It’s a
white heterosexual man’s world in the AMC series
Mad Men, set in 1960s Manhattan. But that world
is somehow less oppressive with a handsome star like Jon
Hamm calling the shots. He won a Golden Globe and is
nominated for an Emmy for his leading role as
hard-drinking, chain-smoking, skirt-chasing advertising exec
Don Draper. Here, the 37-year-old former prep school
drama teacher explains why he’s just mad about
men like costar Bryan Batt, Massachusetts congressman
Barney Frank, and especially Keanu Reeves.
I hear you’ve had a long day of back-to-back
interviews, but hopefully this will be your gayest one ever.
I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve had
some pretty gay interviews before, my friend.
Congratulations on your Emmy nomination. But
what’s an Emmy when you’ve won the title
of Salon.com’s Sexiest Man Living?
[Laughs] I would suggest that those are
two very different feelings. There’s been a
crazy amount of completely unexpected publicity and
attention for the whole ride. It’s interesting
that it all started happening after the first season of Mad
Men aired. Nobody really watched it, but the
tastemakers and the right people saw it. Fortunately
we live in a world now where you can get it on demand or
on iTunes or on DVD, so the snowball effect happened, and I
couldn’t be happier.
How would you create a Mad Men ad campaign geared
specifically to the gay community?
Well, it’s a very high-drama show, and
it’s very stylish. Three things that the gay
community responds to are attitude, sexiness, and style.
We’re a prime property for a big gay
following—I love it.
We’re an easy sell, Jon -- just show us some skin.
[Laughs] I don’t know about that. I
don’t know if you want me anywhere near any
kind of skin thing -- that’s a nightmare.
You could enlist the help of Bryan Batt, who plays
Salvatore, the closeted ad man.
Yeah, what an amazing and complex role, and it gets even
better and deeper in season 2. It’s not a joke,
a stereotype, or a sort of queeny, campy whatever.
He’s just a real guy. He’s actually based on a
real guy who was closeted throughout the ’60s
and worked in the advertising industry. As a gay man,
Bryan does a wonderful job with it, but I’d take
that part in a heartbeat—gay, straight, or
indifferent.
What would happen if Salvatore came out?
I think it would be devastating to him,
career-wise and culturally, as an Italian man with an
Italian family. This is before Stonewall, even. And
we’re not talking about the Midwest; this is New
York, the cultural capital of the world, and it was
still a very closeted time, so I think it would be
tremendously challenging for him to come out. Now, in 10
more years, in 1972? Then it’s a different
story.
Your character, Don, is kind of a slut. Any chance
of he and Salvatore hooking up on the sly?
[Laughs] I don’t think Don swings
that way, but in 10 more years, who knows? The
swingin’ ’70s.
With 0 being exclusively straight and 6 exclusively
gay, where does Don fall on the Kinsey scale?
Well, I don’t think anybody’s a
pure 0. He’s a heterosexual man, but I think
sexuality runs along a continuum. The big thing now is the
man crush -- I love this new phrase, which tries to
butch up the idea as much as possible. But guys like
guys all the time. They don’t necessarily want
to have sex with them, but they have relationships with male
friends. No one’s a 0 and no one’s a 6;
I’m pretty sure of that.
Who’s your man crush?
Man, Matt Weiner, who wrote this goddamn
thing… [John] Slattery, who’s
fuckin’ genius on it… I have tons of men who
have inspired me in my life.
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