Jon Hamm feels lucky to be alive after 10 years of smoking on Mad Men

Perth Now

2 days ago

Jon Hamm feels lucky to be alive after smoking so many fake cigarettes on the set of 'Mad Men'.
The 54-year-old actor played chain-smoking advertising executive Don Draper in the hit TV drama between 2007 and 2015 - and Jon admits he feels grateful not to have experienced any negative effects after spending almost a decade puffing away on prop smokes.
During a panel discussion at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas, Jon explained: "When you're in gear and smoking cigarette and looking out the fake window, the fake hanging part of Midtown, it was believable ...
"Obviously it's a tremendous honor, and it's a wonderful thing to have worked on and contribute to something that has lasted this long.
"I'm glad I'm still alive, basically because of the amount of cigarettes I smoked."
Jon also recalled a meeting with TV bosses before the show started filming in which they discussed whether the characters should be seen smoking onscreen.
He said: "I remember at some point, having a conversation with the executives at AMC. They said: 'Do they have to smoke?' That was like: 'Are you f****** kidding me? Yes, they literally have to. They're addicted to cigarettes. It's kind of why they're sold. They're super popular!'"
The fake cigarettes contained rose petals and marshmallow, but Jon was still wary of them.
He told the panel: "It was not [good for us]. Yeah, I think somebody did a count, and in the pilot alone, I smoked 75 cigarettes … They are fake cigarettes, but that just means that there's no nicotine in them. It doesn't mean you're not burning something ...
"We didn't go outside, which was awesome and not awesome. The whole thing, the whole stage is full of fake cigarette smoke."
He also revealed some of the younger castmembers attempted to film their smoking scenes using real cigarettes and they ended up regretting it within days.
Jon explained: "They were like: 'We're gonna smoke real cigarettes. We really want to, feel it and do it'. And I was like,: 'Let me know how that goes'.
"And within three days, they were yellow and sallow. This is a terrible idea."