Gone Girl is one of Ben Affleck’s top-ranked movies where he played the husband of a woman who went missing and was suspected of being responsible for it. However, did you know that role was originally going to be played by Mad Men’s Jon Hamm? This St. Louis Cardinals fan not only revealed why he couldn’t star in Gone Girl, but he also explained that he picked on Red Sox fan Ben Affleck over the fact that he had to wear a Cardinals hat for the part.
You know it’s real acting if you play a character who represents your opposing baseball team. It’s never been any secret that Bostonian Ben Affleck is a Red Sox fan. In fact, he helped his wife Jennifer Lopez return to Red Sox games with this MLB team positively reacting on TikTok to their relationship. So, when the actor was cast as the male lead in David Fincher’s Gone Girl, he had to play a man from Missouri and the lead suspect when his wife goes missing. He also had to play a man who wears a Cardinals hat. Originally, Jon Hamm was confirmed play this role, but he explained on Watch What Happens Live why he had to drop out of the movie, and the irony of being replaced by an actor who is a Red Sox fan.
I was down to the very end of that. It was meant to be me, but we had to film the continuing adventures of Mr. Draper. Poor Ben, a Boston guy, had to wear a Cardinals hat…He was not very happy about it.
Having to trade in his Red Sox cap for a Cardinals hat while filming in Missouri must have been difficult, especially considering how die-hard baseball fans can get. Although the Top Gun: Maverick actor may have to re-watch the movie again to know that Affleck actually doesn’t wear a Cardinals hat for the movie. In the scene where suspected criminal Nick tries to keep a low profile, you see him wearing a New York Mets cap. It would have been really funny if this was a compromise made for the movie so Affleck could at least show his disdain for the Yankees, however, it's probably just a simple detail with no deeper meaning. So, it looks like the Air actor didn’t sell his soul to the Yankees (or the Cardinals) to play Nick Dunne, but he still wasn't able to wear that classic red B on his hat.
As for why John Hamm wasn't in the film, he couldn’t take on the lead for the Gillian Flynn adaptation because he was scheduled to make a new season of Mad Men. Since filming for Gone Girl interfered with Mad Men’s split-in-half final season, it would have been a scheduling nightmare for him to do both.
While Gone Girl was not a movie Jon Hamm could add to his filmography, this actor has gone on to star in some great projects after playing Don Draper for seven seasons. A few notable roles were when he played one of the villainous thieves of the criminal underworld in Baby Driver and chased his friends in the comedy film Tag. We also can’t forget him being added to the cast of Top Gun: Maverick as Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson, because he had an A+ reaction when offered the part and was ready to fire his agents if the deal didn’t work out. So, I'd say he's doing really well.
Jon Hamm could have represented his St. Louis Cardinals in the movie Gone Girl, but completing Don Draper’s journey in Mad Men had to come first. While Ben Affleck didn’t exactly suffer taking on the male lead role, I’m sure the Red Sox fan having to wear the hat of a New York baseball team wasn’t his favorite part of shooting. You can watch this Oscar-nominated movie on your Max subscription.
