Tag star Jon Hamm talks friendship, loss and life after Don Draper

HE will forever be known as Mad Men’s dark and brooding Don Draper, but childhood friends and a sense of fun have made Jon Hamm Mr Versatility.

HE will forever be known as Mad Men’s dark and brooding Don Draper, but childhood friends and a sense of fun have made Jon Hamm Mr Versatility. He talks friendship, loss and life after Don Draper.

Your new movie Tag is based on the true story of a bunch of grown men who have been playing the same game of tag for decades — what did you like about that idea?

I really just loved how joyous these guys are. For an R-rated comedy there is no cynicism in it, there’s no politics, it’s just an expression of genuine friendship and play and it really does tap into that youthful sense of exuberance and exhilaration and it reminds me of being a kid. That’s definitely what these guys get out of it. The real guys, who we met, have so much of that kid-like energy, it’s just infectious and you realise they must be living a pretty good life.

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Do you really have to bring your A-game in a big ensemble comedy like this?

You definitely have to stay on your toes around people like (Ed) Helms and Jake (Johnson) and Hannibal (Buress) and Isla (Fisher) — it was a tricky group and a fun group. I knew most of those people going in so it was pretty easy to play friends and people who had a history together. They’d call cut and nobody would run back to their trailer, you’d just hang out and try to bust each other up a little bit and have a good time. It was an absolute joy to work on.

Jon Hamm in a scene from Tag.

The key idea in Tag is that we don’t stop playing because we get old — we get old because we stop playing. Is that good rule to live by?

I think it is, and I hope that people take that away from it that you can tap into so much energy and goodwill in life just by remembering that joy you got when you were a kid and going out and running around. It’s a lesson that a lot of people tend to forget — but when you look at the actual footage of the real guys playing, you couldn’t knock the smile off their faces.

Is that one reason you turned your hand to comedy, especially after playing the brooding, dour, buttoned-down Don Draper on Mad Men for so long?

It’s certainly part of it. I tend to pick jobs using various criteria but mostly it’s ‘would I want to see this movie?’. I have wildly eclectic tastes so I have a wildly eclectic sort of career as well. So I am fortunate enough to have credibility on both sides of the aisle, in the comedy world and the drama world. I am ever grateful to (Saturday Night Live boss) Lorne Michaels and Tina Fey for giving me a chance early on in my career to not just be thought of as a brooding, dark character. That part’s been really fun and it’s been fun to tap back into that whether it’s on Kimmy Schmidt or doing Bridesmaids or doing Tag.

Is it particularly important to stay in touch with your oldest friends, when you are working in Hollywood when everyone wants a piece of you?

Yes — you spend so much time in this business with your guard up and you don’t want to say the wrong thing or piss off the wrong person and with your friends you can just sort of exhale and be a normal person. So much of being recognisable or a celebrity or is out of your control. You have other people defining you or judging you or telling you that you’re wearing the wrong colour clothes or your haircut is stupid or whatever — especially with the advent of the social media world and the anonymous trolls who can be just poisonous and evil — and when you check in with your actual friends you get the straight talk.

Tag’s ensemble cast includes Annabel Wallis, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, Ed Helms, Isla Fisher and Hannibal Buress.

Were those close friendships particularly important having lost your parents quite young?

Absolutely. Having lost both my parents at a relatively young age, I depended on my friends and my friends’ families to become surrogates in my life. My friends’ parents, who I am still very close with, I got a text from one of my friend’s mum today and another a couple of days back. It’s a lovely thing and it reminds you that you are part of a community. Tragedies and bad things and tough times happen to all of us and it’s a measure of your community that it will support when you have no other option and I am tremendously indebted to my friends.

Sport has always been a big part of your life — was the teammate bond just as important as the activity itself?

Sure. I think there is a parallel to be made between acting and any kind of sport because you are relying on your scene partner or your teammate. I have played American football and baseball — I still play baseball, in fact I am missing a game right now — and I have long since left my ability to play at my top level at such an advanced age. Obviously you play to win, but it’s not the only reason you play — you play because you want to get together with the group of people and you want to get outside and get moving, you want to contribute and you don’t want to let your teammates down. All that stuff — those are the lessons that make you a better person and I think this movie celebrates that.

Hamm at the Tag world premiere in Los Angeles, California. Picture: AFP

Hamm and Tag cast-mate Jeremy Renner at the NBA finals. Picture: AP

At 47, how’s the body holding up?

I have had to do a little work on a few joints and muscles here and there but it’s holding up OK. I have been working out a lot recently because I have been staying in shape, mostly because I want to play ball. It’s a really good reminder that if you let it slip, it doesn’t bounce back as fast as it did when you are 25.

Was there ever a time sport could have been your career?

I definitely had some talent and maybe if I had really, really worked on it more intensely at an early age. Now it’s such a rigged game because you have to get so good so fast because kids are turning pro younger and younger. You look at the NHL or the NBA, these kids are 18 or 19 years old and going into the league playing with grown men and it’s a tricky thing. It’s happening in baseball too. But I pretty quickly realised that I probably didn’t have the talent to do anything serious with professional sports. One of my best friend’s dad played professional baseball and I just knew the amount of skill work they put into it was just at another level to where I was.

Tag opens tomorrow.

Originally published as Tag star Jon Hamm talks friendship, loss and life after Don Draper