Sometimes — even if you’re a square-jawed, charismatic, and successful, rich, white man — life can offer challenges. Take Kyle Chandler and Jon Hamm, for instance. Sure, their runs on Friday Night Lights and Mad Men, respectively, have made them two of the last decade’s most rightfully beloved TV leading men. But would small-screen success translate into major movie glory? Or would they flame out, like so many David Carusos before them? Turned out, uh, it was the first one.
On Wednesday, Deadline reported that both Hamm and Chandler have landed high-profile new roles. The former Coach Taylor will be joining The Wolf of Wall Street, Marty Scorsese’s new joint, which stars (shocker!) Leonardo DiCaprio as a young stockbroker who goes on a Behind the Music–esque journey — complete with money, drugs, and prison — through the finance game. Chandler will be playing the FBI agent who takes Leo down for his sins; Jonah Hill is in this as well, as Leo’s morally corrupting buddy.
Meanwhile, Hamm has nabbed the lead role in Million Dollar Arm, the true story of how agent J.B. Bernstein found a couple of pro pitching prospects by sorting through a bunch of cricketers via a reality TV competition in India. And even if the prospects — Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, both of whom have done time in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization — haven’t quite set the world on fire, it’s a pretty crazy story, and one that is easy to envision ending up either pretty great or extra cheesy. More to the point: It also appears to be the first time Hamm — who has distinguished himself off the AMC set with brilliant support on 30 Rock and Bridesmaids, plus his SNL extracurriculars — will take a starring role. No reason to wait too long to get that post–Mad Men A-list movie career jump-started, right?
Now that I think about it, Chandler seems to be echoing a bit of Hamm’s path: picking up small but juicy movie roles (including in Kathryn Bigelow’s upcoming Bin Laden movie, Ben Affleck’s Argo, and Mark Wahlberg’s Dark Broken City) on his way up the ladder. In fact, Hamm himself played an FBI agent not so long ago, in The Town. Remember? “You and your boys didn’t just roll a Stah Mahket in Mahlden for a bawx of quahtahs”? Ha, good stuff, Jon.
https://www.youtube.com/v/t9eDVFrQDXM?version=3&hl=en_US
OK, fine: These particular square-jawed, charismatic, and successful rich white men don’t seem to be facing too many major life challenges.