Mad Men star Jon Hamm had the same gut feeling as most of us when the first season of Fargo, the Noah Hawley-created darkly comic crime anthology show inspired by the Coen Brothers’ movie, was announced.
“I thought, ‘Well, this is a terrible idea’. Why would you want to mess with such a wonderful film? And then I watched the first season and, like most people, was blown away.”
He was hooked in by Billy Bob Thornton’s malevolent hitman Lorne. “What Billy did in that first season was so delicious and scary and specific and fun, and it really set the tone for the whole show.”
Flash forward almost a decade, and Hamm, who co-starred alongside Natalie Portman and Zazie Beetz in Hawley’s feature debut Lucy in the Sky, becomes the big bad of Fargo’s fantastic fifth season. It might just be his best role since Don Draper, dripping melodious menace, care of the classic Coen/Hawley verbosity, as the murderously corrupt, self-proclaimed “constitutional sheriff” Roy Tillman. A malevolent misogynist and selectively religious zealot, he’s consumed with fury over what he perceives as a betrayal by his ex, the brilliant Ted Lasso star Juno Temple’s deceptively sweet housewife Dot.
Jon Hamm as Roy Tillman in Fargo 5.
Following Hawley’s prompt to fashion Roy after the iconic image of the ‘Marlboro Man’, there are complicated layers to this hard man, as there are to the billionaire playboy he plays on The Morning Show. “The creators of these shows wanted to tell something about men like that,” Hamm says. “A story about what’s behind that impression of being strong and in control. In both cases, the facade is slipping a little bit, and that’s quite the exciting, interesting place to be.”
Monstrous logic informs Hamm’s depiction of Roy. “There’s a lot of villainous things that Roy does, but Noah’s approach to it is that they make sense in his mind, and it makes sense to the people who believe in him. And that’s where we are in this very strange world. It used to just be just the United States that had this weird perspective. But I think, with the advent of social media and the internet, it’s gone global, where reality is what you want it to be at any particular time."
With the current run set in pre-pandemic/insurrection 2019, this Trumpian reality hovers unspoken over a series that features good cops and bad cops, both literally and figuratively, with lots of grey areas in between. Temple’s Dot isn’t exactly snow-white. While devoted to sweet-natured hubby Wayne (David Rysdahl) and their non-binary kid Scotty (Sienna King), she unblinkingly tazers a cop at a school board meeting and fends off a pair of kidnappers, led by Sam Spruell’s Ole Munch, also giving Thornton a run for his money, during a Home Alone-like fightback in the opening episode. You can get why Dot’s ostentatiously wealthy, acid-spitting mother-in-law Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh, fabulous) doesn’t trust her.
Juno Temple as Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon. Credit: FX
Fargo’s deft folding of comedy into crime fiction occasionally tilting towards horror is part of the show’s enduring appeal. “When it comes unexpectedly, it’s even more fun,” Hamm insists. “Jennifer, Juno, David and even Sam have a lot of moments that are only funny when you look at them from the side, and that’s what Noah has done. If he took anything from the original film, it’s that really, really dark sense of black humour.”
The tonal swings keep us on our toes. “It’s a morality tale, but it’s also very resonant, because I think you’re not necessarily sure which side of it you’re supposed to be on,” Hamm says. “One of the themes that the show really gets into is that this guy does not play by any rules other than his own. And he’s been getting along just fine with that worldview, until he doesn’t. It’s not sustainable.”
In a twisted mirror view of Dot’s wholesome (but possibly mirage-like) homemaking, there’s a disturbing power dynamic between Roy and his try-hardman son and deputy ‘sheriff’ Gator. As played by Stranger Things alum Joe Keery, you’re never sure who Gator should be more afraid of: The former ally that flips on them, stalking him and his henchmen in the dark, or his rumbling volcano of a father?
“Gator’s position in the family is very tenuous at best, and his personality suggests that he’s dancing as fast as he can to keep his place in there,” Hamm says. “He thinks he has the world on a string, but doesn’t really have the confidence or the ability that his father has, and that plays out in tragic ways.”
Joe Keery as Gator Tillman. Credit: Michelle Faye / FX
Will he step back into the directorial shoes he tried on during Mad Men’s run? “I don’t have any plans, but I do like it,” Hamm says. “What’s most fun about directing television is that you’re coming into a machine that is already constructed. When you’re directing a feature, which I’ve never done, but I’ve certainly produced my fair share, you’re trying to build a train while you’re on the tracks. It’s a very difficult thing to do, and it takes a lot of energy, skill, trust and communication. We’ve all seen what Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper have been able to do, but I know both those guys and how much it takes out of them. It’s a three-year process.”
You can expect more complex characters from Hamm, who relishes subverting the ‘leading man’ concept. “I’m getting into silver fox, with a little more salt and pepper. I’m very happy with where I am in my career. I’ve been able to work with some incredibly talented people, and I hope I get to do it for a lot longer.”
Fargo premieres from Wednesday 22 November exclusively on SBS On Demand and at 9:20pm on SBS. New episodes are fast-tracked weekly from the US.
Premiere episodes are now streaming. Start here:
