Jon Hamm

“No better place to start than at the beginning, and the first movie that I saw was a little movie called The Daytrippers, which is directed by Greg Mottola. Greg’s a dear friend of mine. He directed me in Fletch. He also directed me… Confess, Fletch, not the original Fletch, which I was not in. And this is a fabulous movie and the heyday of independent cinema in the ’90s. So check it out.”

“This is one that I’m thrilled that is in here. It’s a little number called WALL·E. This movie makes me cry every single time I see it. It is a brilliant piece of storytelling, almost silent movie. It is so well told. Prescient, you might say. A very, very good one.”

“This movie means a lot to me. It’s a movie by Lasse Hallström called My Life as a Dog. It is a coming-of-age story, Swedish movie. It is breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreaking, and if you have children or you like children or you are a child at heart, see this movie. It’s a beautiful, beautiful film.”

“This is kind of a weird one: Videodrome, David Cronenberg. A crazy Canadian genius. The reason I saw this movie again, I’d seen it back when I was young in the ’80s, was because the Criterion app had a little collection of movies, a themed collection of movies, called VHS Forever, and it was basically movies that had VHS as a big plot point. Also Blondie is in this, so it’s very cool. And a very young James Woods. Very cool movie.”

“This is a movie that’s a very interesting film. The only reason I pick this is because I used to be on a TV show called Mad Men. It was about advertising. This is a movie called How to Get Ahead in Advertising. The title is a pun. I love a pun in a title. How to Get Ahead in Advertising. It’s about a guy who grows a head that has really interesting opinions. Bruce Robinson, from Withnail and I. Maybe you know that one. A lot of people like that movie. I like that movie too, but this is equally spectacular and weird.”

“This movie, this is maybe one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. It’s called The Vanishing, and it’s about a couple who go on a trip and they stop in a rest stop, and one of them goes to go to the bathroom and never returns. I saw this movie in the cinema. I was shook by it. See this one. It’s deeply disturbing.”

“Man Bites Dog is a very, very, weird movie that I saw, again, in the cinema in the ’90s. It is… I hate to keep using this word prescient, but this is about media and manipulation. If a dog bites a man, then that’s not a story, but if a man bites a dog, that’s a story. That’s what this is. It predates our fascination with reality TV and all those things.”

“Jim Jarmusch. Great movie starring Roberto Benigni, as well as Tom Waits and John Lurie. Super vibey and definitely picks up the mantle of people like John Cassavetes and all of these incredible independent filmmakers. This is a good entry way into Jarmusch.”

“This is Tootsie. This is, I think, and I’m not the only person to say this, a perfect comedy. Deeply funny. Very, very heartbreaking. Incredible performances up and down the line: Bill Murray, Teri Garr, obviously Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, young Geena Davis is in this. You’ve probably seen this, but it’s really good.”

“All right. Last one, the one that I have to… Oh, boy. All right, I said I’m going low. I’m going low. All right. This is what I’ll do, because this one started off a pretty great career. This is Wes Anderson’s first film, called Bottle Rocket. All three Wilson brothers are in this movie. This is a great movie for aspiring filmmakers to look at because it proves you just need a fun story and talented people to make a great movie. You don’t need a bunch of money. They certainly didn’t have it, but they made a great movie and he has a great career because of it. And this is how it all started.”