Jon Hamm at the Apple TV+ ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ New York Premiere at DGA New York Theater on … More
Jon Hamm loves a good opening title sequence, and his new Apple TV+ show, Your Friends and Neighbors, is no different.
“I’m not sure what the track is called, but I know it’s by a band called The Walkmen. It was fully Jonathan Tropper’s idea. He created this and is to get all the credit for that, and I love it,” the actor and executive producer explains. “Those things can go one of two ways. They can be forgettable or something that you don’t hit that little skip intro button. I have always been a big fan of Mad Men‘s incredible opening sequence, but I also liked shows like The Sopranos. It just gets you in the mood, and ours is no exception. Thank you for rightly calling it out. I also love it when shows like The Wire and The White Lotus change a little bit each season. Each season has its wrinkle on it, so it’s very cool.”
On the subject of The White Lotus, would he be down to join the HBO smash hit if an offer came up?
“It’s so funny that you mention that,” he laughs. “I actually know Mike White, and I had dinner with him the other night. Good Lord, what a gig. Go to the greatest hotels in the world and get paid? Okay, yeah, I’d do that.”
Your Friends and Neighbors sees Hamm play Andrew “Coop” Cooper, a hedge fund manager who is fired in disgrace while still coming to terms with a recent divorce. As everything he holds dear starts to slip away, he starts to steal from his affluent neighbors’ homes, uncovering secrets and affairs that put him in danger. Your Friends and Neighbors is now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes drop each Friday but you can watch the first one here for free.
‘Your Friends And Neighbors’ Hits All The Right Notes
While it’s not a musical show, music is cleverly woven into the narrative, with some deliciously on-the-nose needle drops.
“It wasn’t in the script,” he explains. “I’ve only really worked with one person who baked in musical cues, and that was Edgar Wright on Baby Driver, but Jonathan has a tremendous ear for all of this. It’s part of what makes him a gifted storyteller and a really wonderful filmmaker. Honestly, those things are his, the music supervisors and the composer’s world, and all of those things you’re right to point out because they serve to make the environment much more lush and profound and rich in its experience.”
Even before the first episodes landed on Apple TV+, Your Friends and Neighbors was renewed for a second season. It’s the first time the streamer has done that.
“Somebody saw it at Apple and liked what they were seeing, but yes, it’s a wonderful honor,” Hamm confirms. “It is a tremendous vote of confidence, obviously, and honestly, they’ve never done it before, so we were the first one. It’s a tremendous feather in our cap. It means we’re doing something right. I’ve started to read the scripts, and I think I’m on number eight of ten for season two, and I’m thrilled at where the story is going.”
John Hamm cases a lavish home in ‘Your Friends and Neighbors.’
One of the many things Your Friends and Neighbors does brilliantly is examine the precarious practice of making what you do for a living into your whole identity. As Hamm’s Coop discovers, putting all your eggs in one basket can have devastating consequences when things change unexpectedly.
“If you lose your job, who are you? Not only do you not have a way to earn money, provide, make ends meet, and meet your obligations, but what does it say about who you are? That’s a big question,” the Landman actor and Top Gun: Maverick actor muses. “I’ve always been an actor. That’s the one job I’ve had consistently throughout my life, except for being a teacher, a waiter, and a bartender. The majority of my hopes and dreams were invested in being an actor. Even when I wasn’t making money as an actor, I still considered myself an actor, so it’s a little bit different for us in the creative world. We can still do what we’re doing even when we’re not getting paid for it, but for Coop, it’s a more difficult transition.”
But is the light-fingered Coop a good guy or a bad guy?
“He might have bad elements, but he’s not the worst guy. He’s a good guy trapped in a bad situation,” Hamm explains. “Part of what makes him relatable and worth rooting for is the fact that he didn’t cause this situation to happen to him. That’s what people can relate to. Not everybody can relate to having a $300,000 mortgage or fixing their $200,000 car, but everybody can relate to losing their job and not really understanding how next month’s bills will be paid. That’s the way in for a lot of people on the show to really understand what Coop is going through.”
“There is the old adage, ‘How do you go bankrupt?’ Well, you go bankrupt very slowly, and then all of a sudden. That’s how it happens, especially in our current culture, where we’ve decided that taking care of people who are less fortunate is somehow seen as a sign of societal weakness rather than strength. I hope we get back to understanding that it’s okay to take care of the less fortunate among us as a society and that it is helpful rather than hurtful.”
The problems start here. Jon Hamm and Kitty Hawthorne in ‘Your Friends and Neighbors.’
Jon Hamm Connected With ‘Your Friends And Neighbors’
There’s something about Coop’s plight and moral compass that reminds Hamm of when he was trying to find his feet in Hollywood.
“When I first moved to LA, I was a volunteer for a thing called Project Angel Food, which was delivering meals to homebound AIDS patients,” The Morning Show actor recalls. “It was a phenomenal way to put everything in perspective and a great way to learn how to get around Los Angeles. It was doing good deeds, and I think more people should volunteer their time. I remember standing in line behind Justine Bateman. She was the first celebrity I met in Los Angeles.”
Your Friends and Neighbors lands just a few weeks shy of the tenth anniversary of the final episode of Mad Men, the show that made Hamm famous, airing on AMC. Does he have any plans to mark the occasion now or in the future?
“It’s a nice milestone for sure,” he says. “It doesn’t feel like it has been ten years. I don’t feel ten years older, I’ll put it that way, but I guess a decade has elapsed. I know that ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas, is doing a panel discussion of some sort. I’m sure other things will come up, but I don’t know the specifics other than that.”
With a string of projects, including Disney Pixar’s Hoppers and the horror film Off Season, already in his immediate future, is there room for a sequel to his 2022 Fletch reboot, Confess, Fletch?
“We have a script for the second one. We shopped it around, but nobody wants to make it,” Hamm laments. “If you know anybody with $30 million, let me know, and I’ll make another one for you. I loved it. I’ve had so many people you know from. Many people have mentioned it, from former President Obama to David Zaslav at Warner Brothers to Ted Sarandos. Everybody loved that movie, but no one wants to make another one, so I don’t know. Find me $30 million, and we’ll do it.”
