[IMG:L]AMC used to be the channel that just showed old movies. Now they’re getting into the big show, producing their own original series. Their first series, Mad Men, won acclaim and ratings in its first year, including Golden Globes for best drama series and best actor in a drama series for star Jon Hamm.
Hamm plays Don Draper, the best ad man at the Sterling Cooper agency. Set in the 1960s, it has all the smoking, drinking and sexism that were true of that era. Celebrating their Globes win and other award nominations at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, Hamm and series creator Matthew Weiner backed up their hype with their responses to our own catchy ad slogans.
Season Two: Even Madder Men Than Before!
“Oh, I can’t tell you anything,” teased Weiner. “I really can’t. It’s all being formed. All I can say is that we will not pick up exactly where we left off, and the world will be changing so their lives will be changing.”
[IMG:R]Don Draper: He’s Learning to Open Up!
“I think at the end of the day, he’s a pragmatist,” said Hamm. “I think that a lot of people make a lot of hay about saying that they’re pragmatic or they’re honest and in fact they’re not. Don, as much as he’s hiding a lot of what he is in his family life, there’s a very strict core of his character that is very honest. He stays true to that very specific core. I think once you find that, he just has to learn how to share that with other people. I just watched Into the Wild. The main character in that is very idealistic. It’s only until it’s too late he realizes you really have to share that with other people. He realizes that too late and hopefully Don will realize that before he’s stuck in a bus in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness but we’ll see.”
The Golden Globes: The Best Darn Awards Show in Town!
“Oh man, it was amazing,” said Hamm about hearing his name announced. “It was pretty indescribable actually. I had no way to think that I was going to be picked for that in any way, shape or form, so when it actually happened, it was a little bit breathtaking.”
[IMG:L]Jon Hamm: The Same Old Guy He Always Was!
“[When you’re on a hit show], your phone calls get returned a little quicker and people tend to pay a little more attention to what you say and all that stuff, which can be good and can be bad,” said Hamm. “I certainly haven’t changed. I’m still with the same beautiful woman I’ve been with the last 10 years of my life, so all the other stuff doesn’t change. Just people around you change a little more than you change, so that’s how it works.”
Booze, Smoke and Sexism: They’re Not Just For Breakfast Anymore!
“It’s strange,” said Weiner. “I’ve heard people talking about it and they say that they love it and they also love Dexter, but it’s harder for them to watch our show. I was like, what is that about? They’re like, ‘Well, the smoking and the drinking.’ I’m like, ‘So you’re more comfortable with cutting bodies up?’ So I have no idea of knowing how people feel about things but it is our past and it’s our recent past. People were smoking in offices as recently as 1980 and that’s a big part of my life.”
’60s Fashion: Making Men Look Suave for 48 Years!
“When you’re stitched into those suits and you’ve got a high ball and a cigarette in each hand, it’s pretty easy to get the sense of the whole world of the show,” said Hamm. “It’s certainly about a lot more than just that but that makes it a lot easier to get there in a very real sense. It’s nice to wear a suit that fits you and have everything made for you. It’s also nice to not have to make those decisions. It’s always right there for you.”
[IMG:R]AMC: The New HBO!
“I think that like HBO, hopefully we’ll become a destination as time passes,” said Weiner. “They’re very brave people and they’re very interested in a very specific thing which is what they find entertaining. Because they’re smart, they like smart shows. It’s been amazing. The rule always was, if we like it, that’s what we’re doing. I think that that’s always been the rule at HBO too. It’s been a dream. It’s been absolute total creative freedom. Our studio, Lionsgate, has been wonderful at administering to our financial needs and we’ve gotten the best of everything. When I finished making the pilot, all my friends had come out of making pilots for other channels and they were talking about how horrible it was and this happened and that happened. I couldn’t even tell them how great my experience was. I didn’t want to embarrass myself.”
