It’s not too surprising to learn many movie bloggers aren’t fans of Mad Men. They’re movie geeks, not TV viewers, and they probably spend their Sunday nights re-watching favorite horror flicks and Dark KnightDVD extras. That’s why a lot of sites commenting on the news that Jon Hammis joining Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punchfocus on the movie and the Watchmendirector more than on the actor. Which is fine for now, even if it makes the casting decision seem questionable, because ultimately this career move is going to help Hamm acquire fanboy fans, and that’s one thing he needs in order to truly become the next George Clooney.
After all, Clooney’s first major film role after becoming a star on TV’s ER was Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s vampire picture From Dusk Till Dawn. And Snyder’s movie isn’t too far off, regardless of the fact none of us really know what Sucker Punch is going to be like other than maybe a Return to Oz knockoff. That movie will bring Hamm to Comic-Con, which will potentially gain him more followers who think he’d be perfect for a Supermanmovie (Clooney played Batman soon after FDTD). And so on.
Many Mad Men fans might prefer for Hamm to concentrate on dramatic roles as he segues into a movie career, but like Clooney, Hamm is likely better suited for genre films and silly comedies first. He certainly has shown he enjoys and can do comedic acting via 30 Rock, SNL and a FunnyorDie sketch that already got the geeks’ attention with his portrayal of Lex Luthor. Might he try being cast in a Coen Brothers film next? Or should he reconnect with the makers of The Ten and make David Wain & co. his goofball collaborators instead?
The only Clooney career step I’d like Hamm to avoid is the big budget, non-geek-centric action movie. He doesn’t need a Peacemakeror a Perfect Storm, and we kinda hope he got that sort of thing out of his system with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Plus, Hamm is already entering the film biz later than Clooney. When he was Hamm’s age, Clooney’d already made two of his best films, Out of Sightand Three Kings.
Let me know what kind of films you’d like to see Hamm do and what you think would be good for him to do. Before commenting, though, check out what some other film bloggers are saying about his latest film choice after the jump:
We at SpoutBlog love Jon Hamm tremendously, but we don’t get to write about him much because we’re primarily a film blog and don’t feature much discussion of either Mad Menor 30 Rock(we’ve slipped praise into posts hereandthere, of course). Fortunately for us, Hamm has made a new video for FunnyorDie.com, in which he references movies. Specifically, he portrays Lex Luthor and alludes to plot points from Superman: The Movie, Superman Returns and even Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
And as if this video (watch it after the jump) weren’t funny enough, we can now hopefully look forward to Hamm appearing in more Judd Apatow-related comedies — at least if the guys at Vulturehave any influence. Or, maybe Hamm could actually be cast in a future Supermanmovie (was this video a response to requests for Warner Bros. to make him the new Man of Steel?), as either hero or villain — or both!?!?
Again, check out the clip and what other bloggers (some TV bloggers, but whatever) are saying about it after the jump:
One of the biggest travesties about the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still is that Jon Hamm only has a bit part in it. Frankly, if he’d played Klaatu, this might have been a movie worth watching. He’s spent the last two years winning our hearts and wardrobes over as Don Draper on AMC’s Mad Men, and he’s worth a lot more than a small part in a science fiction remake.
WIth that in mind, here are five classic science fiction remakes that we’d like to see Jon Hamm take the helm in. If he brings along any of his television co-stars, that would bring some bonus points. But his slicked-back hair and calm demeanor don’t need any assistance. Check out the list after the break and hope that someone at a studio somewhere is paying attention.
I’m so glad this is online. Behold, Jon Hamm’s vocally impeccable James Mason impersonation, set within Saturday Night Live’s annual (I think? At least since Bill Hader joined the cast?) Vincent Price Halloween special. The first time I watched this, I laughed so hard I spit water all over my MacBook. Consider it my Halloween gift to you. Be good.
“Three episodes into this second season, Mad Men already has delineated the shadings between good and evil — between a sense of fairness and callousness — in a way far more profound than anything in The Dark Knight.”
That’s Steven Rosen, in a Cincinatti City Beat story in which he considers Don Draper, the protagonist of my beloved Mad Man, as “sort of dark knight himself,” and the “moral compass” of a world that may not have devolved into the violent chaos of Gotham, but underneath its outwardly controlled facade is melting into a soup of generational conflict and moral relativism.
Rosen cites the men of Mad Men’s various reactions to the 1962 crash of American Airlines’ Flight 2, the real-life event that inspires the fictional conflict driving Season 2’s second episode, as proof of his point:
The most notable DVD release of the week* has to be the first season of Mad Men, which hits the street tomorrow just in time for newbies to get caught up on the AMC series before season two premieres in late July (it’s been available on iTunes for quite some time). I went on YouTube looking for clips from my favorite episodes and found the above fan vid, which focuses on Betty Draper (January Jones), the miserable model-turned-housewife of mysterious ad man Don Draper. I love it, if for no other reason than that it really draws out the way the show takes mid-century cinematic archetypes and weds them to real-seeming, endlessly multi-faceted characterizations.
This clip specifically highlights Mad Men’s Hitchcock allusions: the slate-gray, Madeline Elster-esque suit that Betty wears to therapy; Don’s spying, here symbolized by his employment of a home movie camera like something out of a cross between Peeping Tom and Rear Window; and my favorite, Betty’s fateful encounter with a flock of birds.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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We at SpoutBlog love Jon Hamm tremendously, but we don’t get to write about him much because we’re primarily a film blog and don’t feature much discussion of either Mad Men or 30 Rock (we’ve slipped praise into posts here and there, of course). Fortunately for us, Hamm has made a new video for FunnyorDie.com, in which he references movies. Specifically, he portrays Lex Luthor and alludes to plot points from Superman: The Movie, Superman Returns and even Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
“Three episodes into this second season, Mad Men already has delineated the shadings between good and evil — between a sense of fairness and callousness — in a way far more profound than anything in 
