldwin, Jaime King, and Olivia Culpo took in the setting and the photo booth, others including Jon Hamm chatted with Nicola Maramotti, Sophia Bush, and singer Niia as the sun set.

 
video

In a recent interview on Sunday TODAY With Willie Geist, Hamm admitted he still thinks about returning to teaching -- but he tells ET that doesn’t mean he’s leaving acting behind. 
You well know those things, you do an hour-and-a-half interview, and somebody pulls one sentence out of it and decides that's all they're gonna take away from it,” Hamm says. “I certainly never say never. It's a much less stressful job than this, although it has its own stresses. But I love teachers.”
“I go back to St. Louis in July at some point,” Hamm shares. “I do a fundraiser for the public library there, so I still have my toe in that water and it’s very important to me. Education's very important to me.”
ET caught up with the actor on Monday night at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, where Max Mara was celebrating actress Zoey Deutch as the 2017 Women in Film Max Mara Face of the Future Award recipient.
“Well, I have been a woman in film for a long, long time,” Hamm jokes. “No, this organization's incredible and I've done stuff in support of them. They highlight and, you know, serve to cheer on and support women in film, and they've done a great job.”
“If you look at what's happening right now with Patty Jenkins' movie and my friend Gal Gadot's movie, [Wonder Woman], and the box office right now, it's been a pretty good year,” he adds. “I got to see that movie Friday, and it was so fantastic and I was so pleased for all involved, especially Gal.” 
Hamm and Gadot co-starred in the 2016 comedy Keeping Up With the Joneses.   
I sent her a really long email,” Hamm confesses. “I was just so pleased [with Wonder Woman]. It's so nice when, like, a true friend of yours has success like that. It's really kind of amazing.”
Along with praising Gadot, Hamm addressed those comments he made in a recent InStyle interview, in which he said being single “sucks.” Hamm split from longtime partner Jennifer Westfeldt in 2015. 
“I usually overshare, is the problem,” he admits. “So, it wasn't necessarily important that I shared it, then I did and I'm sort of regretting it.”
Hamm confirms he’s still single, but not quite sure what he’s looking for in a woman.
“It’s impossible to say,” he says.
 cough ! cough !
https://aboutactorjonhamm.blogspot.fr/2017/06/jenny-slate-and-hamm.html
and
"Jon Hamm and Jenny Slate Went to the Movies Together, So We Can Safely Assume She’s Having His Baby (Right?)"
https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/jon-hamm-jenny-slate-went-movies-together-can-safely-assume-shes-baby-right-221423798.html

                                                                         bullshit alert !
 
 June 13...at Lax
 
 
Hamm at the premiere of Sony Pictures' "Baby Driver" at Ace Hotel on June 14,  LA.
.Jon Hamm: 'I do drive very fast'
                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb0ydk5b-pk

When asked what draws him to British writers, Hamm told the Press Association: “The good ones are good and I’ve worked with some of the best.
“I’ve been very, very fortunate to get to work with some really, really talented people on that side.”
With a grin, he added: “I feel like it’s only fair, the Brits have been coming over here and taking our jobs for a long time.”
Bill Cobb, president and CEO of tax preparation service H&R Block
In addition, the company ran a series of promotions with Hollywood actor Jon Hamm, whom Cobb lauded for his wide-ranging appeal and professionalism.
"We thought he was the right guy," Cobb said. "He was a great partner to us. We really wanted to differentiate ourselves from Turbo[Tax]. They talk about, you know, getting your taxes done. We talked about, we believe we can get your taxes won, which is to find every deduction and credit and maximize your refund."
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/14/hr-blocks-outgoing-ceo-on-making-ease-of-use-part-of-the-brand
remember :
https://aboutactorjonhamm.blogspot.fr/2017/01/hamm-in-h-block-commercials.html
 actor Milo Ventimiglia
The actor recalled how series creator Dan Fogelman wrote the butt shot in the script, and he arrived on set to find “flesh-colored patches of cloth and tape” waiting for him. “He wasn’t joking around,” Ventimiglia said. “Like, it’s gonna be like me covering my manhood and, you know, that.”
He also noted that the producers were very polite about clearing the set for him and offering options on what he’d want covering his privates. Colbert was “impressed” when Ventimiglia joked about using a backpack. “Yeah, it’s me and Jon Hamm,” the actor smiled.
 Jon Hamm: ‘Therapy is like going to the dentist’
Sunday 18 June 2017


“You remember the falling man?” he says. He means the opening credits where an animated Draper falls through the air. “He falls and falls and then lands on the couch sitting perfectly. That’s Don’s journey. Straight down and then pulling up at the bottom.”
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That his success might even be a little bittersweet.
I can see why people would think that,” he says, brow furrowed. “But it’s not dominoes falling. It’s one chapter closing and another beginning, and as hard as it is to go through, it’s ultimately healthy and necessary.”
Not a midlife crisis then?
No, but a major shift. Getting famous, coming off a regular schedule on a show, coming out of a long-term relationship, getting older. It’s a rearrangement of stuff that was in a specific order before. And that takes some getting used to.”
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“I saw him as a handsome thief in that tradition of Steve McQueen in The Getaway, or George Clooney in Out of Sight,” says Wright, “but with a much darker undercurrent.” He wrote Buddy with Hamm in mind. They’ve been friends for years, ever since meeting at an afterparty for Saturday Night Live, when Hamm hosted in 2008. Practically neighbours in Los Feliz in LA, they’d go for drinks at a local restaurant called Little Dom’s. “I just gave Edgar a ring: ‘Hey you want to grab a drink?’” says Hamm. “Because if you’re not working in LA, you’re not doing anything.”
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But Buddy is only a supporting role – Ansel Elgort is the driver of the title. This has largely been the way with Hamm’s movie career....“Sure, it’d be fun to do a big franchise movie, or another prestige TV series, but mostly I just gravitate towards people whose work I find… non-traditional,” he says. People like Wright, or Charlie Brooker – he’s appeared in the TV show Black Mirror.
In person, though, Hamm’s not especially secretive. He’s happy to talk about the therapy he went through after Mad Men, for instance. “I know in England you say ‘therapy’ and people are like, ‘Woah, are you OK?’ But here it’s like going to the dentist. If you can afford it, why wouldn’t you?” (Hamm can afford it. “I’m not set for life, but I’m not scrambling either.”)

He learned the importance of structure, a morning routine and schedule. “I used to have six to eight months of every year all planned out, and then it evaporated,” he says. “Some people immediately build the scaffolding back up, but I’m more subject to inertia – a day turns into a week turns into a month and then you can’t see the shore any more.”

No need to self-flagellate and say: ‘I don’t deserve this.’ Just enjoy the success
You can hear the therapy in the way he talks. He wants to avoid “patterns that are repetitive and destructive” and instead choose “inspiration and creativity”. And this involves “engaging with life”, which is trickier for Hamm than for most. Even just coming to the restaurant today from a photo studio five minutes’ walk away, he chose to drive rather than walk past a building site.
It’s weird that that’s the reward: ‘Oh you did a great job at something, so we’re going to hound you in public so that you feel every move you make is watched,’” he says, only partly amused. “Going through that for the first time at 35 was like: ‘Woah!’ Now I can clock if I’m being photographed from across the street. I just try not to pick my nose.”
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Hamm also speaks of a Zen approach to life and enjoying “the now”. “Don’t worry about what happened a year ago, or what movie I’m going to get next. Actors get wrapped up in all that and miss that it’s a beautiful day outside. My focus is on being present. Be here now. Which is a great album actually.”
So no plan?
“Well I’m not a rudderless skiff, but I don’t waste energy worrying about it. I have so little energy as it is.” He grins. “I’m a big nap guy.”
...........................
“That’s what’s bittersweet about my success,” he says. “My parents never got to see it.”
..........................
Jon’s comedy chops are not in question,” Wright says. “He’s very dry, very quick. When he hosted SNL, Lorne Michaels [the producer] took to him immediately and Jon did 30 Rock, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt… It’s rare to find a dramatic actor who’s also funny. Handsome people aren’t usually funny either.”
When I put this to Hamm, though, he bristles. “That’s certainly not been my experience. Kristen Wiig is a beautiful lady and she’s one of the funniest people I know. And Tina Fey,  Amy Poehler…”
And men?
“OK, well, Aziz Ansari is a handsome man.”
Aziz Ansari?
“Yeah. And Tom Cruise is really funny. And George Clooney, Matt Damon…”
.............................
Hamm has the model’s burden. “I bring more to the table than what I represent physically,” he says. “And it’s a daily struggle to prove that. Obviously it’s a lovely thing for people to say… [I’m handsome], but sometimes it comes with a shitty dig underneath.”
At 36, he became a byword for a kind of unapologetic masculinity, a pre-feminist philanderer with a tumbler of liquor in his hand. He was invited to the White House to meet Obama and rub shoulders with Jay Z. And as a late bloomer – even later than George Clooney, though Bill Nighy has him beat – Hamm surfed the wave without losing himself. As Wright says: “Actors who find success late are often very grateful. It adds to Jon’s wry take on life.”
............................
“As crazy and superficial as it is, success can be pretty fun. No need to self-flagellate and say: ‘I don’t deserve this’, or ‘It’s all bullshit.’ A lot of Midwesterners and Brits, too, have this false modesty thing. Just enjoy it. It’s ephemeral, like everything in this business.”
What’s more durable, however, is the impact of Mad Men, which makes him quietly proud. “It’s a moment people will remember. And I was happy that I was good in it. Nobody wants to be like the worst guy on the field. Oh God, don’t pass to him…”
But he checks himself. “I’m not resting on my laurels, I prove myself every day…” And we’re back to living in the now. Embracing the present.
...............................
Starting out, Hamm never dreamed he’d become a Tom Cruise-style action star, but more of a Jeff Bridges, one of the few people that have left him star struck. “I met him after he won his Oscar for True Grit, and just babbled incoherently and walked away. In work and in life, Jeff’s done it right.
With thoughts of the Dude in mind, we crack open our fortune cookies, and hold the little messages up to read. He raises an eyebrow. “Mine just says: ‘Stop talking.’”
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2017/jun/18/jon-hamm-therapy-is-like-going-to-the-dentist
 
The London Baby Driver premiere will take place on Wednesday 21 June at Cineworld at the Empire in Leicester Square...Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx will be there
 
June 15
 Hamm at the European Baby driver premiere...London
Jon Hamm Baby Driver UK Premiere Interview       

 Variety portraits session in London
 

video

Several A-list celebrities are standing up for Planned Parenthood by asking Americans to contact their senators and urge them to protect the women’s healthcare organization.
The star-studded plea is in reaction to the Senate’s recently released version of Trumpcare, which includes a provision to defund Planned Parenthood. Among the famous faces joining forces in support of women’s access to affordable, quality healthcare include Jennifer Lawrence, Jon Hamm, Brie Larson, Amy Poehler, Judd Apatow, Elisabeth Moss, Alison Brie, Andrew Rannells, Aubrey Plaza, Kate Walsh, Lena Dunham, Suki Waterhouse, and many more.
coming up on Today
Thursday, June 29
(9-10 a.m.) Julie Andrews on Today. Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm and Lily James on Baby Driver.
                                                                      back in Atlanta

Actor Jon Hamm has a bone to pick with Irish screen star Chris O’Dowd.
Pals from working together on movies Friends With Kids and smash hit Bridesmaids, the former Mad Men star claims O’Dowd guaranteed him a part on his now axed series Moone Boy, which shot on location in Boyle, Co Roscommon.
And after breaking his promise, Hamm, 46, jokes their close friendship is now “on the rocks”.
He said: “I love Chris, I’ve always thought he was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Loved working with him. But you know, things change. I thought Chris had my back, I really did.
“He was doing this show, Moone Boy in Ireland. It was perfect, shot there, right in the middle of Ireland. I was like, ‘this is perfect for me’ and he was like, ‘we’re going to make this happen.’
I’m all psyched, really excited. I’m finally going to get to work there, never done that before, packing my bags. And I never get that call. Nothing. Then I hear the show’s done, he’s not writing any more. I never got my part.”
Jon added with a chuckle: “It’s changed how I look at that gorgeous man. He betrayed me, betrayed my trust. I’ll eventually move on. But it hurts.”
Hamm can at least console himself with a leading role in what critics are calling the coolest movie of the summer, Baby Driver.
A heist comedy thriller also starring Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and former Downton actress Lily James, newcomer Ansel Elgort plays a getaway driver called Baby for a gang of armed robbers.
Wanting out from this life of crime, Baby devises a plan to escape along with waitress girlfriend [James] but all that’s standing in his way is Hamm’s bad guy Buddy.
And for the actor best known for playing Mad Men’s hard-drinking, womaniser Don Draper, taking on the villain role was a dream.
He said: “The bad guy is the best. It’s a lot of fun. And you don’t really get it until you’re doing it. And I’ve never played an out and out bad guy, there’s been plenty of conflicted guys, anti-hero sentiment. But Buddy, he’s bad to the bone. But not in a one note sense. He’s an Edgar Wright bad guy, fleshed out and realised and that was a joy for me.
Director Wright, who also helmed British comedy hits Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, wrote the treacherous role especially for Hamm after meeting the actor.
Hamm laughed: “So what does that say about me, is what you’re asking? It’s true, I’m a total a**hole. I really am. I was a great guy before I came to Hollywood, and it shaped me into this fiend.”
The handsome actor become an overnight sensation thanks to Draper’s scandal and ‘sexploits’ on the hit series which finished after seven award-winning seasons in 2015.
Since then, Hamm has kept busy, in actioner Keeping Up With The Jones alongside Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot and in Netflix comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
But the star was convinced he’d struggle to secure employment once Mad Men had wrapped.
He claimed: “I genuinely, after Mad Men finished, believed I had my moment. I was lucky to have that and resigned myself to the idea of never working again. Or at least at that level. And I carry that around with me, for the most part.”
Now single since splitting with long-term partner Jennifer Westfeldt, Jon admits most offers he received after the show ended were simple variations on Draper.
And the actor knew he wanted to get as far away from his famous on-screen alter ego as possible.
He said: “They want you again and again for the same part — smoking cigarettes, looking suave, wearing a hat, ‘he’s great with the ladies’ etc . . . until you’re used up, spat out and you never work again.
Now some people who followed that path are happy with the outcome, good for them. But it’s not for me. Don Draper is a character I played, he’s not who I am.”
Taking on action roles as a spy in Keeping Up with the Joneses and an armed robber in Baby Driver, is Hamm pursuing a new career as a Hollywood action star?
He laughed: “I’m a fan of working. Getting to do action at my age, there aren’t many years left unless I’m on the Tom Cruise diet, so I’m counting my blessings.”
Despite his modesty, some industry experts suggest Hamm’s square jaw and hunky presence would make him perfect as a superhero. Is he game? Jon said: “If Robert Downey Jr wants to step aside from Iron Man, I’ll gladly step in. But only if they meet my many outlandish demands!”
If all else fails, the star is surprisingly more than happy to return to waiting tables and bartending.
He said: “I always liked working in restaurants, I liked being surrounded by that humanity. And I liked bartending — you’re in control of the booze and that instantly gives you the power. I liked that.
“It’s always good to know I have options.
https://www.thesun.ie/tvandshowbiz/tv/1180082/jon-hamms-friendship-with-chris-odowd-on-the-rocks-after-the-irish-actor-failed-to-give-him-role-on-moone-boy/
 
 
 
 Why Jon Hamm Hasn’t Become a Movie Star, Yet
They’re very much into each other in a very visceral and physical way,” says Hamm, 46. “You look at everything about these two and them together, and you think, ‘Well, this is not going to end well.’ And it doesn’t. Spoiler alert.”
Buddy is an older ex-Wall Street type who’s not handling a midlife crisis very well, and one of those poor choices is falling for gun-toting Darling, whom González, 27, describes as a “crook space-cadet woman who has no attachment to reality. She really wants to be classy because she’s getting all this money to dress nicely, but she’s still really trashy.”
Jon Hamm is always going to be Don Draper.
Hamm, 46, talked recently about playing Buddy, the character's terrible haircut and being eternally associated with Draper.
...................................
Q: You and Bryan Cranston are always going to be associated with these great TV roles, but you’ve both been able to do different kinds of things since your series ended.
A: I think that’s really fortunate, and I love what Bryan’s doing in his career, and I’ve been lucky enough to see some of his stage work. We’re pals. He’s such a nice man, and a real inspiration from an acting standpoint. I think he’s just so gifted. And it’s nice. And even when I look at my co-stars (on “Mad Men”) and what they’re doing, from (John) Slattery and his stage work and the stuff he’s done, direct a film here and there, and watching what’s going on with Miss (Elisabeth) Moss’ career is just inspiring, you know. It’s testament to, "Yeah, we got lucky on this one great thing, but we’ve got more stories to tell, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to do that." Being a part of “Baby Driver” is exactly the kind of thing I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to do.

Q: Audiences seem more willing to follow actors to different places than maybe they used to be.
A: You hope so. You hope that what you do resonates in such a way that makes people feel something. And it doesn’t have to make them cry all the time. It can make them laugh or make them feel scared or nervous or uncertain. There’s a whole range of human emotions that we as actors try to kind of get in there and stir up in you. If all of the elements come together in the right way, you get this amazing soufflé, and it’s transcendent. I’ve been really, really fortunate to be involved with a few of those over my career, and I hope to be involved in a whole lot more. That’s what I look for, the opportunities to kind of get there and do something I haven’t done before. The challenge of that is the best. I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. It’s like banging on the same piano key. That’s not music. It’s just noise. But I really like getting the opportunity to get in there and try something different.
 
Jamie Foxx And Jon Hamm Really Don't Like Fidget Spinners  

 
Jon Hamm & Eiza González Read Each Other's Lips |  | THE HOOK              

Hey Jon, you’ve been to Australia only once — what was your fondest memory of your visit?
Yeah, I went for the first time last November and I absolutely loved every part of it. A very close friend of mine lives in Manly beach in Sydney with his wife and two kids and I just had a blast and the loveliest time going out to dinner, hanging out at their house, walking around the neighbourhood and around the beach. A lot of long walks around the lighthouse on the south head there and the harbour… oh, it was just beautiful. I also went over to Bondi and took a quick swim at Icebergs, which was totally exciting. It’s made me want to go back and explore more of Australia and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a chance to do that.

So you’re no doubt familiar with most Aussie lingo?
I have to say most of my Australianisms come from Summer Heights High. So, unfortunately, I’ve picked up most of my Australian from Ja’mie. My favourite thing about Australians, in general, is their good natured love of living life. It’s like, “It’s a beautiful day, let’s go outside and go for a swim — let’s just do it” you know? It’s a beautiful place, so why you wouldn’t want to go outside? I feel like part of it is that you could literally die any day and in seven different weird ways.
Wait, you’re not one of these Americans who believes everything in Australia — like spiders, snakes, sharks… can kill you, are you?
Well, yeah. On my first day there I’d gone to pick up my friend’s kids from school and we brought them back to their home to get ready because we were going out to dinner and blah, blah, blah… it was chaos. So I’m sitting there, looking at a big map of Australia over their fireplace trying to figure out where, how far it is and whatever when I hear the son from the shower scream, “Dad, there’s a Huntsman!” I was like, “Whoa, shower emergency, that’s rare.” So, I looked to my friend, and he goes, “Oh you’ve got to see this.” When we got to the bathroom I was like, “What the f—k is THAT?!” And it was a human-sized spider on the shower door! And his son was standing in the shower not even scared but just bummed out he had to wait for dad to get the thing off. These things are big boys and they will come at you – that’s what I was told. I was like, “Well, we should get our guest a bucket to put this in because I ain’t touching it.”
I guess we should talk about your new film, Baby Driver. Why did you decide to take on this role?
I’m a massive fan of [director] Edgar Wright and loved his previous films. He also happens to be a friend of mine and we’ve gotten into each other over the years. He’s a singular talent and then he wrote this script I thought was a really cool idea – sort of a heist movie set to music. So, I said to him, “I’d like to be a part of it” and he goes, “Well, that’s good because I want you to be in it”, and I said, “OK, well, there we go.”
For the full article grab the July 2017 issue of MAXIM Australia

 26 June...Season 4 premiere of 'Younger', NY
 


The film academy is inviting 774 new members to join its ranks.... actors invited to join the group include Priyanka Chopra, Janelle Monae, Elle Fanning, Donald Glover, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Betty White, Terry Crews, John Cho, Zoe Kravitz and "Wonder Woman" herself, Gal Gadot. Several "Saturday Night Live" alumnae also received invites: Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph and current star Kate McKinnon.
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The film academy reports the new class of potential members is 39 percent female and 30 percent non-white. The organization has been diversifying its ranks after two years of #OscarsSoWhite and criticism of its overwhelmingly white and male voting body.
 
Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver” has driven to a respectable $5.7 million at 3,226 North American locations on its first day on Wednesday.
Sony’s R-rated action-thriller, starring Ansel Elgort as a getaway car driver, has gotten a head start on the Independence Day weekend before “Despicable Me 3” and “The House” open on Friday. The studio is projecting an opening in the $15 million range for the five-day Wednesday-Sunday period, while other pre-release forecasts have been in the $20 million area.
The opening day number includes $2.1 million from Tuesday night previews.The film received an A CinemaScore from audiences under 25 and an A- overall.
 
Behind The Scenes Of ‘Baby Driver’ With Stars Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, More | TODAY
                                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34qgODiK1pw

 

Edgar Wright and the cast of Baby Driver play film trivia

Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm and Eiza González play a revealing game of Never Have I Ever!

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