Talk to me, Goose
Hello, friends! Happy Memorial Day weekend.
This weekend, Top Gun: Maverick, was released. I grew up watching the original movie, and for the last few years have anticipated this sequel. When I learned they were making it, I cringed a bit; then I saw the first trailer, and I knew I'd see it opening weekend on the biggest screen I could find.
Except I didn't see it this weekend, because our pandemic isn't over, and I just don't yet feel comfortable jamming myself into a crowded theater.
While reading a bit about the movie, I stumbled upon this interview with Jon Hamm, who plays a Vice Admiral in the movie. Hamm, of course, played Don Draper in one of my favorite television shows, Mad Men. He's a good example of an actor disappearing into a role: When I watch Mad Men, I see Don Draper. Outside of Mad Men, I almost always see Jon Hamm, regardless of the role he's playing; he's never disappeared for me in the same way. Which doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed some of his other work.
The interviewer noted Hamm's unusual career:
I always try to find patterns in actors’ choices, but your recent work doesn’t seem to indicate any rhyme or reason. You’ll pop up on Curb Your Enthusiasm or Barry as yourself, but then you’ll do voiceover work for various animated shows. You even appeared in an Eels music video not too long ago. Is this variety a response to playing Don Draper for eight years?
Hamm's answer stood out to me:
I’ve said it before, but if you wanted to do the same thing over and over again, I don’t know why you’d be an actor.
This stood out to me, I think, because the past year of writing hasn't exactly been the year I thought it would be. I've had two books in flight. One, The Dark Age, is a personal project that, I think, will someday sit comfortable on a shelf next to Eleanor or Awake in the World. The other, however, is a novel I was hired to ghostwrite. It's a very, very different novel from my usual sort of thing.
Hamm continues:
The fun part of being an actor is getting to do different things. So, yes is the short answer to your question. It’s just fun. It’s fun to work with Larry David. It’s fun to host Saturday Night Live. It’s fun to do animated stuff. It’s fun to do my friends’ podcasts. I’m very, very lucky in that I get to play in a lot of different sandboxes, so to speak, and I have some measure of credibility on both sides of the dramatic, comedic aisle. So I love doing it all. I love when they ask me to read the opening day piece for the St. Louis Cardinals, or they want me to read a hype-up speech for the St. Louis Blues.
I've agonized a bit over that ghostwriting project because, as it happens, there's an outside chance my name will appear on the cover. That's a good thing, from a writing career perspective, but I wondered: Would it confuse readers who know my other work well? If this book sat on a shelf next to Eleanor, would they feel like novels from unrelated universes?
But I don't think it's a real thing to worry about. A conversation with Felicia eased my mind quite a bit. Artists do the things that interest them; an artist doesn't owe an audience the same thing again and again. And an audience is sophisticated enough to tell the difference between those different types of projects.
Martin Scorsese directed Mean Streets and Taxi Driver and Goodfellas—but he also did Cape Fear and Silence and Kundun and Bob Dylan documentaries. Neil Gaiman wrote Sandman and American Gods—but also Fortunately, the Milk and Norse Mythology. Ava DuVernay directed Selma and A Wrinkle in Time. Michael Chabon wrote The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay—and also wrote the movie John Carter and the Picard TV show.
Hamm ended his answer by saying:
So I’m very lucky that I get to do all of that, and I appreciate it.
Writing The Dark Age has been meaningful and very personal. Writing the ghost book has been unexpectedly fun, and more than a little freeing—and it may even lead to more projects like that. It's good to remember that I'm fortunate to have had the chance to do these things, and to maybe worry a little less about what's "on-brand" or not.
After all, when .00000000001% of the potential readers in all the world have read anything you've ever written, "on-brand" is a concept that doesn't really carry any weight to begin with. That's not a complaint, either: That's a gift. Look at all this freedom I have to experiment with different kinds of work.
If any of you saw Maverick this weekend, I hope it was as good as I've heard. I'll see it someday, I'm sure.
✏️Until next time,
Jg
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