Latest news with #JohnSlattery
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘I'm glad I'm still alive': Jon Hamm and John Slattery on ‘Mad Men,' 10 years later
It has been 10 years since Don Draper bought the world a Coke — but the legacy of Mad Men lives on, in (somewhat) good health. "I'm glad I'm still alive, basically, because of the amount of cigarettes I smoked," joked Jon Hamm. "But the amount of work we put into it feels commensurate with the amount of love we're feeling as well. So that's pretty awesome." More from GoldDerby David E. Kelley on the secret of his prolific career: 'Don't ever assume you're smarter than the audience' 'King of the Hill' cast and creators on revival: 'Bobby's got a little bit of fame and a little bit of swagger' Watch the first 6 minutes of 'Wednesday' Season 2, from Netflix Tudum 2025 Hamm reunited with his Mad Men costar John Slattery to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the finale of Mad Men, the multiple Emmy-winning drama, at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. At the panel, which was moderated by Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley, the two actors about their experiences making the groundbreaking series. Slattery recounted that he'd originally auditioned the role for Don Draper. "I called them back and said, 'Are you sure that's the part they want me to read?'" he said. He went ahead with it, and did all of his homework. "And then they said, 'Here's the thing, we already have that guy.'" (Turns out they thought he wouldn't have come in if they knew they only wanted him for Roger Sterling.) Quipped Hamm, "I'm glad I told you that I had the part because they didn't tell me I had the part." Hamm recalled that he had about nine auditions, and only got confirmation that he'd landed the iconic role when someone made an off-handed comment during an elevator ride. The show's impact was near-instantaneous. "It rang a bell pretty quick," said Hamm. "It was almost immediately kind of recognized as something. Now that doesn't mean anybody saw it, but people heard about it." Mad Men, which was created and executive produced by Matthew Weiner, won the Emmy Award for Best Drama Series its first season — it would go on to win that trophy a total of four times during its seven-season run, earning 16 Emmys overall — but while that early success was exciting, it was also 'intimidating,' Hamm acknowledged. 'I just remember looking over at Matt and going like, 'My God. This guy has to do all of this again, from a blank page.' And I thought, 'I wouldn't want to trade with him.' But you just have to enjoy the terror.' And while the pilot made an impact, the show only improved from there. Recalled Slattery "I remember walking in early on with Lizzie Moss to a table read of the second or third episode, and I said, is it me, or is it are these things getting better?" he said. Given the amount work that goes into a pilot, he said, "sometimes the quality drops off. And this didn't." Weiner always had a clear vision for the finale, said Hamm. 'Matt had the end scene during season one. He knew he wanted Don to end up somewhere on the West Coast and dreaming up that Coca-Cola commercial,' said Hamm. 'He didn't know how many episodes he would have between here and there, he didn't know how many seasons, he didn't know any of that. But he knew that he wanted this guy to end up there. The rest of it was very murky. ... But I trusted him as the caretaker of all of these characters to not bang on a key that comes out with a false note.' That said, he admitted to being initially disappointed in the final season, which saw Don off on his own journey, removed from his colleagues — and Hamm, separated from the co-stars he'd grown close to. 'I really had a hard time with that,' he said. 'And now, of course, in retrospect, I thought, well, that's perfect. What better way to feel the ambiance and the loneliness of this character's journey than to be like, 'You've got nobody left, and you're on the road by yourself. In retrospect, good job, man.'' The actors reminisced about Weiner's infamous meticulous attention to detail, shooting in L.A. for New York ('We never went outside,' said Hamm), the martinis ('The vodka was fake, but the onions were real,' said Slattery). and all those fake cigarettes ('Somebody did a count and in the pilot alone, I smoked 75 cigarettes,' said Hamm). 'I remember at some point having a conversation with the executives at AMC, the network that aired the series, when they said, 'Do they have to smoke?'" said Hamm. "And I was like, 'Are you f--king kidding me? Yes, they literally have to. They're addicted. Kinda why they're sold.' Asked about the now-infamous blackface episode, Slattery recalled his initial hesitation when he got the script. 'I felt like, well, this is probably something that occurred, and it's probably something that this character would have done,' he said. 'And then I got all dressed up in the outfit and got in the van and rolled to the set. And the first person I saw when I got to the set was a very large African-American Los Angeles motorcycle cop who was helping me open the door.' Hamm acknowledged the show dealt with issues that are 'problematic,' adding 'That's how we learn,' he said. 'It's a wonderful thing to learn. ... We had to lean into the good, the bad, and the ugly of all of it, and understand that in this lens of the now, and part of it was representation of Black people in the '60s. Why aren't there any black people in here? There are you just don't see them because they were not seen. That's not great. But the versatility of it is there. And the show ended up dealing with all of those issues as uncomfortable as they made those characters.' Hawley asked the actors about the feeling of the show being about "we don't understand this world anymore," as the '50s transitioned abruptly into the '60s. ("I wonder what that's like," quipped Hamm.) "There's a moment when Don puts on a Beatles album and just is like, 'This is garbage. I don't get this, what is this nonsense?'" said Hamm. "People have to understand, Frank Sinatra was still on the top 10 list when the Beatles were selling records. It was very much a a crash of the Eisenhower era and the new era." He pointed to the 1966 Best Picture nominees, which included The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, Camelot — and Dr. Dolittle. Having worked with Hamm on Fargo, Hawley asked him about his creative process with Weiner, and what conversations they had about the inconsistencies in Don Draper, 'At a certain point, he's this person because at the very base of him, as we find out over the course of seven seasons, he is not the person who he says he is,' he said. 'His foundation is profoundly fake.' Hamm revealed that the first-season episode '4G,' where we meet Dick Whitman's brother, was written in response to a note from AMC asking for more understanding of Don's behavior. 'There is certainly that mercurial nature to Don. And he's searching, as he is over the course the of the of the 92 episodes for what is the truth? Who is he at the end of it? He ends up on a cliff at the end of the things — but on a cliff in a good way.' As for Roger Sterling, 'Those scripts were so well-crafted that there weren't a lot of questions as to how to play those scenes,' said Slattery. Slattery said they often learned what was coming up in table reads, calling them 'electric.' He recounted the season three episode with the schoolteacher. 'There's like 35 people with scripts, and everybody turns the page at the same time. 'Exterior, and the schoolteacher's still sitting in the car,' and everybody's like, 'Oh my God!' Everybody had forgotten that the schoolteacher was still sitting outside. It was incredible. So that's how we would find stuff out.' The actors also praised their costars at length, including Christina Hendricks (Joan), January Jones (Betty), and Elisabeth Moss (Peggy), and the characters they embodied. 'It was an amazing thing to watch Peggy's ascendancy and confidence and place in the world, not just of the agency, but in the world of the business, in the world of the culture, in the world of New York City — the comfort level from being a bridge-and-tunnel kid to fully owning being a Manhattanite was amazing,' said Hamm. 'It was so definitely handled, and those actresses especially just f--king crushed it in every in every possible way.' Best of GoldDerby 'I cried a lot': Rob Delaney on the heart and humor in FX's 'Dying for Sex' — and Neighbor Guy's kick in the 'zone' TV directors roundtable: 'American Primeval,' 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,' 'Paradise' 'Paradise' directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra on the 'chaos' of crafting 'the world coming to an end' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jon Hamm on Consuming So Many Fake Cigarettes and Onion Water ‘Vodkas' for ‘Mad Men': ‘Oh, The Breath Was Lovely!'
Ten years after 'Mad Men' wrapped, stars Jon Hamm and John Slattery still have fond memories of the landmark AMC drama. Well, perhaps except for the smoking. And the onion water. Reuniting Saturday at Austin's ATX TV Festival. Hamm and Slattery spoke to moderator Noah Hawley (who worked with Hamm on the most recent season of 'Fargo') about the legacy of the show, how it still resonates with both them and their fans — and yes, all those cigarettes. More from Variety Candice Bergen to Appear on 'Shrinking' Opposite Harrison Ford and Fellow Guest Star Michael J. Fox, Says Co-Creator Bill Lawrence 'King of the Hill' Revival First Details: Hank and Peggy Are Retired, Bobby's a Dallas Chef, Dale Was Briefly Arlen's Mayor and More 'Your Friends and Neighbors' Season 2 Will Explore Mel's Darker Side and How Far Coop Will Take His Criminal Lifestyle: 'We're Not Going Down the Walter White Road' That couldn't have been good for you, Hawley said. Replied Hamm: 'Oh, it was not. Yeah, I think somebody did a count, and in the pilot alone, I spoke 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.' Because 'Mad Men' was shot in Los Angeles but took place in New York, much of the filming was done indoors. 'We didn't go outside, which was awesome and not awesome,' Hamm said. 'The whole thing, the whole stage is full of fake cigarette smoke.' Slattery noted that the fake cigarettes meant that they were smoking rose petals and marshmallow. While that may sound nice, it wasn't. Then, add to that what was used to replicate a vodka martini: A glass of water with onion in it. 'Oh, the breath was lovely,' quipped Hamm. Slattery pointed out that the 'vodka' was fake, but the onion was very real. 'Pop another pearl onion in your glass of water, and then smoke 26 more fake cigarettes and it's 9:30 in the morning!' he said. At least it was slightly better than smoking real cigarettes — something that Hamm said 'some of the younger actors' tried to do while shooting the 'Mad Men' pilot. 'They were like, 'We're gonna smoke real cigarettes. We really want to, feel it and do it,' ' Hamm recalled. 'And I was like, 'let me know how that goes.' And within three days, they were yellow and sallow. This is a terrible idea.' Hawley pointed out that it's similar to another trick that actors soon learn: Take very small bites when eating food on camera, since you'll be doing it over and over again. 'And move [the food] around the plate,' Hamm added. 'We can't all be Brad Pitt. Would that we could!' Cigarettes, of course, were an important part of setting the scene for what it was like to be an advertising exec on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s. 'I remember at some point, having a conversation with the executives at AMC,' Hamm said. 'They said, 'Do they have to smoke?' That was like, Are you fucking kidding me? Yes, they literally have to. They're addicted to cigarettes. It's kind of why they're sold. They're super popular!' During the panel, Hamm reminisced about how much 'Mad Men' changed his life. 'I started that when I was 35 years old. Went right through to the age of 45,' he said. 'So it's kind of a transitional moment in life and time. Our real lives happen, relationships started and ended, and people had babies, got married and got divorced, and all this shit happened in the real world. It almost seemed displaced from that in a lot, in a weird way, because so much of working on the show was stepping into a time capsule for real. 'If you guys could jump back in time and visit the set, it literally was picture perfect,' he added. '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. But the amount of work we put into it feels commensurate with the amount of love we're getting back, which is a nice feeling as well. So that's pretty awesome. I mean, to be sitting here at this incredible festival talking about something you did a decade ago, and have this many people show up just to hear it is tremendous.' Slattery had a similar reflection on his 'Mad Men' experience. 'It felt like a parallel life,' he said. 'There were about six months a year we would do this, and then we would go away. For a couple of years there we were pretty sure we were going to do it again. And to be in the hands of those writers and those designers and those other actors, you had this incredibly intimate relationship with these people that was not your real life. But was just as real and just as demanding and complicated. Yeah, it was all fake, and we went home at the end of the day, but it was such a gift. I think, to pretty much a person, we clocked that right away.' Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Zoey Deutch's celebrity hall pass movie will somehow involve Jon Hamm, John Slattery
Jon Hamm, John Slattery, and Zoey Deutch are gearing up for a Wet Hot Hollywood Summer. The three actors have signed on for a new R-rated comedy from Wet Hot American Summer director, David Wain, Variety reports. While the film doesn't have an official title as of this writing—it's currently being referred to as 'Untitled Celebrity Pass Movie'—the concept does leave lots of room for high jinks. Variety describes the project as an 'off-the-rails odyssey through modern day Hollywood.' While The Studio (which was just renewed!) has off-the-rails Tinseltown journeys in the bag, it seems like the new film will explore a different side of the industry. The story reportedly follows 'a Midwestern bride-to-be, Gail Daughtry (Deutch), [who] has a celebrity hall pass agreement with her fiancé… who uses it. Their relationship in crisis, Gail sets out on an epic journey through Hollywood to even the scales.' Wain is writing the script with frequent collaborator Ken Marino, who's also set to appear in front of the camera. The film will also serve as a reunion for Hamm and Slattery, who previously collaborated on both Mad Men and Slattery's 2023 directorial debut, Maggie Moore(s). Other supporting cast members include Sabrina Impacciatore, Ben Wang, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley. The film is being produced by banners Likely Story and Oval-5, in addition to Wain, Marino, Hamm, Deutch, and Slattery. 'I have been excited about working with David for 25 years since I read what I thought was the funniest script of all time, Wet Hot American Summer,' Anthony Bregman, a producer for Likely Story, said in a statement. 'Now, years later, I am happy to now be working with him and Ken on the only script that's ever made me laugh harder.' That's a big claim to make regarding a movie that features H. Jon Benjamin as a talking can of vegetables, not to mention this perfect comedic moment. Wain and co. just have to queue up 'Higher And Higher' and get the job done. More from A.V. Club
Reuters
30-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Electric plane maker Heart Aerospace moves to US in blow to Sweden
OSLO, April 30 (Reuters) - Hybrid-electric airplane maker Heart Aerospace will relocate its headquarters and operations to Los Angeles from Sweden's Gothenburg, in a bid to boost its product development in the United States, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Heart Aerospace is developing a regional electric aircraft capable of carrying 30 passengers, targeting a niche market between smaller battery-powered transport and larger regional turboprops or small jets. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. "Heart has decided to close its operations in Sweden to enable a bigger scale up of the U.S.-based team," the company said, dealing a blow to Swedish hopes of leading a transition to electric aircraft for regional travel. A total of 75 jobs will go in Sweden as a result, the company said. An experimental prototype known as the X1 is scheduled for its maiden flight this year and will be followed later by the X2, the company said, adding that its customers, partners, and investors were increasingly based in the United States. "By consolidating our operations in Los Angeles, we can accelerate development, strengthen collaboration, and better position Heart Aerospace for the future," co-founder and CEO Anders Forslund said. The company raised $107 million in a funding round in 2024 and recently secured an additional $40 million investment, it added. Former GE Aerospace executive John Slattery, who was appointed Heart's non-executive chairman in 2023, separately said it was the right time for him to step down, although he would remain an investor. "This pivot from Gothenburg is a shift in strategy and in any startup there will be such moves, but I'm pleased with what we achieved over the last couple of years," he told Reuters. The hybrid-electric plane, which will be known as ES-30, will have an all-electric range of 200 km (124 miles), a hybrid engine range of 800 km and a 30-minute charge time, with the aim of certifying the model in 2029, according to Heart's website. Company President Simon Newitt is also stepping down from Heart, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
