Jon Hamm is not who you'd expect in Black Mirror Christmas special
The Mad Men actor's role in Charlie Brooker's satire may surprise us...
We knew that Jon Hamm was set to appear in a one-off Christmas episode of Charlie Brooker’s dystopian satire Black Mirror – but apparently we’ll be seeing him as he’s never been seen before.
In fact, according to Brooker’s wife and creative partner Konnie Huq, the role is a real departure for the actor.
“Jon Hamm might not be playing the part that you’d expect him to play,” Huq told RadioTimes.com, “because he often plays a certain type of character.”
Of course Hamm is best known for his long-running role as suave ad exec Don Draper in American series Mad Men, ending next year – so will this radical departure see him as a well-adjusted, cheerful fella with a pathological hatred of sharp suits and neat whiskey? Perish the thought.
Huq added: “[The episode] is very very good, although it hasn’t finished filming yet so I’m just saying all this because it’s the right thing to say! It’s being filmed as we speak, in a tower block in Feltham.”
The Christmas special (the news of which was broken by RadioTimes.com in August) has been described by Channel 4 as “the most mind-bending episode yet, showcasing three interwoven stories of Yuletide techno-paranoia,” and will also star Game of Thrones' Oona Chaplin and The Shadow Line's Rafe Spall in currently unspecified roles.
Previously Black Mirror’s one-off storylines have included a robot boyfriend built from Twitter, a dystopian talent show and a fictional Prime Minister having sex with a pig on live TV– so the jury’s out on just what this episode has coming to justify its “most mind-bending” tag.
Huq also explained that while she won’t be co-writing a Black Mirror episode any time soon (as she did for series one’s Fifteen Million Merits, starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jessica Brown Findlay) due to looking after her young children, she did have some influence on the upcoming Christmas special.
“I sort of helped with the initial conception, but I didn’t actually do any of the co-writing or anything on it, because then I was up to my knees in sick and nappies and stuff,” she explained.
As a matter of fact, it sounds like Huq may have had a hand in a major twist of the narrative – but she won’t say what.
“One of the things... but I can’t say what because that blows it!” she said. “But that was my idea. I can only say after you’ve seen it.”
Huq will next be seen presenting Sky 1’s King of the Nerds, a remake of an American series which sees a group of pop-culture fanatics live together by night and battle it out by day to become the winner and take their place on the Throne of Games.
“I think there’s literally something for everyone in King of the Nerds,” said Huq.
“It’s reality show meets quiz meets documentary, meets science, meets fantasy and sci-fi, meets awesome!”
King of the Nerds is on Sky1 later this autumn
