Will this make Jon Hamm a movie star?
The man best known for playing Don Draper (and of course his “John Ham” snack line) will play one of the central villains in Edgar Wright’s latest, BABY DRIVER. His character is “a former Wall Street trader-turned-cop killer” who is part of the group of thieves that forces Ansel Elgort’s lead into acting as their getaway driver.
Hamm’s been pretty good in movies like THE TOWN, SUCKER PUNCH, and BRIDESMAIDS (he was also maybe the only thing I liked about FRIENDS WITH KIDS), but there’s no doubt his small-screen fame completely eclipses his career in features. This is a guy who’s won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Best Lead Actor in a Drama but who has yet to headline a single film in his entire career. Even here, I’m guessing he will take second billing to Jamie Foxx, even though we don’t yet know who the former DJANGO is playing. But if this allows Hamm to let his anarchic, energetic comic talent (evident in stuff ranging from UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT to CLEAR HISTORY) loose on the big screen, then this could be a big gamechanger for his career; he’s got the looks and the street cred to be an A-list leading man, and it’s possible that Wright, with his talent for words and his mastery of tone, could write a role silly, fun, and juicy enough to finally make that happen,
