After playing the taciturn Don Draper for eight years on one of the best TV series of all time – Mad Men – it is somewhat surprising that Jon Hamm has mostly appeared in comedy movies since then. He did manage to fit in one austere role recently however, as Admiral ‘Cyclone,’ in Top Gun: Maverick, who disapproves of Tom Cruise and his maverick ways.
After filming wrapped on Maverick, Hamm was quickly back to his favoured comedy in Confess Fletch, the first Fletch film to be made since 1989. Hamm steps into Chevy Chase’s shoes to play the titular investigative reporter in the comedic crime thriller. But in the dog-eat-dog world of independent filmmaking, there are always challenges. Director Greg Mottola told Uproxx that he had to fight to take the shooting schedule from 27 to 30 days.
“Basically, what we did is Jon (Hamm) gave back 60 percent of his salary to the budget. I gave back some of my salary, not as much as Jon because he’s richer than me and I’ve got three kids. And we bought three more days of shooting. We got it up to 30 days in Boston and one day in Rome.”
Glen Powell, who plays you-love-to-hate-him smug b’stard Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, says (via Twitter) that he’s not surprised by Hamm’s generosity when it came to getting Confess Fletch made. “As soon as we got to San Diego to shoot Top Gun: Maverick, Jon Hamm treated all the ‘young guns’ to dinner and let us know his trailer door was always open for advice or sports games. Hamm is a great teammate and this [the news of Hamm donating 60% of his salary to Confess Fletch] reminds me how cool it is to watch a legend put skin in the game.”
Powell has previously spoken of how much of a mentor Tom Cruise was, dispensing advice to the younger cast-members on Maverick too. It’s heart-warming to know that older stars are passing on their wisdom to the up-and-comers in the notoriously cutthroat industry.
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