
Jon Hamm's Mad Men co-stars turned yellow due to show smoking
Jon Hamm's 'Mad Men' co-stars turned "yellow and sallow" after attempting to smoke real cigarettes on screen.
The 54-year-old actor - who led the cast of the 1950s advertising drama for its entire run from 2007 to 2015 - went through dozens of fake smokes, made from rose petals and marshmallows, during filming but he fared better than some of his unnamed co-stars who were keen to make their experience more authentic.
Speaking at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas, at the weekend, he said: 'I think somebody did a count, and in the pilot alone, I smoke 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.'
Of his castmates, he added: '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.'
And because 'Mad Men' was set in New York but shot in Los Angeles, most of the filming took place indoors, making the smoky situation even trickier to deal with.
Jon said: 'We didn't go outside, which was awesome and not awesome. The whole thing, the whole stage is full of fake cigarette smoke.'
And to replicate a vodka martini, 'Mad Men' bosses added onions to water.
Jon quipped: 'Oh, the breath was lovely."
His co-star John Slattery, who played Roger Stirling, laughed: 'Pop another pearl onion in your glass of water, and then smoke 26 more fake cigarettes and it's 9:30 in the morning!'
The two stars also recalled how the first day of shooting 'Mad Men' was interrupted by the discovery of a dead body in the parking lot.
Jon said: 'Scene one, day one, there was a dead body in the parking lot, but that's a story for another day."
John added: 'That's true. First day of work, a guy fell off a bridge, and he was in the parking lot, face down. I saw a foot.'
In 2015, AMC, who broadcast 'Mad Men', released some statistics to mark the programme's finale, which included the revelations that the characters had smoked a staggering 942 cigarettes and poured 369 drinks between them across all seven seasons.

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Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
Jon Hamm's Mad Men co-stars turned yellow due to show smoking
Jon Hamm's 'Mad Men' co-stars turned "yellow and sallow" after attempting to smoke real cigarettes on screen. The 54-year-old actor - who led the cast of the 1950s advertising drama for its entire run from 2007 to 2015 - went through dozens of fake smokes, made from rose petals and marshmallows, during filming but he fared better than some of his unnamed co-stars who were keen to make their experience more authentic. Speaking at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas, at the weekend, he said: 'I think somebody did a count, and in the pilot alone, I smoke 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.' Of his castmates, he added: '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.' And because 'Mad Men' was set in New York but shot in Los Angeles, most of the filming took place indoors, making the smoky situation even trickier to deal with. Jon said: 'We didn't go outside, which was awesome and not awesome. The whole thing, the whole stage is full of fake cigarette smoke.' And to replicate a vodka martini, 'Mad Men' bosses added onions to water. Jon quipped: 'Oh, the breath was lovely." His co-star John Slattery, who played Roger Stirling, laughed: 'Pop another pearl onion in your glass of water, and then smoke 26 more fake cigarettes and it's 9:30 in the morning!' The two stars also recalled how the first day of shooting 'Mad Men' was interrupted by the discovery of a dead body in the parking lot. Jon said: 'Scene one, day one, there was a dead body in the parking lot, but that's a story for another day." John added: 'That's true. First day of work, a guy fell off a bridge, and he was in the parking lot, face down. I saw a foot.' In 2015, AMC, who broadcast 'Mad Men', released some statistics to mark the programme's finale, which included the revelations that the characters had smoked a staggering 942 cigarettes and poured 369 drinks between them across all seven seasons.


Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
Jon Hamm feels lucky to be alive after 10 years of smoking on Mad Men
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."

The Age
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