Jon Hamm is an actor who just can’t say no.
It was a skill he learned when he was teaching in Missouri. “I would tell my kids the same thing,” he says. “It’s more fun to say, ‘Let’s find it together and then start putting up barriers.' Obviously, you protect yourself, your safety and your mental health. But from a creative standpoint, it’s more fun when you lead with ‘yes’ and see where the story takes you.”
In the latest season of “Fargo,” he certainly faces those jumping off points. As Sheriff Roy Tillman, a “constitutional” lawman, he has plenty of those “should we go there?” moments.
Because Emmy winner Noah Hawley was the man behind the project, he didn’t have any hesitation. Hawley made suggestions (costuming included) and Hamm went with them. The result is a performance that’s vastly different from the one he offered up as a tech billionaire in this season of “The Morning Show.”
“Given the landscape of the last few years, it’s been nice to get to do some very challenging things that are all over the spectrum,” the 52-year-old says. “It’s nice to be working…I certainly have had my share of my career where the opposite has been true.”
Jon Hamm plays Sheriff Roy Tillman in the fifth season of "Fargo."
Roy Tillman, however, is determined to avoid any lapses. In “Fargo,” he’s up for re-election, even though he has a live wire son, a questionable past and a mystery that residents want to make sure he solves.
While Roy hails from North Dakota, he doesn’t boast that “Fargo” accent. “He’s from the western part of North Dakota,” Hamm explains. “I had many, many meetings with dialect coaches and discovered he’s got more of a cowboy aspect to his speech patterns and less of the Minnesota kind of sensibility, so that was a choice. Roy is cut from a different cloth.”
The character also gets a sheepskin coat that immediately pegs him as another Marlboro Man. “We all know what that kind of represents. There are some not-so-subtle comparisons in the shooting of the show where we see Roy in some of those classic poses. The more we find out about his life, the deeper we’re pulled into this dark web of intrigue.”
Duality is something Hamm mined to good effect in “Mad Men,” winning an Emmy for his work as advertising executive Don Draper. Since the show ended in 2015, he has had a host of film and television roles, including comic turns on “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” While the Missouri native played a key role in “Top Gun: Maverick” and has been in number of independent films, he hasn’t been in a Coen Brothers venture until now.
“I’ve been a fan of their work since ‘Blood Simple’ and ‘Raising Arizona,’” he says of the Oscar-winning duo who created the first “Fargo” film. “They’re so amazing at finding a specific tone that it’s almost indescribable. Their creativity is without equal. Noah is right up there, so I’ve been pleased to be invited into the ‘Fargo’ universe and happy to do my part.”
A tough election awaits Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm) in the fifth season of "Fargo."
Roy Tillman, meanwhile, lets audiences see more of Hamm than they might have expected. He also has a son who could be his worst hire as sheriff and interesting campaign tactics (a towel emblazoned with his face).
"He’s from the Badlands,” Hamm says – which could be taken more than one way.
“I’ve been to Minnesota on multiple occasions…I love that part of the country but I’ve not been to the Dakotas. We shot this in southern Alberta and it looks very much like that area. It’s cold and it’s sometimes inhospitable. It has its own rules and we very much exploit that in the telling of this story.”
And that coat? It’s made for the prairie but Hamm didn’t get to keep it. “I wish I did, but the costume department has it just in case we ever need to reshoot something.”
Jon Hamm in "Mad Men."
