Jon Hamm on smoking too many fake cigarettes for ‘Mad Men’
Ten years after “Mad Men” was packed, stars Jon Hamm and John Slattery still have good memories of the Milesta AMC drama. Well, maybe except smoking. And the onion water.
REARN SATURDAY at Austin’s ATX TV Festival. Hamm and Slattery spoke with moderator Noah Hawley (who worked with Hamm on the most recent season of “Fargo”) about the inheritance of the show, how things still resonate with both them and their fans – and yes, all those cigarettes.
That could not have been good for you, Hawley said. Hamm replied: “Oh, it wasn’t. Yes, I think someone did a count, and only in the pilot I spoke 75 cigarettes … they are fake cigarettes, but that just means that there is no nicotine in it. It doesn’t mean you don’t burn something.”
Because “Mad Men” was shot in Los Angeles, but took place in New York, much of filming was done indoors. “We didn’t go outside, which was great and not great,” said Hamm. “The whole thing, the whole stage is full of fake cigarette smoke.”
Slattery noted that the fake cigarettes meant that they smoked with rose petals and marshmallow. Although that may sound nice, it wasn’t. Then add what was used to replicate a vodka Martini: a glass of water with onion in it.
“Oh, the breath was beautiful,” Hamm joked.
Slattery pointed out that the “vodka” was fake, but the onion was very real. “Pop a pearl in your glass of water and then 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 that “some of the younger actors” tried to do while photographing the pilot “mad men”.
“They were:” We’re going to smoke real cigarettes. We really want to feel and do it, “Hamm remembered.” And I had something like: “Let me know how that goes.” And within three days they were yellow and faded.
Hawley pointed out that it is similar to another trick that actors learn quickly: take very small snacks when eating food on the camera, because you will keep it over and over again.
And move [the food] Around the plate, “Hamm added.” We can’t all be Brad Pitt. We could do that! ‘
Cigarettes were of course an important part of setting the scene for what it was like to be an advertisement -Exec on Madison Avenue in the early sixties.
“I remember that at some point I had a conversation with the managers at AMC,” said Hamm. “They said,” Do they have to smoke? “That was like, are you damn fooling?
During the panel, Hamm reminded how many ‘mad people’ changed his life. “I started that when I was 35 years old. Went until the age of 45,” he said. “So it’s a kind of moment of transition in life and time. Our real life happened, relationships started and ended, and people had babies, married and went divorced, and all this shit happened in the real world. It almost seemed like a strange way, because so much of working on the show stepped in a time capsule.
“If you could jump back in time and visit the set, it was literally photo perfect,” he added. “If you are in gear and smoke cigarette and look out of the fake window, the fake hanging part of Midtown, it was credible. It is clearly a great honor, and it is great to have worked on and to contribute to something that lasts so long. That is pretty great.
Slattery had a similar reflection on his ‘Mad Men’ experience. “It felt like a parallel life,” he said. “Er waren ongeveer zes maanden per jaar dat we dit zouden doen, en dan zouden we verdwijnen. Een paar jaar lang waren we er vrij zeker van dat we het nog een keer zouden doen. En om in handen te zijn van die schrijvers en die ontwerpers en die andere acteurs en die andere acteurs, had je deze ongelooflijk intieme relatie met deze mensen die niet zo echt was en het was zo echt en was zo echt en was zo echt en was zo echt. Denk aan, voor vrijwel een persoon, hebben we dat meteen Clocked.
