‘Mad Men’ Season 7: Jon Hamm Calls Don Draper a ‘Pretty, Dismal, Despicable Guy’
Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper in "Mad Men," has called his Mad Men's character "a pretty dismal, despicable guy."
In an interview with The Guardian, the actor talked how his Mad Men's character Don Draper and he share similar life experiences. The actor's parents separated when he was two. He lost his mother to stomach cancer when he was 10 years old. After his mother's death, Hamm moved in with his father. Hamm lost his father when he was 20.
Hamm said that the writer of Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, visualised the character of Draper as a Gatsby character, a "self-made hero with a tragic flaw." The actor agrees that his own story is around the "edges" of his Mad Men's character.
"I think it's pretty close to the surface. I'm not shy about that. I think Matt Weiner and the writing staff have wisely mined that source for its dramatic motherlode so to speak," Hamm said to The Guardian.
However, Hamm is very much aware that he is playing a character and does not see any reason why he should take the character home. Hamm said to The Guardian: "Don Draper is a pretty dismal, despicable guy, so why I would want to take him home with me I don't know ... It's a strange thing.
"People tell me they look up to Don, like they look up to Tony Soprano or Walter White. People have these weird fascinations with people who in reality you would not want to be for a second. There seems to be that vicarious thrill. Maybe it is the fact of doing everything wrong and getting away with it."
"Mad Men" will return for its final season sometime in 2014. The final season is all set to air in two parts just like AMC's cult drama series, "Breaking Bad." Hamm does not think there will be a "Mad Men" movie as it is difficult to "condense the world that we have into such a small package ..."
He said to The Sydney Morning Herald: "I think the reason there are very few television shows that become successful films is that they're completely different ways to tell a story. I think that's kind of why there probably won't be a Mad Menmovie."
The filming on the final series has started. According to an E! Online report, Hamm might go commando again in the upcoming, final season. The report had said that they spotted him walking around the set of "Mad Men" in Los Angeles. The actor, 42, "opted to skip his underwear for this particular wardrobe choice and scene."