Jon Hamm has revealed he wasn’t paid for his role in the critically acclaimed and wickedly funny film, Bridesmaids.
Remember the 2011 film, Bridesmaids? Starring Kristen Wiig as Annie, a down-on-her-luck pastry chef whose life completely falls apart after her best friend gets engaged, Bridesmaids will go down as one of the funniest movies of all time.
If it’s been a while since you’ve watched Bridesmaids, you’ve probably forgotten that Jon Hamm – the man, the myth, the legend who plays Don Draper in Mad Men – appeared in Bridesmaids as Annie’s loathsome lover, Ted.
But the Emmy-winning actor, who most recently starred in Top Gun: Maverick, didn’t get paid a single dime for his role in Bridesmaids; in fact, he wasn’t even listed in the film’s credits. Hamm recently appeared as a guest on Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw and revealed he did the film as a favour to Wiig as the two are good friends.
“I was uncredited in Bridesmaids, you know, because like, yeah it’s my friend, of course, I’ll do that… I did that movie before there was a part, before there was a script; I said ‘yes’ to it. And [my] agents went, ‘Oh, well.. How do we, you know, ask for money?’ And I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ It just, let me let go have fun with friends.”
Jon Hamm
WATCH: Jon Hamm discusses his uncredited and unpaid role in ‘Bridesmaids’…
“[Wiig and I] were in a couple [of Saturday Night Live] sketches together and got along like a house on fire, and she said, ‘Will you please be in my movie? Please be in my movie.’ You know, nobody knew it was gonna be the global success that it was. But I knew it would be funny. And especially with that cast, you know, I was like, ‘Sure, of course. Are you kidding me? Thank you for asking. Of course, I’ll do that.’”
Hamm also said earlier in the interview, that he regularly says yes to various gigs before checking with his agents; much to their dismay.
“Mostly I drive [my agents] crazy because I say yes to everything, you know? I’m always showing up for people’s podcasts or what have you. But that’s what I like doing.”
Jon Hamm
“You know, I like engaging with the people that I work with, you know, and I’ve had some tremendous, fun experiences doing that. And things like that turn into other things. And, you know, those are the kinds of things you can’t measure.”
Some wise words there from Hamm, who’s ironically most famous for playing a narcissistic character who couldn’t care less about enjoyable, meaningful moments with other people. Hamm really did earn his Emmy for playing Draper, didn’t he?
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