'Mad Men' Season 7 News: With Jon Hamm At The 'Bottom' Of The List, Find Out Who Almost Played Don Draper [VIDEO]
If things had turned out differently, then AMC's Mad Men would have been a very different show.
For starters, Jon Hamm almost didn't snag the leading role on the iconic ad agency drama. Now known for playing the suave though troubled Don Draper, Hamm admits that producers were reluctant to put him on the series.
"I was at the bottom of everyone's list," admitted Hamm during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. "The one person who was an early champion of mine was Matthew."
Find Out Where Don Draper Is 'Going' For The Final Season Of 'Mad Men'
Creator Matthew Weiner insisted that 2006 was not a time when the traditionally "handsome" man got the girl and so it was hard to find someone with both the credentials and the charisma to play Don.
According to Christina Wayne, who had been the senior vice president of scripted programing at AMC during this time, Hamm's audition wasn't very memorable. The picture quality of the tape wasn't any good and it was hard to see what it was that made Hamm special.
Eventually it came down to Hamm and Mariska Hargitay's husband, Peter Hermann. "We had to be sold," explained Wayne. "So we flew Jon to New York and took him for a drink at the Gansevoort Hotel. He was nervous, but I knew he had star potential."
After an in-person meeting, everyone saw what Weiner had originally seen when he looked at Hamm: Don Draper.
Mad Men will return on AMC with the remainder of its seventh and final season on Sunday, April 5.
