Jon Hamm has reflected on his decision to reprise his Mad Men role as suave advertising executive Don Draper in Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted, saying: “I was of two minds.”
The film fictionalizes the events around the invention of Pop Tarts, and is set during the 1960s. At one point, Hamm parodies his role as Draper alongside John Slattery, who plays Don’s friend and boss Roger Sterling.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Hamm said that he discussed the decision to return to the role with his co-star.
“I was of two minds,” said Hamm. “I told Jerry, ‘I don’t enter into this lightly. I’m not trying to be too precious about this, but I don’t want to devalue it.’ He goes, ‘I understand that, but this would be very funny.’ Then I called Slattery and said, ‘If you don’t do it, I won’t do it, but it could be really funny.’ He goes, ‘Why wouldn’t we do it?’”
Asked how it felt to see himself back in the Emmy-winning role that made his name for the first time since the Mad Men finale in 2015, Hamm replied: “I look at pictures now and God, I’m, like, 20 pounds heavier, 10 years older, and it’s just like, yuck. But it was literally like putting on a very familiar, very comfortable suit. You’re just like, ‘Oh s***, I can do this.’”
Hamm also revealed that he didn’t consult Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner about taking the role, saying: “No. Maybe I should have? But I didn’t and I wouldn’t. I think I have a legitimate claim to ownership over that character as much as he does.”
Reactions to Hamm and Slattery’s cameos were mixed. Film critic David Ehrlich wrote that the scene prompted a “furious yell” at the TV, adding in his review that the surprise was “not funny enough to escape a feeling of sacrilege”.
“Such a f***ing cheapening of Mad Men for a crap Seinfeld money-spinner,” one person wrote on X/Twitter. “Depressing.”
“Good f***ing god, this is so bleak,” another viewer commented. “I’m actually depressed after watching this.”
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Someone else wrote: “Ugh, so now we’re even putting in desperate nostalgia bait from IP’s [intellectual properties] that have NOTHING to do with the film itself or universe it’s in...this is sickening.”
Criticisms were also leveled at the production design od the film, with one person writing: “The hair/wardrobe/art direction in Mad Men was stellar. In this it’s jarringly bad.”
Unfrosted was largely negatively reviewed by critics, earning a score of just 43 per cent on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
