When we interviewed Jon Hamm before the premiere of Season three of “Mad Men,” Hamm gave us an interesting response when asked about the aging process for characters on the show, given the big jumps in time between seasons. His response crystalized on of the (many) reasons he was perfect for the role of Don Draper: “Well, I look older than I am, anyway, so it doesn’t bother me. I mean, I’ve looked 40 since I was 22, so it doesn’t matter.” He nails it here. The Don Draper character had to look grown up, and apart from his good looks, Jon Hamm looked like a man from this generation. Drop him into the 1960s and he fit right in, especially when he gets that classic haircut with the side part.
Next, mix in Hamm’s acting chops and you have one of the all-time great casting decisions in modern television history. Hamm embodied Don Draper in the same way that James Gandolfini embodied Tony Soprano and Bryan Cranston embodied Walter White.
“Mad Men” ran seven seasons, ending in 2015, and Jon Hamm has managed to carve out a very nice acting career in movies and film after being cast as Don Draper. He has quite achieved leading man status in film, but he’s done a great job of selecting supporting roles.
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Interview
As mentioned above, our own Will Harris interviewed Jon Hamm leading up to the release of Season three of the show.
Iconic Character – Don Draper
Here’s how our televison critic Will Harris summed up the Don Draper character in his review the the Season One DVD:
The central character of the series is Don Draper, creative director of Sterling Cooper. He’s a favorite of the firm’s partners, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and Bertram Cooper (Robert Morse), and primed for partnerhood himself, but for his success in the workplace, he’s miserable at maintaining a happy home life. Though he puts on a façade when he’s around his wife and kids, Don’s one of the great womanizers, often claiming to be “staying in the city” for work purposes when, in reality, he’s having a fling. Meanwhile, his wife Betty (January Jones) is in therapy for reasons she can’t quite put her finger on, though it’s probably because her subconscious is nagging her to realize that her husband’s committing adultery on a regular basis.
Features
TV in the 2000s: The Shows that Defined the Decade (December 6, 2009)
Check out this overview we published on Premium Hollywood: “I have a feeling that the deepest parts of the series have yet to be presented, and that much of what we’ve seen over the past three years has been a sort of buildup.”
