These photos aren’t doing Jon Hamm justice. But to be fair, a bad photo of The Hamm is still one of the most awesome things you’ll ever behold. Plus, I think The Hamm/Don Draper is supposed to look like hell in these photos – Draper is going through hell on the show, and he’s supposed to be looking his age (and beyond) because of all of the hard living, drinking and whoring. But… when The Hamm puts on that suit and slicks back his hair and especially when he leans back in a chair and puts his arm back…like the iconic image from the posters, etc – well, there’s really nothing better. Don is such an “American” character. That’s what I always think. This is such a quintessentially American show, and the Draper character is our American darkness, while still being one of the best things about America. Sorry to go off on that tangent. My bad.

My mom and I were discussing Mad Men a few days ago, and talking about The Hamm and how good he looks in a suit, and she mentioned the infamous last episodes in Season 3, where we saw Draper in casual wear and he looked like a f-cking model. He was wearing chinos and a dark brown v-neck sweater, and it was pornographic in its sexiness. My mom said, “They should find a way to bring back that brown V-neck.”

Anyway, just a few more excerpts from Mad Men’s Rolling Stone cover story… The Hamm on Draper:

“I don’t really have that much in comparison to the way Don holds himself,” Jon Hamm, 39, tells the mag. “I’m not that guy. I don’t really look like that.”

He added, “Part of it is the suit, but another part is a choice. This is a person who takes himself very seriously at work, a guy who’s going to walk in and command a room. I’m not that way in real life. I don’t grab the mic.”

Hamm said he had seven tests and zero jobs before landing the “Mad Men” part. He told Rolling Stone that finding work as an actor helps him relate to Don Draper. “My life at the time was trying to get a job. Talk about ruthless — being an actor in L.A. and not working is nothing but hustling. I just really responded to it on some visceral level, and that may have been what Matt [Weiner] picked up on. That may be why the character resonates coming from me.”

[From Wonderwall]

At times, The Hamm has said that he brings lightness to a character which, on the page, could go very, very dark. I can see that – because Draper is a son of a bitch, honestly. It’s only because The Hamm plays him so honestly, and because The Hamm is so gorgeous that we forgive Draper. Plus, we get to see every side of Don, which the other characters in the Mad Men universe don’t get to see.

The Hamm on the set of Mad Men on September 1, 2010. Credit: Bauer-Griffin.

It’s about time! Why has Mad Men never taken the cover of Rolling Stone before? Too retro? Not rock n’ roll enough? But with the new season officially entering the Swingin’ 60s (it’s now 1965 in the Mad Men universe), perhaps it’s time. But what’s with the cover? My first reaction: THE HAMM!!! My second reaction: BOOBS. Third reaction: Why does everyone look so strange? Photoshop, my loves. Final reaction: who do I have to blow to get Jon Slattery on the cover?!? Here’s a little teaser from the article:

In the opening scene of the new season of Mad Men, an interviewer asks Draper, “Who is Don Draper?” Rather than confess the truth — that he’s a flimflam man who fabricated his whole identity from a dead Korean War officer and built his entire life on a lie en route to a Madison Avenue advertising career — Draper merely takes a drag on his cigarette. “I’m from the Midwest,” he says. “We were taught it’s not polite to talk about yourself.”

In a sense, Mad Men is Weiner’s attempt to figure out this question for himself. He has created an elaborate pageant of American fantasies — guys and dolls who look like they have it all, even when their private worlds are complete frauds. The advertising wizards of Mad Men swagger through the office, knock back cocktails, knock back lovers. They live out JFK-era America’s tawdriest dreams, almost as if it’s a professional code — to sell these dreams to America, they have to experience them from the inside, with all their inherent betrayal and manipulation.

After three seasons on AMC, a basic-cable network previously known for endless reruns of second-rate movies, Mad Men established a hold on America’s fantasy life like no show since The Sopranos.

“The big question the show is trying to answer through Don has to do with identity,” Weiner says. “Who am I? — It’s only the biggest theme in all of Western literature.”

To make it happen, Weiner assembled a cast he could relate to — veteran actors who had spent their careers toiling in relative obscurity. Jon Hamm, who plays Draper, had a few scenes in We Were Soldiers. January Jones, who plays his brittle and ethereal ex-wife, Betty, showed up in the third American Pie movie as Stifler’s love interest. Christina Hendricks, who rules the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce as Joan, appeared in a video for the Nineties rock band Everclear. Nobody wanted them. Today, everybody knows their names, everybody covets their careers, everybody wants to get next to them.

“If Rob Lowe had been cast in the part, it would have been different,” says Jon Hamm, on the set in L.A. “There was no backstory with me.”

There are all sorts of challenges thrown at her,” says Christina Hendricks of her character, sexy office manager Joan Holloway. “Horrific things. And she consistently pulls it together, cleans it up and moves forward. Sometimes she’s walking through mud, but she does it.”

Elisabeth Moss, who plays the ambitious career girl Peggy Olsen, has a touch of pride about the fact that Mad Men’s stars were relative unknowns before show creator Matthew Weiner put them to such brilliant use. “Matt always says that he basically hired a bunch of not-famous people, but people that had been working for a really long time.”

Weiner starts each season by having lunch with Hamm: “It’s a rare partnership. I always scribble something down that ends up in Episode 13.”

I fly very low on the radar,” says Hamm. “Mark Twain said it: ‘I’d rather say nothing and be thought an idiot than open my mouth and remove all doubt.’ Another Missouri boy, Mark Twain. The petulant, sh-tty movie-star mentality – that burns out pretty quick.”

[From Rolling Stone]

RS has a great behind-the-scenes photo shoot too – it’s here, online. I’m putting up some of my favorite photos. Sigh… I could spend all f-cking day looking at these photos and salivating over The Hamm. Too sweet. I think I want to marry this photo of My Hamm:

These are pretty sweet too – Jesus Christ, this man.

Slattery!!!

Photos courtesy of Rolling Stone’s online pictorial.

There were several hilarious bits from last night’s Emmys. One was the opening, which apparently came from the brain of Jimmy Fallon. Sidenote: He did a better job hosting than I expected. I hope he gets asked back, because he did a decent job and he deserves a lot of credit for that. Anyway, Jimmy organized this hilarious opening starring some of Glee kids, Tina Fey, Betty White and my lovely Jon Hamm. This video is worth it just to see The Hamm shake his ass, honestly. But the whole thing is rather hilarious, especially the Kate Gosselin thing.

Also – I was in fits of laughter for the Modern Family thing – where they inserted George Clooney in an attempt to revamp the show. Clooney still has a great sense of humor to participate in this:

Okay, one more: Ricky Gervais is always awesome. His Mel Gibson joke is AWESOME. And we are all Bucky Gunts.

You know what pisses me off? When there are new photos of Jon Hamm and the photo agencies hide them! I didn’t even realize that The Hamm was in attendance for Saturday night’s Creative Arts Emmys (as Kathy Griffin says, “The Schmemmys”), which are the Emmys given out for the technical aspects of television, like makeup and editing and such. I had to look through the whole photo set to find My Hamm! Anyway… gradually, The Schmemmys have gotten increasingly A-List, and a handful of really cool people show up and support their technical peeps. The Hamm gets bonus points for showing up – granted, he was nominated for Guest Star (for 30 Rock), which he lost to Neil Patrick Harris. But The Hamm didn’t have to show! I love that he did, though. Such a gentleman.

Other Best Guest Star winners were Betty White (for SNL), Ann-Margret (for Law & Order: SVU) and John Lithgow (for Dexter). Here are some additional photos from the Schmemmys of Christina Hendricks (looking lovely in black, and with shorter hair), NPH and his baby-daddy, Lily Tomlin, Kathy Griffin and Kristin Chenoweth. Oh, and Alan Cumming looking… damn, I kind of want him in that cheesy blue plaid.

The Hamm photos, credit: WENN.

Hello, Lover. Do you need to be slapped? Here, let me help you. Do you need to be spanked? I could definitely help with that too. Anyway… Jon Hamm is the cover boy for this week’s Parade Magazine. The photo shoot… well, I’m never going to complain about photos of My Hamm. But Parade was aiming for “accessible” in these photos. They were trying to make him look like Mr. All-American Next-Door-Neighbor, when in truth, if The Hamm was your neighbor, I think you and I would be sitting vigil by his bathroom window, waiting for a just-out-of-shower Hamm to appear. *crosses legs*

Anyway, The Hamm interview. It’s good! The Hamm talks about his parents, the early Hamm Years, and, unfortunately for all of us, his girlfriend and how they’re probably never going to get married but he considers her “the love of his life” – WWAAAHHHH!

Parade: He’s nothing like the character he plays.
“[I'm] able to leave Don Draper at work. I’m quite dissimilar from him in real life.”

You won’t find him in Don’s usual buttoned-up ensemble.
“I realize how talented our hair and wardrobe people are every time I have to get dressed on my own.”

Hamm spent much of the 1990s driving to auditions that went nowhere and waiting tables to pay rent.
“I drove around in a Volkswagen Rabbit I shared with one of my roommates, and it didn’t have a roof. It doesn’t rain much in L.A., but when it did, it was utterly miserable.”

It took his breakthrough role as creative director of Mad Men’s fictional ad agency for his success to go supernova.
“I loved the original script, but I thought, ‘Who’s going to watch this kind of show on some random cable channel?’”

People now recognize Hamm in the darnedest places.
“Jen and I were in Italy this year and we were looking at Michelangelo’s sculpture of David when we noticed people staring at us and talking about Mad Men. I thought, ‘People, there’s a great work of art here, and it’s the other way.’”

Hamm is grounded like that.
“Jon doesn’t have an ounce of attitude you sometimes hear about with actors,” says Mad Men creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner. “He is grateful for everything he’s got. He’s got a great personal life. Plus, he’s just fun to be around.”

Why co-star January Jones, who plays his TV wife, Betty Draper, relies on Jon.
“What we do on the show is so emotionally draining, we look to Jon to keep us all laughing.”

We’re still laughing at his Saturday Night Live appearances and recurring role on 30 Rock, where he plays Tina Fey’s impossibly handsome doctor neighbor.
Fey notes that “people were surprised to see how skilled he was at comedy. But, in fact, he’s a huge comedy nerd who loves to quote the movie Anchorman as much as we normal-looking people do.”

His late father, Dan, the owner of a trucking company, inspired his portrayal of Don.
“[His] smoking, drinking, and hard-living ways are pretty much my model for Don Draper.”

Dealing with the loss of his parents.
“Losing both parents at a young age gave me a sense that you can’t really control life–so you’d better live it while it’s here. I stopped believing in a storybook existence a long time ago. All you can do is push in a direction and see what comes of it.”

Or you can be pushed.
“I got into acting because my teachers kept nudging me into it. The power a teacher has to influence someone is so great. I can’t think of a profession I have more respect for.”

After moving to L.A. in 1995, Hamm went years without finding a solid acting job.
“I’d try out for parts on shows like Dawson’s Creek and people would say, ‘You should go up for the dad part,’ and I’d say, ‘But I’m the same age as the kid!’”

At a party in 1997, he met Westfeldt, best known for co-writing and starring in the 2001 comedy Kissing Jessica Stein. Later he helped her rehearse lines for an audition.
“She didn’t get the part, which may be my fault, but she got the guy.”

Why they’re not in a hurry to get married.
“I don’t have the marriage chip, and neither of us have the greatest examples of marriages in our families. But Jen is the love of my life, and we’ve already been together four times longer than my parents were married.”

Nor is he rushing to have children.
“I like kids but I also like the option to close the door. Becoming a parent is a whole other life, and it doesn’t stop.”

How he and Westfeldt deal with the attention he gets as a sex symbol.
“That kind of stuff is only present if you give it attention. If it’s not reflected back, it goes away. It’s not like I’m Justin Bieber or anything.”

He appreciates being able to stretch beyond his Mad Men part with films like The Town and Howl.
“I feel so fortunate to be able to play Don Draper, but I do it 13 hours a year on television. That’s plenty.”

[From Parade]

Thirteen hours a year is not “plenty”. I WANT MORE HAMM. I want more hooker slaps, I want more Don Draper Casuals (like in the Kennedy assassination story line last year), I want more shirtless Draper, I want more Don & Peggy. And Roger too. And Joan. I would like another 13 hours of television devoted to Don, Joan, Peggy and Roger. Send them on vacation. Film them in Hawaii.

As for Jennifer Westfeldt and her being the love of Jon’s life… Jesus. This man. I would pretty much do anything to live as Westfeldt for a week. Also: I loved the line about The Bieb. F-ck me, The Hamm is funny.

Parade photos courtesy of Parade online.

*This entire post is a SPOILER for the premiere episode of Mad Men’s Season 4, which aired last night*

If I don’t write about last night’s premiere episode of Mad Men, I’m going to go crazy. It was so good, I couldn’t even get to sleep last night. It was so good, my mother called me in the middle of it so we could discuss how delicious Jon Hamm is. For AMC’s video recap, below:

That recap did tend to focus on the business of Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Price, which is fine. I love the business-related parts of the show too. But the recap missed my two favorite parts. First of all: DON DRAPER LIKES IT ROUGH. Dear God, he hired a hooker (on Thanksgiving!) and paid her to smack him around. Literally. She was on top of him and he said, “You know what I want” and she slapped him over and over as she was on top of him. It was SO HOT. Jesus. That’s the real reason I couldn’t get to sleep. My second favorite part were the scenes between Peggy and Don – they just adore each other so much, and those two actors just play so beautifully with each other. Oh, I just remembered another favorite Draper scene – when he’s in the backseat of the taxi with the girl, and he leans in for the kiss. HOT DAMN.

I just love this show so much. I’m hopelessly addicted. I’m a Lohan for Mad Men.

Any other thoughts, Hamm-holics?

Mad Men photos courtesy of AMC. Additional photo of The Hamm courtesy of WENN.

Yes, I am a Jolie lover, and I’m excited about seeing Salt this weekend. But can I tell you what I’m really excited for? The premiere episode of Mad Men, which comes on this Sunday. The world is really going to stop for me on Sunday evening as I prepare to have my mind blown by Mad Men. Speaking of blowing (in the good oral sex way, which is how I like to imagine him), Jon Hamm hasn’t been doing that much press for the new season, but he did appear on Jimmy Kimmel earlier this week (LaineyGossip had the clips), and The Hamm (My Hamm) also did an interview for Time Magazine – with questions submitted by fans. Can you imagine the poor bastard who had to cull through those submissions? I imagine they involved lots of proposals of marriage, still-damp panties, locks of hair, and explicit sexual fan-fic involving – just off the top of my head – an orgy with The Hamm, John Slattery and Cristina Hendricks on the floor of a suite in the Ritz.

So, The Hamm answered the questions and… God, I just love him. He talks like an adult, you know? Like a man who has lived in the world and learned hard truths and knows how to treat people with respect, like a professional and like a good person. He’s someone who cares about the work – a lot – and yet he doesn’t go on and on about the work and how important he is. I just love him:

Is Mad Men really about men or about women?
I’ll give a lame answer: both. There are at least three phenomenal female characters on our show in Peggy, Joan and Betty. It’s very much about how they are dealing with this world that these men nominally run. I don’t think you can have a show about men that doesn’t deal with women. But the overarching presences are the men.

Don can be a cad at times. What do you think are his redeeming qualities?
You have to understand that Don is an incredibly damaged human being, had a terrible childhood. What he has accomplished, he has accomplished through the strength of his own will and his own ambition. I think that’s what resonates throughout the show. It’s a constant striving to be better. He fails, and he makes bad decisions. He’s not a superhero by any stretch of the imagination.

Do you think Don would be as popular if he had to pay for his crimes, so to speak?
I think in many ways Don has had to pay for his crimes. Certainly not in the literal sense, but definitely karmically. His dishonesty with his family and with himself has come back to reap dividends, and not in a good way.

What qualities do you think men lack today that were present in those from the Mad Men era?
There’s a cordialness that men had when dealing with the opposite sex, even when they were being blatantly sexist. It’s a weird conundrum. But that’s been replaced with men treating women like absolute garbage and not even being polite about it, which is too bad.

What’s your view on how the show has dealt with the racial and political issues of the ’60s?
We’ve dealt with them in an honest way. I’ve read reviews that take us to task for not having more African Americans or dealing with gay issues or women’s issues. And I think that criticism is fundamentally flawed because the show is not a travelogue through the ’60s. It’s about very specific people in a very specific place at a very specific time. That comes with warts and all.

You have twice hosted Saturday Night Live and guest-starred on 30 Rock. Which do you prefer — dramatic or comedic roles?
They’re both fun. Believe it or not, it is actually fun to do the hard, emotional, dramatic stuff too. It’s part of why I like being an actor.

Has playing Don Draper influenced your personal style?
I’m more conscious of what goes into dressing up. My personal style is not quite up to snuff with Mad Men. But the difference between a nice suit and a suit that isn’t tailored to fit you is significant. It’s very much a statement about a person who’s ready to look like he’s in control of a situation.

Are you concerned about becoming typecast as Don Draper?
I think it’s more of a concern of just being the guy in the suit in the period piece. It may be hard for other people — as the show becomes more popular — to see me and not see Don. But the challenge of being an actor is being able to create another persona and portray that accurately.

Are those real cigarettes you’re smoking on camera?
They are not. They are a blend of some kind of herbs and spices that burn and look like real cigarettes. But there’s no nicotine or tar.

How do you get your hair to stay so perfectly coiffed on the show? I’m trying to replicate it on my husband.
Have your husband come into hair and makeup, and they will load it up with about three pounds of hair spray and gel, and it won’t move. It is locked down. Crispy.

[From Time Magazine]

Is there really anything else to say? I’m swooning and my pulse is racing, honestly. God, do you love his answer about sexism? “There’s a cordialness that men had when dealing with the opposite sex, even when they were being blatantly sexist. It’s a weird conundrum. But that’s been replaced with men treating women like absolute garbage and not even being polite about it, which is too bad.” My new sexual fantasy about The Hamm involves him holding the door for me, then me making him a martini, then helping him take off his tie… and then…oh, GOD.

Here are some more photos of Jon and his glorious bulge. I… just… sigh.

The Hamm on July 20, 2010. Credit: WENN.

Here is the lovely, talented, gorgeous and edible Jon Hamm last night at the Season 4 premiere of Mad Men. I’m counting down the hours until this season starts – this Sunday at 10 pm EST. CAN’T WAIT. But until then, I’ll just content myself with these awesome photos. Now, you know Jon’s ever-present girlfriend wouldn’t miss an opportunity to show up before a bank of photographers and hang all over her boyfriend, taunting me (bitch). She clung so tightly to him that the only way photographers could get a solo photo of My Hamm was to go in tight on his face. This chick. UGH.

I know, I’m being too harsh. They look… happy. Together. So it’s going to be a little while before he comes for me, I get that. As for his womanizing character Don Draper, when The Hamm was asked if Draper had ever met a woman he could be faithful to, The Hamm told Radar that “I don’t know if we’ve met her yet, but we’ll see if we do… we’ll see.” Sigh… it could be me, Don/Hamm!

And of course, my two favorite girls were there too, Christina Hendricks and Elizabeth Moss. I don’t know what the hell Christina was wearing, but she looks like hell:

Elizabeth Moss looked great in a vibrant green. The cut of the dress makes her look like she’s got one circus boob and one normal boob though!

This one’s for my mom – this is Christopher Stanley, who plays the Rochafeller staffer who is now with Betty. My mom thinks he’s really sexy.

And last, Vincent Katheiser and his beautiful eyes. Sigh… he’s so dreamy. Too bad he’s a total weirdo.

All photos courtesy of WENN.

Below is the new trailer for The Town, which is Ben Affleck’s second time out as a director. Ben also stars, along with Jon “The Hamm” Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively and Chris Cooper. I never saw Gone Baby Gone, so I didn’t really know what I was expecting from this film and from Affleck as a director. Can I just say something? I. Am. Blown. Away.

It has elements (from what I can see) of Point Break (truly underestimated film, in my opinion) and The Dark Knight. But it still looks like its own film, and Affleck looks like he had the vision to make a truly taut action film with a great dramatic core. In Boston, of course! The Hamm generally looks better in his Mad Men gear, what with the slicked back hair and the fabulous suits, but The Hamm is still giving me major fever in his FBI gear. The Hamm with a gun (plus his sexy voiceover) = my new sexual fantasy. Renner looks badass too, and Affleck actually looks like a totally solid lead, bringing together everyone’s performances. I’m totally hot for this film. It comes out in September.

You know why I’m disappointed? Because W Magazine c-ckblocked me into thinking there would lovely photos of Jon Hamm that I could drool over. Of course, there is a pictorial, and of course, The Hamm is gorgeous. But I would have enjoyed this whole thing a lot more if this slut Rebecca Hall wasn’t all over My Hamm. Anyway, The Hamm and Rebecca Hall (Hamm ‘n Hall, to friends) – together to jointly promote their roles in The Town, the Boston-based action/drama/thriller directed by Ben Affleck. W Mag sums up the story: “The paths of Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm converge in the September film The Town, a morally complex cops-and-robbers drama set in director Ben Affleck’s hometown of Boston. Hall plays a bank manager who is traumatized by seeing a colleague brutally beaten by a masked thief. When she meets a handsome man, played by Affleck, who offers her comfort, protection and romance, she has no way of knowing that he was the violent offender’s accomplice. Hamm is less charmed: He plays the man in blue, hot on Affleck’s trail.” Did that just turn you on? I’m turned on. Just thinking about The Hamm on someone’s “trail” is enough for me.

The full W Magazine interview is here. Here are some of the highlights (FYI: all of my highlights are Hamm-related):

W: Did you both have to audition for The Town?
Jon Hamm: I was on a list of people that the studio was considering. They go down the list, basically.
Rebecca Hall: I don’t think I was on a list. I auditioned. My agent flew me to New York because I couldn’t afford to pay the airfare, and then if I got it, I’d pay her back. I met Ben in some hotel room and we chatted for about two hours. I didn’t hear anything for about three months, and then I got the call.

Hamm: Do you know who else they asked to do it?
Hall: No. Do you?
Hamm: Maybe.
Hall: Spill the beans. Jessica Simpson?
Hamm: I was going to say Lindsay Lohan, but that’s not really funny anymore. It’s sort of sad.

Hamm: I play law enforcement, basically. I play the cop to Ben’s robber, but it’s not just black versus white. Ben is playing the lovable rogue. My character still thinks he’s a piece of s— because he’s a horrible criminal. That was fun—to be the counterpoint to Ben’s charming rogue.
Hall: The film is old-fashioned—proper Hollywood. There are thrills and there’s violence and there’s action and there’s a significant romance.
Hamm: It’s an adult movie. Those are in short supply. I hope that there’s still an audience for that kind of film, where you can go see adults behaving like adults.

W: And it deals with adult themes.
Hall: It’s an age-old tragedy setup. Can you do bad and get away with it, or does it always come back to bite you in the ass?
Hamm: No one is 100 percent good and no one is 100 percent bad. What’s interesting is that many bank robbers don’t think they’re doing anything bad, because the money is insured. They don’t consider themselves criminals.

W: What was Ben like off-set?
Hall: He’s kind of what you expect: He’s incredibly smart; he’s good fun. It’s got to be odd being that famous, especially in Boston, where he can’t walk a block without having to put his hood up. He is Mr. Boston.
Hamm: I mean, the guy is a patron saint of that city. [When you’re] walking around with him, everybody of every walk of life is like, “Hey, Ben!”

W: When did you both realize you wanted to perform?
Hall: I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be an actor. It has just always been an inevitability on some level.
Hamm: I played Winnie-the-Pooh in first grade. I was an early adopter of standing up in front of people and looking like an idiot. In high school I was a middle linebacker and I played Judas in Godspell.

W: After you joined the William Morris Agency, you didn’t work for three years.
Hamm: I went up for everything. I’d get down to the end on big movies and then I’d flame out, which is devastating. It just sucks, especially when it’s fraught with, “Oh, then I can pay my bills.” I would get so in my head that I would f— up the auditions.

W: How long were you willing to stick it out?
Hamm: I had given myself five years to be self-sufficient as an actor. I was already self-sufficient as a waiter. But I knew a lot of 40-year-old waiters and I didn’t want to be one of those. I had taught school and I knew that I could always go back to teaching. I gave myself to my 30th birthday, and my 30th birthday actually happened on the set of We Were Soldiers, which was my first big Hollywood movie—a Mel Gibson vehicle. I was making enough money to quit my waiting job.

W: Is there value to trudging the long road as opposed to getting a fast track?
Hamm: I guess the benefits of my trajectory were learning humility, learning to be patient and learning how the system works in some way. But I think the benefits of Rebecca’s path are that you get to spend some great years doing some pretty cool s—. Your 20s are fun. If you can manage to also do good work, which Rebecca clearly has, then you’re very lucky.

W: Rebecca, would you label Jon a man’s man or a ladies’ man?
Hall: I don’t know. He’s proper manly, like Gregory Peck, old-school. He hangs around with the boys and does sports. But can he talk to women about emotions and shoes?
Hamm: Absolutely. Can and do. I was raised by a single mother. I think the definition of a man’s man has shifted in recent times to this sort of fratty bro, different from the older version, which was aloof and distant—Gary Cooper or Cary Grant or James Bond. Now it’s a little vulgar, kind of lowbrow, adolescent. I’m not that guy. Part of being an adult is treating women like women.
Hall: The grand pendulum has swung backwards a little bit. Women are allowing themselves to be objectified as “empowerment.” I suppose to some degree you have to go through that phase of, like, “Look, I can make myself a sexualized object.” Still, I just hope that it’s okay for women to read and be bright and talk about interesting things and be sexy.
Hamm: To be able to read and talk about complicated things is sexy. It’s not just having a pair of bolt-on tits.

W: Jon, the old rule is if a man wants to flatter, he tells a beautiful woman she’s smart and a smart woman she’s beautiful. What does one say to Rebecca?
Hamm: That she’s very funny.

W: Rebecca, in stories earlier this year about the breakup of Sam Mendes and Kate Winslet—
Hall: Oh, you’re going to do that, are you?
W: —your name was mentioned in a way that implicated you in the breakup of their marriage. Is there any accuracy to that perception?
Hall: No.
Hamm: The reality is that I broke them up.
Hall: Jon Hamm was sleeping with Sam Mendes.
W: Wow. Does a sex tape exist?
Hamm: Does it? He directed it. It’s beautiful.

[From W Magazine]

Okay, so I included Rebecca’s denial of being involved in Kate Winslet’s divorce just because I thought it was interesting. Do you see how The Hamm came to her rescue with a joke? That’s a gentlemen, ladies. While I don’t really think anything of her, The Hamm is so lovely, it hurts. Also – the part where he’s talking about what he finds sexy in a woman? Jesus, this man turns me on. I need to take a “break” and smoke a cigarette.

Photos courtesy of W Magazine.