[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Your Friends & Neighbors.]
Summary
- In the Apple TV+ series ‘Your Friends & Neighbors,’ hedge fund manager Coop turns to burglary to maintain his lifestyle after job loss.
- Over the nine-episode first season, Coop navigates the complexities of double life, leading to unforeseen consequences.
- Relationships with family, his sister, and a gruff Lou ground Coop amidst his criminal activities.
From creator Jonathan Tropper (Banshee, Warrior), the nine-episode Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors follows Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Jon Hamm) and his fall from grace as a hedge fund manager still struggling to get over his recent divorce from Mel (Amanda Peet). After being fired and unable to find a way to meet the financial demands of his life, Coop unexpectedly turns to a life of crime, stealing from the homes of his affluent neighbors and uncovering more than just their valuables and their taste in art. At the same time, his own affair with Sam (Olivia Munn) results in Coop getting caught in a murder accusation that he has to disentangle himself from before figuring out what comes next.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Hamm discussed shooting in a pool of sticky fake blood, why he wanted to hitch his wagon to this series, the fascinating and stomach-turning lives of these 1%, his relationships with his TV kids, the dynamic between Coop and his sister (Lena Hall), the importance of Lou’s (Randy Danson) perspective, and what he wants to avoid moving forward with future seasons.
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‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ premieres April 11 on Apple TV+.
Collider: After talking to you for Fargo, I wasn’t sure you could find a guy more complicated than that guy is, but this guy is definitely complicated in his own ways.
JON HAMM: Differently complicated, for sure.
He starts the series in a pool of blood next to a dead body, and that blood is very slippery to get up and away from. What was that like to shoot? Was it as slippery as it seemed? What’s it like to do that without hurting yourself?
HAMM: It was sticky, to say the least. It’s always interesting to work with effects like that. It’s fun, but it’s definitely not your normal day at the office, for sure. The resetting of that, you hope you get it in one. That was why we picked Craig Gillespie to direct those first two episodes. We knew he was a very efficient shooter.
After that moment, you walk outside and slip into a swimming pool. Was it hard to go from one to the other? Was it hard to get that timing right? How much time did you have to spend in a pool?
HAMM: It was the combination of being sticky and uncomfortable, and cold and wet. It was all of those things while also trying to do a pratfall and not hurt myself or bang my shin. There was a lot going on, but that’s why it’s fun to be an actor.
Hitching His Wagon to ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ Creator Jonathan Tropper Was an Easy Decision for Jon Hamm
“I choose things by determining whether I’d want to watch it.”
You did the last season of Fargo, but that was only ever going to be one season. With this, you’ve stepped into that leading role again. Did Mad Men raise the bar for you, as far as the quality of TV series you want to do when something comes your way?
HAMM: Sure. I’m in a very fortunate position in my career now where I actually get to pick what I want to do, but I choose things by determining whether I’d want to watch it. This was certainly one of those. I love Jonathan [Tropper]’s writing. I think he’s not only a tremendous film and television writer, but a wonderful novelist and a smart, engaging, fascinating storyteller. So, to hitch my wagon to his star was quite an easy decision.
When you met with him and had a conversation about this, how did he present it to you? Because he didn’t start writing this until after you’d met, were there things that you had talked about that you wanted included in the character?
HAMM: He had the broad strokes of this idea percolating when we met early on. We both sparked to the idea and thought, “Okay, we can really make this story, not just about the high concept that it is, of this guy who loses his everything and he has to turn to a life of crime.” It’s more a commentary on where we are as a society and where we are as a culture right now with rapid consumerism and late-stage capitalism and so many things that we’re all dealing with. There’s a lunatic billionaire in the White House who wants to take millions of people’s jobs away. It’s a weird place that we’re in right now, and I think that the show is an examination of a lot of those things.
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Jon Hamm Turns to Petty Crime in First ‘Your Friends And Neighbors’ Trailer
The series debuts on April 11.
When you finally got to read the scripts, was it what you expected it to be? Were there aspects that you still found surprising?
HAMM: Yeah. I thought that Jonathan and his staff did an amazing job at really fleshing out this world and giving us a peek into the lives of these 1% that is both fascinating and stomach-turning, but ultimately compelling from a narrative standpoint.
Coop is Learning That Life is About More Than Just the Accumulation of the Most Stuff in ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’
“Maybe he’s been putting emphasis on the wrong things.”
When you live in a world like your character does, where you have to maintain a certain appearance, even if that’s different from the reality of it all, is it hard for someone like him not to get caught up in his own façade? Does that make it difficult for him to really come to terms with what’s happening?
HAMM: Sure, there’s that. But there’s also a moment of understanding for Coop, for my character, to really realize that maybe he’s been putting emphasis on the wrong things in life and really re-evaluate what is truly important to him as a human being, and not just as a status symbol. Those things are conversations that everybody has to have at some point, as they grow up and realize that life is about more than just the accumulation of the most stuff.
Does he also feel like an outsider in his own life? We see him having to come back into his own home, which is not his home anymore, and to see his ex-wife living a life that he no longer has.
HAMM: Yeah. That realization is instrumental for the telling of this story. Part of his journey is discovering all of those things, all over again.
Walking into his home and finding his underage daughter and her older boyfriend, who he already doesn’t like, naked has to be mortifying and upsetting, in any circumstance. What was it like to find that moment with your TV daughter and to find his relationship with his son?
HAMM: Look, I don’t have children. Hopefully, someday, maybe. I don’t personally have a relationship with that, but I can only imagine. I have so many friends who now have teenage and college-age kids. There’s nothing more awkward than a teenager, and there’s probably nothing more awkward than having an awkward conversation as an adult with a teenager that you’re related to. I can only imagine. Obviously, we did a very good job of portraying it in the show. It does lend itself to certainly comedic outcomes.
What was it like to work with your TV son and daughter?
HAMM: They’re wonderful actors. It was great that they’re age appropriate. They’re right around the ages that they play, which is very nice. I’ve worked with younger actors before. I’ve certainly had TV children. It’s awesome to work with them and see how they’re processing this career and this life. It’s cool. They’re great kids and they’re great actors.
There are such interesting relationships with the women in Coop’s life. I particularly like the relationship he has with his sister. Did that feel like the most honest and real relationship for him?
HAMM: Lena Hall is a truly wonderful actress. When we cast her to play my sister, we knew we had to have somebody who felt very fragile and very important to Coop. That is one of the more important relationships in his life and one that he treasures. What that sparks in him is the understanding that these relationships and these emotional connections are truly the things that he has forgotten to maintain in his life and have led him to feel so lost in many ways. Those are the things that he needs to pay more attention to. That is a very important part of the story.
I love Lou, and I love how she calls Coop on his bullshit when probably nobody else does. What was that relationship like to find? Is it fun to have a relationship like that, that really can always ground your character back in reality?
HAMM: Yeah. And Randy Danson is a wonderful actor. She was a great person to work with. I had known her personally through various connections. We were really pleased to get her to be Lou. And yes, Lou has a very different perspective on all of this than Coop does. He finds her very enlightening and helpful along his journey.
Things Might Work Out Okay for Coop in the Future of ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’
“We did get picked up for a second season.”
Is there any way for Coop to get out of what he’s doing? Once you kind of go down the path that he has, is there a way to stop it, or is it just going to spiral?
HAMM: Stay tuned. We did get picked up for a second season, so I will say that might lead you to believe that things may work out okay for Coop. But stay tuned, for sure.
Have you had conversations about how things will continue in future seasons? Do you like to get involved in those conversations from the beginning, or do you not like to know the future of a character?
HAMM: We don’t want this to turn into a Breaking Bad scenario where Coop turns into a criminal mastermind and runs an empire. We knew that, at the end of the day, the particularities of his choice to go into thievery would probably also have to dovetail with his maintaining a life that is presentable in this world. I think we did a very nice job of balancing those two necessities.
Your Friends & Neighbors is available to stream on Apple TV+. Check out the trailer: