Noah Hawley about Hamm narrator of Legion‘s Season 2 premiere
“There’s a narrator throughout the whole season in places, for those sort of educational segments,” creator Noah Hawley explains to TVLine. “So I knew we needed a voice, but I didn’t feel like it was the voice of one of our characters.” He wanted a distinctive voice to serve as his narrator, he says, like Alec Baldwin’s in The Royal Tenenbaums. “And Jon just has that voice,” he notes.
So how did the Mad Men star end up joining the show? It turns out there’s not much mystery to it: “I asked him,” Hawley reveals. “I had met him recently, and gotten to know him a bit. So I just asked. There’s no harm that comes from asking.”
We can expect to hear Hamm’s narration throughout Season 2, according to Hawley, who adds how pleased he is with the final product: “He’s great. It really pops. It gives those sections such character.” He even pays Hamm the ultimate compliment, recalling the iconic narrator of sci-fi classic The Twilight Zone: “He does a really great Rod Serling.”
Hamm arrives looking less than Draper-iffic. It’s not likely that he’s hungover—he had a stint in rehab for alcohol abuse three years ago—but he’s battling the onset of a cold. His outfit is a triumph of comfort over style, perhaps best described as Rejected L.L. Bean Model: broken-in dad jeans, running shoes with miles on them, and a shawl-collared wool sweater the fishermen working on the freighter ships docked in Vancouver Bay would probably dig. Either Hamm is in the early stages of growing a beard or he woke up the last couple mornings, looked at his razor, and thought, Screw it.
After Mad Men poured its last martini in 2015, critics asked repeatedly: Would Hamm be able to transcend the character who made him famous and enjoy a successful second act? The question was rooted less in his acting ability than in the lazy assumption that audiences would look at him and see only Draper.
For the most part, Hamm is a gracious guy who exudes humility; it is a persona that seems to come naturally to him. At the hotel restaurant, as we wind our way back to a secluded table, he says, “I’m sorry for the last-minute change of plans”—we were supposed to go hiking but couldn’t due to a scheduling change. He shows a willingness, within what he deems reasonable limits of public interest in his private life, to discuss just about anything. But when I bring up the hazing, his tone becomes tinged with anger, and he doesn’t hesitate to let me know he thinks a line has been crossed. “I hope I didn’t sign up for a hit piece,” he says. The exasperation in his voice stems from the fact that Hamm has reached this new phase of his career through a lot of hard work, and he’s wary of the past, particularly the long-ago past, pulling him down.
This week was a nut-crusher,” Hamm tells me. “Early wake-ups. Go all day.” The movie he’s shooting in Vancouver, Bad Times at the El Royale, is a crime caper set in a hotel that straddles the Nevada–California border. He describes it as a “weird one-off kind of noir.” The production—helmed by Drew Goddard, a screenwriter (Cloverfield, World War Z, The Martian) and director (The Cabin in the Woods), and starring Chris Hemsworth and Jeff Bridges—has been filming for a while, but Hamm has a supporting role and only recently arrived on set. “Coming on a movie the last second, you have to ramp up the pace quick. It’s like jumping on a stationary bike someone is already pedaling.”
“We’re talking 1980 in St. Louis. Not exactly a hotbed of mental health. I was given a book called What to Do When a Parent Dies. And I was like, ‘All right, I read this book. I guess I’m fixed.’”
Hamm moved in with his father, who ran a trucking business and had two daughters from a previous marriage. (His first wife died of a brain aneurysm.) Dan didn’t know how to help his son navigate the grief of his mother’s death. “He wasn’t really capable,” Hamm says matter-of-factly. “It was that weird kind of midwestern thing of not really knowing what to say, so just say nothing. Instead of what we now know: Just say anything, just connect, just be available, instead of shutting down and going into a separate room and staring out the window. He was a man who lost two wives. He was a pretty sad guy. He had his issues.” Hamm pauses while the waitress sets down his scrambled eggs and bacon; when she leaves, he adds, “I just watched him crumble.” There’s another moment of silence, then Hamm continues as he peppers his eggs: “Plus, we’re talking 1980 in St. Louis. Not exactly a hotbed of mental health. I was given a book called What to Do When a Parent Dies. And I was like, ‘All right, I read this book. I guess I’m fixed.’” Except, of course, he wasn’t.
Two years after Deborah’s death, once Hamm was old enough, Dan honored her wish and sent their son to JBS. Hamm was one of the few students who didn’t come from a wealthy family; he was from the North Side of the Lou, the other side of the proverbial tracks. He developed a close bond with middle-class kids like himself, and their families became his families, their mothers his surrogate mothers. Among them was Maryanne Simmons, who tells me, “Jon was obviously quite smart. And when he came into our lives at the age of 12, he’d matured beyond his age because he’d seen some stuff. I didn’t sense any, I don’t want to say sadness, but is moroseness a word?” She also recalls that the young Hamm was very aware that “every day he was at Burroughs, he was there because of and for his mother” and, she makes a point of noting, “he loved his dad.” When Simmons watched Mad Men, she saw a lot of Dan Hamm—the charisma, the unhappiness—in Don Draper.
Hamm did well at JBS. He earned good grades. He acted in school plays. He was a linebacker on the football team. Onstage and on the field, the motherless boy with the reserved dad liked being part of a team. In 1989, he went off to the University of Texas and pledged the Sigma Nu fraternity, through which he found a family of brothers and got himself into serious trouble with the law.
According to reports, when Hamm was a sophomore, he and several of his fraternity brothers hazed a pledge so severely that their actions permanently shut down the frat’s UT chapter. Assault charges were filed against the 20-year-old and fellow members that were later dropped. A 1991 lawsuit claimed that Hamm lit the kid’s pants on fire; physically abused him; and, along with his brothers in a part of the Sigma Nu house called the “Party Room,” hooked the claw of a hammer underneath his crotch and led him around the room.
When I bring up the incident, which was reported in Texas newspapers at the time and resurfaced in 2015, first in the tabloids and then in The Washington Post, Hamm bristles. He tells me, “I wouldn’t say it’s accurate. Everything about that is sensationalized. I was accused of these things I don’t... It’s so hard to get into it. I don’t want to give it any more breath. It was a bummer of a thing that happened. I was essentially acquitted. I wasn’t convicted of anything. I was caught up in a big situation, a stupid kid in a stupid situation, and it’s a fucking bummer. I moved on from it.”
Regarding his own breaking point in 2015—rehab; his relationship with both Westfeldt and Mad Men over—all Hamm will say is “I had a lot of shifts in my life. A lot of rearranging of priorities. I don’t think it was conscious, but it was necessary. It was tricky, and the dust is still settling in many ways.” He isn’t prepared to go into detail about such personal and painful moments and how they changed him, save for some platitudes—“Good, bad, indifferent: It’s ephemeral. So sit in it for a minute and experience it. If it sucks, it too will be gone in a minute.” The man who’s made a living by hinting at the troubled inner lives beneath his characters’ poised surfaces says he’s a big believer in the idea that “the unexamined life isn’t worth living.” He just doesn’t want to go full Socrates right now. Not here. Not with a journalist. Not over bacon and eggs. “I think having a private life that you only share with your nearest and dearest is important,” he says as he picks up the check. “Otherwise, who are you?”
Rosamund Pike about Hamm
"He is a great guy, he's everything you'd hope he'd be, funny, entertaining, good fun," Pike said of Hamm in a recent interview with CNN. "He's America's heartthrob. But here comes this man who looks like Jon Hamm into Sandy's life and she doesn't swoon. She finds him an inconvenience, a liability, he complicates her life ... it's an unexpected dynamic in the film."
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/04/entertainment/beirut-trailer-jon-hamm-rosamund-pike/index.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/04/entertainment/beirut-trailer-jon-hamm-rosamund-pike/index.html
Following a screening of "Beirut," actor Jon Hamm and producers Monica Levinson and Shivani Rawat attended a Q&A hosted by Cinema Series host Pete Hammond.
listen here :
Big Sky VFX collaborated with director Matthew Miele on the new documentary about the Carlyle Hotel, "Always At The Carlyle"!
Always at the Carlyle - Trailer
Brad Anderson recalls the long journey of his wartime drama to the big screen
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“We cast [Hamm] because he really felt like a good fit for this guy, Mason Skiles,” says Anderson. “Based on what Jon has done in the past, [like] ‘Mad Men’…there’s a kind of intelligent world-weariness to the guy, there’s a kind of brokenness to him; the recovering from the trauma from his past; a guy who is kind of a little cynical, with a dry sense of humor, that’s Jon.”
Anderson adds, “We needed [someone] like Jon, who could bring that plausibility. You buy him as a member of the diplomatic corps, as a kind of negotiator, a talker… Jon has a lot of the attributes [to play] a guy who is just down on his luck…and given one more opportunity to pull himself up.”
Jon Hamm loves Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
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.
http://calgarysun.com/entertainment/celebrity/jon-hamm-loves-tessa-virtue-and-scott-moir
Jon Hamm says criticism of 'Beirut' film is part of online 'outrage machine'
TORONTO — Between the five languages spoken on set, bureaucracy issues and speedy month-long shoot during Ramadan when Muslim crew members were fasting, producers on the new hostage drama "Beirut" "moved mountains" to shoot in Morocco, says star Jon Hamm...
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When the trailer came out, some viewers and news organizations criticized the film for being shot outside of Lebanon and lacking actors of Lebanese descent.
But Hamm says the film that hits theatres Friday "was exceedingly well researched" and shot in Morocco not because it was easy but out of necessity.
"If people are wondering why a movie isn't cast with all Lebanese people, that's not how movies are made, at all," said Hamm, who won two Golden Globe Awards for playing enigmatic Manhattan advertising exec Don Draper on "Mad Men."
"Why it wasn't shot in Beirut is because you can't get insurance issued in Beirut and because Beirut doesn't look like Beirut did in the 1970s and '80s."There are just practicalities of moviemaking that I think a lot of people either don't understand or they're a part the outrage machine that just exists to create controversy and therefore either create clicks or page views or what have you," continued Hamm, in a phone interview from Los Angeles.
"That's the world we live in now. If you're not outraged by something, it's like you're not even trying. So it's a shame, because I think it devalues actual, legitimate anger and outrage, it seems. If everything is a 10 on the 'I'm serious' scale, then what's the measure, really?"
Hamm noted the story was told from an American perspective rather than that of someone in Lebanon because that's the nationality of himself as well as screenwriter Tony Gilroy and director Brad Anderson.
"We live in interesting times now when people talk about, 'Well what perspective are you coming from and why isn't it told from this and why isn't it told from that?'" Hamm said.
"You can go down that rabbit hole until you spin yourself dizzy or you can accept that we as storytellers can really only tell the story from our own perspective.
"I can't adopt a Lebanese persona or a Middle East persona. That's for someone in Lebanon to do, and I'm sure there are films that are doing that. But I didn't get offered those films."
Hamm said Gilroy wrote "Beirut" on spec after penning 1992's "The Cutting Edge." It went through various stages of development before this incarnation.
The story looks at the beginnings of institutionalized terrorism, which Hamm feels is "not an unsolvable problem."
"I think it's never a bad time to remind people that when the talking stops, that's when the fighting starts," he said.
"It's an interesting time anyway, obviously, with the situation in the White House and with the situation on social media, and the confusion as to what's real and what's fake and people playing into those fears and playing into that confusion.
"Instead of trying to clarify, it seems like the impetus is on trying to muddy it further to further your own political agenda and that just seems to be completely counter-productive. But I think there's never a bad time to have a conversation about 'Let's solve the problems, let's not add to them.'"
Hamm's other latest projects include a guest role in the Canadian digital comedy series "The Amazing Gayl Pile," which airs on NBCUniversal's Seeso and CBC Comedy.
"I read it and I was like, 'Well, this is about as weird as it gets and I like it,'" said Hamm, who's become as much a star in the comedy world as he has in drama, on projects including "30 Rock," Bridesmaids" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."
"Sometimes I get offered things and I think, 'This will be fun or this will be interesting or weird. Let's just do it.'"
April 10, New-York screening of Beirut at Robin Williams Center
One on One: Jon Hamm Talks Beirut, Mad Men and More
Charades with Jon Hamm and Emily Ratajkowski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pwO7wprSAA
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Jon Hamm Does a Spot-On Impression of Ray Romano Playing Golf
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Jimmy's High School English Teacher Jon Hamm Interrupts His Monologue
Jon Hamm on His New Thriller, Beirut, His Teaching Days and the Toll of Don Draper
It’s January. And at this very moment, Jon Hamm is nursing a new role, a beard and laryngitis. The laryngitis is from one too many days in the Park City, Utah, mountains at the Sundance Film Festival. The beard is “because I’m too lazy to shave and it keeps me warm.” The role is that of a former U.S. diplomat called back into service in Lebanon to save a former colleague in the 1982-set espionage thriller Beirut (in theaters on Wednesday, April 11).
“This will sound funny coming out of my mouth, but I like to play characters that have an intelligence,” says Hamm as he takes a sip of water in a hotel room the night after his film premiere. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a physical intelligence or emotional intelligence.”
From 2007 to 2015, Hamm got to portray the one of the most complex characters ever created for TV—tortured, furtive advertising whiz Don Draper on AMC’s Mad Men. (He won an Emmy for the role in the show’s final season.) “What I loved about playing Don for so many years was the layers,” he adds. “When you peeled the layers back, he got more and more interesting. There was a history. I enjoyed that. I find that in Beirut as well. I gravitate toward those roles. There has to be more than just an ‘A-Story.’”
The 46-year-old St. Louis native, who proudly notes that he was the first English major at the University of Missouri to ever receive a theater scholarship, shares more with Parade.com below.
Describe your experience making Beirut.
We shot on location in Tangier [Morocco] and close to the bone from a budgetary standpoint. There was not a lot of fat or wiggle room, which presents a lot of challenges. I find those things the most exciting part about making movies. I look at challenges like that and find opportunities to be creative. We can’t build a $20 million set? OK, let’s be creative. We’d meet at the hotel bar at the end of each night and we’d be exhausted and get the laptops out and say, “OK, we gotta do this, this and this tomorrow.” We shot it in 40 days, 6 days a week. I had only two days off in the entire schedule.
Do you prefer working like that compared to the heavy yearly grind of doing Mad Men? Playing Don must have taken a toll.
It did, obviously. Being No. 1 on any call sheet is difficult. Being No. 1 on an episodic hour-long drama is really hard. It’s made easier by the fact that we only made 13 episodes a year. Ellen Pompeo wrote an article [for The Hollywood Reporter] about what it’s like to work on Grey’s Anatomy. That was interesting and enlightening to a lot of people. The salary stuff aside, I enjoyed her speaking truthfully about, “This is my life and this is what I do, and I’m really good at it and I should be valued for it.” What a ballsy story. She was supposed to say, “I’m so lucky.” I mean, we are all lucky. But there’s an element of incredibly hard work that goes into it and it does, as you say, take a toll. Success is both those things—luck and hard work.
You also play the nutty reverend on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. How strange is it working with star Ellie Kemper, considering that you were her high school acting teacher?
I tell you, I can remember as if it were yesterday. I was a teacher at my old high school [John Burroughs High School] when I was 24. I would tell my kids, “I’m not here to ruin your transcript. I’m not here to tell you you’re a sh–ty actor. You guys are here because you want to be here. And if you don’t, don’t take the class.” Ellie was a 14-year-old little redhead girl. When she would get on stage, she was just fearless. I could tell she enjoyed it.
Did you guys stay in touch?
When she came out to New York, she sent me an email. This was, I don’t know, 2007, maybe? She said, “Mr. Hamm, I’m coming out to New York. I’m doing my one-woman show. You can totally say no, but can you please come?” I said, “Of course. Let me know when it is.” So I went and saw her one-woman show at the Upright Citizens Brigade. I went backstage. And she said, “Oh my god, I forgot to tell you I got an audition for The Office!” and I said, “You’re going to get it. Mark my words. Just go in and be you. You’re going to get it.” Two weeks later, she got the part.
Does she still call you Mr. Hamm?
I think she might, actually! She’s a sweetheart.
Would you ever go back to teaching?
Sure. I loved it. When I was a student at Mizzou, I was a daycare teacher. I did it because was a latchkey kid. I was raised by a single mom. I spent most of my time in daycare. And my observation was, where are the guys? And I pitched that to the lady, plus, “Look, I need a job between 2 and 6.” I had classes in the morning and rehearsals for plays at night. And she was like, “You make a good point. Let’s give it a try.” It was me, and eight elementary education majors. They were all sorority girls. I was the long-haired theater guy. And I loved it. I got a lot out of it. And I felt the same way when I taught at my old high school. That school saved my life after my mom died [when Hamm was 10] and my dad died [when Hamm was 20]. It gave me a purpose, it gave me a place to go, it gave me a safe space and taught me all this stuff. I had great teachers. The fact that I got to be a part of that team was great. I didn’t have any money, so I couldn’t just write a check. I could at least give my time. Now I’ve set up a scholarship there in my mom’s name.
I think she might, actually! She’s a sweetheart.
Would you ever go back to teaching?
Sure. I loved it. When I was a student at Mizzou, I was a daycare teacher. I did it because was a latchkey kid. I was raised by a single mom. I spent most of my time in daycare. And my observation was, where are the guys? And I pitched that to the lady, plus, “Look, I need a job between 2 and 6.” I had classes in the morning and rehearsals for plays at night. And she was like, “You make a good point. Let’s give it a try.” It was me, and eight elementary education majors. They were all sorority girls. I was the long-haired theater guy. And I loved it. I got a lot out of it. And I felt the same way when I taught at my old high school. That school saved my life after my mom died [when Hamm was 10] and my dad died [when Hamm was 20]. It gave me a purpose, it gave me a place to go, it gave me a safe space and taught me all this stuff. I had great teachers. The fact that I got to be a part of that team was great. I didn’t have any money, so I couldn’t just write a check. I could at least give my time. Now I’ve set up a scholarship there in my mom’s name.
Mad Men premiered a little more than 10 years ago. Where do you see your career 10 years from now?
Oh, I don’t know. I’ll be in my 50s by then. The good thing about aging as a man is that you still kind of do interesting, fun stuff. Look at Liam Neeson. He’s still doing it and he’s in his 60s! Look at Jeff Bridges. I just hope I get a chance to do more interesting things and tell more fun stories. I don’t know how many years I’ve got left in front of the camera, but I think I’ve got a few. Hopefully I’ll be able to use them wisely.
Maltin on Movies #174: Jon Hamm
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At the specialty box office, Bleecker Street's Middle East political thriller Beirut, starring Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike, grossed $1.7 million from 754 theaters for a five-day debut of $2.2 million (it opened on Wednesday). Previously titled High Wire Act, the film centers on a top U.S. diplomat (Hamm) who leaves Lebanon in the 1970s after his wife is killed. Bard Anderson directed from a script by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, The Bourne Legacy).
Jon Hamm is "amazed" it's taken more than 25 years for 'Beirut' to reach cinema screens.
The 46-year-old actor - who stars as a former US diplomat during the Lebanese Civil War in the 80s - has admitted to being shock that it's taken so long for Tony Gilroy's script - which was penned in the early 90s - to come to fruition.
Asked what attracted him to the new espionage film, Jon said: "I was amazed that no one had made this movie. It's a wonderful story ... the length of time between when it was written and now has only made it more poignant in a way, and resonate in a way. We're still dealing with the same stuff.".....
And the Hollywood star appreciated that the script didn't hit viewers "over the head" with its message.
Speakin to Collider, Jon explained: "What I liked about it, other than the guys attached to it, was that it's an opportunity to play a character who has everybody's best interests at heart.
"It's like, 'Let's move forward. If we're going to sit here and bump heads, we're just going nowhere. Get people into a room, deal with them on a human level and try to move forward.'
"It's incredibly deftly told - it's not hitting you over the head."
On last night’s episode of the HBO hitman comedy, Barry, Bill Hader’s titular assassin, who has fallen in love with a talented blonde named Sally in his acting class, entertains a brief vision of his perfect future life, wherein he and Sally are hosting a barbeque for their fellow Hollywood friends. Featured in this fantasy is Jon Hamm, playing Jon Hamm, who jovially asks Barry if he can take a shit in his house.
As for the guests themselves, the group mostly consisted of cast and crewmembers and their loved ones, as well as members of the Hulu family. A sparse gathering of celebrities unaffiliated with the show were on hand, including Moss' Mad Men co-star Jon Hamm, and Teen Wolf veteran Dylan O'Brien.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/inside-handmaids-tale-season-2-premiere-1104361
Jon Hamm on ‘Beirut,’ Fake News, and Living in a Post-Don Draper World
Your character in the film is very smooth-talking kind of guy. He seems to be able to talk his way into, or out of, any situation. You’ve played characters with that quality before, is that something you’re attracted to?
I think you’re basically talking about the hero. Essentially playing the lead, playing the hero. I think the interesting thing about this is that when we meet Mason first he is that kind of smooth-talking diplomat. He has a beautiful wife, beautiful house, beautiful wife, beautiful everything. That, of course, all goes away. I think what ends up happening to Mason is that cynicism takes hold and he loses track of what it is that he does, which is negotiate, make deals, get people in the room, compromise, talk. He loses sight of that and I think the latter half of the film is his process of getting that back together and reminding himself that problems aren’t retractable, there’s nothing that should be dismissed out of hand in a conflict. If you have conflict you have to resolve it and the best way to do that is to get in front of somebody and talk to them face to face. In our culture now, when everything is conducted through a screen or on a comment board, not in real time or real life, it’s easier to fall prey to that same cynicism again. No one’s listening; everyone is reading their own version of the truth. Everyone is fake newsing themselves into their own weird little rabbit hole; but it still holds true that when you get two people actually talking to one another face to face, generally without a camera on them, you can make a deal. I think we’re in our kind of process as a culture in the same place that Mason was in act two of this thing. I hope we’ll pull ourselves out in the same way and figure it out.
Tony Gilroy wrote the first draft of this script nearly thirty years ago. So much has changed since then, and the film seems timelier now than it could have been in the nineties. Do you know how the film changed over since its inception?
I think the funny thing is that it was Tony’s second script. Tony was Tony Gilroy, capital T, capital G back then. He wrote it on spec; right after his first feature which was The Cutting Edge. So he wasn’t exactly the guy you go to to write a highly-charged political thriller. “Oh, that guy who did the ice skating romantic comedy?” But the talent is still there. Tony’s amazing gift as a writer is that he’s writing things that are forceful, and energetic, and smart. But he wrote it in 1991, I was still in college, pre-internet. Pre-9/11, obviously. Pre-Clinton. So we were still kind of in that Reagan-era. The ’80s weren’t even cool to look back on then. Everyone wanted to forget about the ’80s! So, there was a lot of stuff back then when it was first kicking around that people just didn’t see the point of. Nevertheless, there was still a lot of buzz around it; people wanted to be in it. I don’t know if these names are true, but at some point, I think Johnny Depp was attached to it, Brad Pitt may have been attached to it at some point, John Frankenheimer was going to direct it. It just didn’t happen for whatever reason. I think that as time progresses and we start looking back on the ’80s as the proper past, as a period…look at like Stranger Things or something like that. Enough time has passed where that gives an interesting patina to this whole story. That was interesting to me. I remember living through the bombing in ’83 or ’82, whenever it was, I remember hearing the news about the civil war. I didn’t really know what was going on, I was a kid. As we went through this whole thing, learning about the history of that, and learning how they never really resolved their issues and learning where international, well-funded institutionalized terrorism is now, over the last thirty years, is where we’ve gotten. We took that exit ramp to sort of start that fire but we never really tended it or put it out. So, here we are thirty years later. I think if anything the story has gotten more resonant given the time that has passed.
The film is dealing with a climate in these countries that remains equally as fraught today.
It’s just as bad. Again, if you stop talking, that’s when you start fighting. I think that there is still a way to solve this. I think the will is there, I think people really want…look, what Mason knows that is important is that human beings are all the same. Different colors, different hairs, different fingernails, different eye color, different cultures, but we’re all the same. We want to go home at night to a safe place, put some food in your belly, you want somebody to love you, someone you can love back. We’re all the same. Nobody is born with hate in their heart. I think that’s what we see with Mason’s relationship with Kareem in the film. He’s trying to remind the players in there that they have to get back to that humanity and remember that none of us are here for very long. It’s an easier time if we spend it not fighting.
Did Tony, Brad, and yourself ever discuss the current conflicts in the Middle East?
I saw some review that said that I’m no Jared Kushner [laughs]. I think it’s hubris to go in and say that anybody can come in and solve it all with one fell swoop. I think that’s the mistake that some people make, that there’s an easy solution. It’s not easy. You’re talking about thousands of years of history and religions and faith, things that are so hard to pin down. It’s not easy, but it is doable. I don’t know if you saw this play called Oslo…
I did! Amazing.
Brilliant piece of writing, brilliant direction by Bartlett Sher, great performances. It’s a similar thing, I got to meet [Terje Rød-Larsen], the Norwegian guy that it’s based on. I was fascinated. I said, “What is your life?” He said, “I talk to people. I just talk to people.” He’s talked to Putin, he’s talked to Assad, he’s talked to every world leader there is. He said, “Right here it’s always easy. It’s when the door closes that you have to pick up the phone that it becomes difficult.” I think it’s doable. I’m an eternal optimist. I’ve had my fair share of hardship in my life but I never want to go too far down that hole. I believe in the human condition, I believe in the human spirit. I think that we all, really, at the end of the day want the same things. If we can help each other get them, great. We live in a crazy country right now. Our political reality is a warped and weird as I’ve ever seen it. I do know that whether you’re from the rightest red state or the bluest blue state you all want the same things. You just want to get there by a different road. Our job as people in the middle, negotiators, is to find the solution that helps the most.
was definitely thinking of Oslo after watching Beirut.
It’s a cool play. The guy that wrote it went to my college. He went to Missou, smart guy. It’s a case study in a lot of ways. It’s making something dramatic out of something that’s kind of not. Two people sitting in a room negotiating. Not necessarily the most High Wire Act – which is what this script used to be called – of storytelling. When you can introduce people to the real stakes of what’s going on and what’s happening – and they have such amazing actors in that as well – it’s a pretty cool thing.
Both Oslo and Beirut ultimately suggest that solutions come from conversation.
Yeah, face to face. A big part of what Oslo said is, and we said it in the film too, “Get me in a room. I need to be in front of that guy. I need to see his face.” Phone calls aren’t going to do it. Letters, telex, whatever, not going to do it. You need to get in a room with these people, because then you’re two human beings connecting, talking. We see it in the film when Mason goes to Israel and talks to the Israeli Government. The guy lies to his face and he knows he’s being lied to. He gets in the room the Arab contingent, he knows the PLO guy. That’s when work gets done. You can bluster and bluff, and tweet stupid shit, but if you really want to get it done, you get in a room.
Since we have to wrap up, I’m going to go a bit off topic. You know, there are so few actors that get to work on a piece – I’m talking about Mad Men, I don’t know why I need some dramatic buildup – I mean, something that is so culturally significant and something that is so important to people. Now that it’s been a few years since you’ve returned to playing Don Draper, how do you look back on that experience?
I’m very proud of everything we did on Mad Men. It was an interesting thing to look back on it. Especially to see where TV is going now because it was the beginning of something different. It was the end of something familiar and the beginning of something different. It was right at the beginning of the smartphone era, the social media era, the recap era, all these things were happening at the same time. It wasn’t just us, there was also Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, other shows, I’m not just naming AMC shows, those were the first to come to mind. We’re part of this cultural upswell. You see it now in the shows that are resonating with people, whether it’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Stranger Things, or The Crown, these high-quality incredibly rich, dense, well-made things. This is going to sound super narcissistic, but I was flipping through channels and an episode of Mad Men happened to be on.
It was called Lady Lazarus, from season five. I hadn’t seen it since it aired. It’s the episode where Megan wants to quit. They’re pitching Cool Whip and Megan wants to quit and become an actress. That’s a whole drama. There’s a really funny scene with me and Lizzie [Moss] where she has to fill in for Megan.
Just taste it!
Just taste it! Just eat it! “Don’t you think I should just taste it?” It was so…it was just [laughs]. Mad Men does not get recognized for being as funny as it is sometimes, but there are some really funny parts in it. The episode ends with Don dropping the needle on “Tomorrow Never Knows” from the Beatles album [Revolver]. He plays through it and them picks up the needle thinking, “I don’t get this shit,” and then he goes right to bed. I was like, wow, that’s a good hour of television. I texted [Creator Matt Weiner] saying, “Buddy, I don’t know if you’ve seen this in a while but I just watched it back again. It holds up. It’s really good. Congratulations.” So I am aware that that kind of stuff doesn’t come around very often and how lucky I was to go through that whole experience. That’s the reason I have a career for the most part and I’m very proud of it and very happy that I got to be a part of it.
The Torture Report, starring Annette Bening, Adam Driver, and Jon Hamm, has started filming in New York City.
The movie is being directed by Scott Z. Burns from a script he wrote about the CIA’s extreme interrogation programs following 9/11. The movie is said to be based on a 2007 Vanity Fair article, written by Katherine Eban, that explored the torture techniques designed by two psychologists with the full knowledge and cooperation of the American Psychological Association and the CIA.
Yesterday, Jon Hamm was spotted on the set in Manhattan, around Park Ave and 54th St. This is just one of the many movies that will be filming in the city this the summer.
https://www.onlocationvacations.com/2018/04/20/the-torture-report-starring-jon-hamm-begins-
Bleecker Street’s drama-thriller Beirut with Rosamund Pike and Jon Hamm maintained its 755 theater count in its second frame. The title took in just over $1.05M Friday to Sunday, averaging $1,402 (-46%). In its opening, the title took in over $1.65M, averaging $2,193. It has cumed $3.9M.
http://deadline.com/2018/04/ghost-stories-the-rider-specialty-box-office-1202373965/
Jon Hamm Talks "Beirut," Cardinals vs Cubs & More w/Rich Eisen In-Studio
24, 2018 in Las Vegas
at CinemaCon 2018 Warner Bros. Pictures Invites You to “The Big Picture”, an Exclusive Presentation of our Upcoming Slate at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
“The point of life is not to put dog ears on yourself and post it online for everyone to see,” Hamm said, referencing Snapchat's popular filters. “It's fun, it's adorable, but it's the visual equivalent of masturbating — there's no point other than immediate gratification.”
June 2017
Hamm and Helms - action stars?
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Hamm and Helms' reboot Madness
25 April, Hamm leaving Snow Patrol concert at The Fonda Theatre
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