Jon Hamm has played advertising executive Don Draper in the period television drama Mad Men from July 2007. The series, created by Matthew Weiner, looks at the lives of people in the advertising industry in the sixties. At a press conference for the final seven episodes of the popular show in Los Angeles, Hamm (44) spoke of the emotional toll of playing Don and the reason for the show's popularity among other things. Excerpts.
Would you miss playing Don and is there anything about him you liked?
We wrapped production, principal production on the show on July 3 last year. It was the end of a long, long journey. Was there anything I liked about it? Are you kidding me? Mostly the opportunity to get to play a character who has this many layers and is this rich - not in the material sense obviously - but this juicy and rich and lovely and weird and sad and horrible. This is it. This is the last time I get to do it. I’ll miss it and I do miss it.
Do you think we forgive Don, for many of his bad behaviours because he is attractive?
Yes, I think that there is unfortunate wiggle room in how people are treated in the world but that’s the way it goes.
Does the character rub off on you?
No is the short answer to that, but it does take a toll. It is a difficult headspace to be in for a long period of time. Acting is not a physically demanding job necessarily.
It does take a lot of focus and mental acuity and takes an emotional toll. Especially when you’re playing a person who has a lot emotions.
You’ve said in the past that Don’s arc is heading inevitably towards failure. Does Don deserve to end up in the gutter or the presidential suite?
I think what I probably to was referring to was the opening image of the show of this person’s life, where this figure’s life is disintegrating and then the fall happens. But then the fall is revealed that it may not be a real fall, it may just be in his mind. My stated goal for Don, is that he find peace.
How difficult it is to emotionally disengage from a character that you spent so much time in a kind of a dark headspace?
For me, it was taking off the suit and wiping off my makeup and feeling like a normal person again. The power of the costumes and the period is so incredibly transformative.
But sure, there are difficult days and days that you’re exhausted where you’ve left it all on the floor. But that’s okay. That’s the fun part of being an actor honestly - working. The less fun part of it is staring at a telephone that’s not ringing and wondering if you’re ever gonna work again.
When do you think Don has been the happiest over the series?
I think Don was for a long time the happiest at work. He was a big believer in this world that he created that he had control over.
Could there be a Don Draper now?
God no! You can barely keep your own actual private information private. In the current media landscape, there’s some Russian hacker who knows your waistline and credit card number.
If there’s a Don Draper in this day and age, he’s a weird looking dude.
Why has a show set in this era done so well with a modern audience?
I think there’s a couple ways to look at it honestly. I think the parallels between then and now are eerie. It’s weird how time moves in cycles and history repeats itself. So that part of it resonated with people.
Also, I think we were the first show to dramatize that era and not make it a travelogue. There was a whole two-thirds of the 60s that happened before the Summer of Love, the part that everyone thinks of as “the 60s”.
This was about specific people in a specific industry that was trying to paint an accurate picture of a world whose outward appearance was changing by the day.
This character will follow you forever. How do you deal with that personally and professionally?
People just say it is hard and weird. None of us have been through it before and so few people know.
I found it to be a very accurate representation of the experience. Hard and weird. I am going to end this with Hard and weird….I am an English major. The End of An Era: The Final Seven Episodes of Mad Men airs on Mondays at 10 pm on Star World Premiere HD
The author was in Los Angeles at the invitation of Star World India
