{"id":61,"date":"2025-04-11T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=61"},"modified":"2025-04-11T09:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:10:00","slug":"jon-hamm-the-misuse-of-social-media-will-cost-us-dearly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=61","title":{"rendered":"Jon Hamm: “The misuse of social media will cost us dearly.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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After eight seasons of Mad Men<\/em>, Jon Hamm will forever be associated with the role of Don Draper\u2014one of TV history\u2019s most iconic characters. A cunning yet charismatic ad man who sold dreams while being tormented by inner demons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Jon Hamm is back in the spotlight with a new major series revolving around yet another complex and privileged white man from New York\u2014in free fall. In Your Friends & Neighbors<\/em>, he plays Andrew \u201cCoop\u201d Cooper, a hedge fund manager who is forced to reinvent himself as a gentleman thief after losing both his job and marriage. To maintain his social image and pay the bills, he begins stealing from his ultra-wealthy neighbors in an exclusive suburban idyll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe series is partly about how absurd wealth comes at a high price, and the consequences of crossing moral lines just to maintain a social facade. We ask very relevant questions\u2014how much wealth is enough? And is more money always better?\u201d says Jon Hamm, dressed in comfortable everyday clothes, red-tinted glasses, and holding a coffee mug in a Manhattan hotel room\u2014the same Manhattan that was once Don Draper\u2019s playground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Don Draper was responsible for selling the American Dream, then Andrew Cooper is responsible for buying it,\u201d Hamm explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThese days, it\u2019s not just we Americans being spoon-fed materialistic ideals\u2014it\u2019s a cultural concept that has spread globally, not least through social media. Even at a very young age, you can look at a screen and feel like you have to catch up with others,\u201d says Hamm, who has never used social media himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of a wake-up call\u2014social media is being abused, and it\u2019s more about commercialization than actual socializing now. But we\u2019ll pay a heavy price for turning small children into consumers\u2014it\u2019ll have serious consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your Friends & Neighbors<\/em> is written by Jonathan Tropper, known for previous series like Banshee<\/em> and Warrior<\/em>. In the 2000s, he wrote novels such as This Is Where I Leave You<\/em>, The Book of Joe<\/em>, and How to Talk to a Widower<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis series definitely shares more DNA with my novels than my earlier TV work,\u201d says Jonathan Tropper when he appears on screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I wrote those books in my 30s and 40s, they were often about the emptiness and boredom of suburban life. Then I moved into the world of high-budget action series. But at 55, I took the opportunity to return to my roots as a novelist\u2014this time with a more mature perspective. Sometimes more cynical, sometimes more hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new series is largely inspired by his observations and personal experiences growing up in affluent Westchester County, just north of New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe emotional truth of the series is definitely influenced by the years I spent in that environment and lifestyle. As for the plot itself, very little of it comes from real life. The sad truth is, most of us don\u2019t live particularly interesting lives,\u201d Tropper smiles, now living in the picturesque Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I pitched the series, I referenced films like American Beauty<\/em> and The Ice Storm<\/em>. I also made it clear I wasn\u2019t trying to create a new Breaking Bad<\/em>\u2014this is more in line with The White Lotus<\/em>. I\u2019m more inspired by other authors than TV shows, and I naturally wanted to create something of my own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like in series such as The White Lotus<\/em> and Succession<\/em>, Tropper explores the emotional voids of the super-rich\u2014the emptiness that arises when material wealth and social status are confronted with internal loneliness and vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the surface, it might seem like the series is about holding on to what you have\u2014but really, it\u2019s more about realizing that what we thought was permanent might not be. And how little control we truly have over our lives. The pandemic showed us how fragile everything is and forced many of us to reevaluate our lives,\u201d Tropper says, adding a disclaimer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t make TV to preach\u2014I aim to shed light on things. Hopefully, the series sparks conversations about wealth, waste, status, and inequality\u2014both in the U.S. and globally. What do we actually need to live a meaningful life?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the biggest challenge during filming?<\/strong>
\u201cConvincing people with really nice houses to let us film in them, haha. The kinds of homes we wanted are owned by people who don\u2019t need the money. So we had to find homeowners willing to suffer for the art\u2014or just plain curious,\u201d Tropper grins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the series\u2019 very first scene, Jon Hamm\u2019s \u201cCoop\u201d wakes up in a pool of blood next to a dead man in a lavish neighbor\u2019s house. His own voice-over narrates that he\u2019s about to recount \u201cthe swirling chaos\u201d of his life that began four months earlier. This sets the stage for a descent into a dark maelstrom of secrets, lies, drugs, and toxic masculinity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One scene notes that the rich men around him are drawn to \u201cwhiskey and cigars, custom golf clubs, and luxury escorts\u2014entire industries built on monetizing the silent desperation of wealthy middle-aged men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe voice-over gave me the chance to write more like I did as a novelist and gave the series a literary feel. At the same time, I wanted a voice that could convey both humor and irony\u2014with hindsight. I\u2019ve always loved noir films and their use of voice-over\u2014not always driving the plot but adding a deeper layer,\u201d Tropper explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as he came up with the idea for the series, he had Jon Hamm in mind. Once Hamm was fully on board, the two sold the idea to Apple TV+, which has already greenlit a second season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine anyone else in the role\u2014even though we knew everyone would compare him to Don Draper the moment we put him in a sharp suit with a glass of whiskey. But Jon is nearly ten years older since Mad Men<\/em> ended, so our series quickly deconstructs that old image. Andrew Cooper is a much hotter mess than Don Draper ever was. The fun lies in tearing apart the Don Draper mythology and meeting a more vulnerable, more human character,\u201d says Jonathan Tropper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a showrunner, he was careful to give Hamm\u2019s new character the right traits that reflect who he is. It\u2019s no coincidence that Coop plays tennis in designer gear, sips 25-year-old Macallan Scotch, and drives a Maserati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought, Cooper is the kind of guy who could buy a Ferrari\u2014but thinks it\u2019s a bit of a clich\u00e9. He wants something that stands out but still shows his wealth. The Maserati isn\u2019t the most expensive or the fastest, but it signals exclusivity and personality. Even if he\u2019s just trying to be unique in a way that still follows the norm,\u201d Tropper says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the show, Coop steals from his neighbors, who own mansions \u201cfull of expensive crap no one would ever miss, piles of forgotten wealth just sitting in boxes,\u201d as he puts it while snatching up ultra-luxury watches from Patek Philippe and Herm\u00e8s Birkin bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPart of the drive and humor in the show is that Cooper isn\u2019t particularly good at stealing,\u201d Jon Hamm laughs. \u201cHe kind of has to learn on the go. The idea was never that he\u2019d be some superhuman Bruce Wayne figure\u2014more of a klutz, though good enough to avoid getting caught.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon Hamm didn\u2019t use any specific method to prepare for the role.
\u201cWell, I definitely didn\u2019t hang out with thieves\u2014at least not intentionally. But who knows? Maybe we\u2019re all hanging out with thieves without realizing it? What I have always practiced, though, is being a good neighbor. I think it\u2019s really important to get to know your neighbors\u2014which isn\u2019t the same as always liking them,\u201d says Hamm, who mostly lives in Los Angeles with his wife Anna Osceola, who has a supporting role in the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But inviting neighbors over to watch TV shows together? That\u2019s a bit much, he chuckles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes we\u2019ll have a few friends over and watch something like The White Lotus<\/em> or the like. But most of the time, it\u2019s just my wife, me, and our dog. Cooking dinner and then watching a show or movie together on the couch\u2014that\u2019s our thing. A perfect evening,\u201d says Jon Hamm with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe Your Friends & Neighbors<\/em> will be our next thing to watch together, now that we\u2019re both in it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jon Hamm stars in the new series Your Friends & Neighbors as Andrew “Coop” Cooper, a hedge fund manager turned gentleman thief after losing his job and marriage. The show explores the absurdity of wealth, moral dilemmas, and internal struggles among the affluent. Written by Jonathan Tropper, it addresses contemporary issues of materialism and societal expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}