When Mad Men premiered in 2007, the American actor Jon Hamm was a virtual unknown. Through his portrayal of the mercurial advertising executive Don Draper over six seasons, the actor accumulated a string of acting awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Actor and six Emmy Award nominations. Speaking on the eve of the final season, screening exclusively on MBC 4 from Saturday, he talks about parting ways with the character that made him a star.
Since your character plays a central role in the last series, did you have any influence in terms of how to end the show?
I don’t have any creative input on the show other than what I bring to it as an actor. Matt’s (series creator Matt Weiner) been very clear in all of the press and all of the surrounding intelligence about the show in that it’s very clearly his baby and we are simply servants to that vision and that’s fine. But, you know, I don’t have any intelligence. I don’t have any importance. I don’t have any input, really, in that world. And I honestly am kind of happy that I don’t, because I don’t want to have to think up the end of this thing. It’s been seven seasons of characters advancing and, honestly, I’m glad I don’t have to think it up. I’m glad I just have to memorise lines.
After years of living with this character, what is your personal take on Don Draper? Anything you admire or loathe about this guy?
A very wise man told me once about acting that if you ever judge the character that you’re playing, you’re going to do it a disservice, and so I try not to judge our guy Don. I think that’s maybe been the biggest challenge of portraying this guy who is fairly odious in his behaviour patterns often, and to just try to humanise him and sort of understand that we can all be kind of hateful in our own ways when we’re feeling bad or misunderstood or confused.
Are you dreading shooting the final episode?
This show has taken up essentially a decade of my life and it’s been a great decade, honestly, and I’ve met a lot of people who I think will be friends for the rest of my life and I’ve had a lot of amazing experiences and I’ve got to go to award shows and just experience these things that when you start down the road of being an actor, you think that’s never going to happen and yet, it did to me. So it’s been an emotional roller-coaster ride for me. So when it’s time to get off the ride, I’m going to be like: “I don’t want to get off, man, I want to stay on the ride. Come on, the ride’s over?” But as it’s been mentioned before, all good things do come to an end. And I am glad that the show is ending, but I’m going to be an absolute disaster when it does.
The bright side is you will finally be available for other projects. Any decent roles that came your way?
I don’t necessarily have anything lined up and I don’t know what the future holds, honestly. It’s a brave new world out there.
After it's all done and dusted, what do you think will be Don Draper's legacy?
I really do hope people take away that this is a story of a person who, in all of his faults and all of his troubles and all of his missteps, was trying to do the right thing and I think that’s the thing that people can identify with the most.
• Mad Men screens exclusively on MBC 4 Saturday at midnight. For more details go to www.mbc.net
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