Jon Hamm on wealth and privilege: 'Most people, when they're given too much stuff, behave badly'

Jon Hamm isn't just laying out his own thoughts on wealth and privilege on a whim, or because of current political or sociological winds. He's speaking with RadioTimes.com about his new Apple TV+ drama Your Friends & Neighbours from creator Jonathan Tropper, a show in which he plays, you guessed it, someone extraordinarily wealthy.

Hamm stars as Andrew 'Coop' Cooper, a hedge fund manager who has had a pretty easy life. That is, until his marriage broke down and he got fired in disgrace.

In order to maintain his lifestyle and his dignity, he starts stealing from the homes of his neighbours, all of whom live alongside Coop's family in the exceedingly affluent Westmont Village.

Cue an exploration of social class, power, materialism, family and self-actualisation, all with some twisty-turny thriller elements thrown in for good measure.

Hamm's role, as both an executive producer and star of the series, came about "very simply", according to the man himself.

"I sat down with Jonathan Tropper over lunch," he explains, "and we talked about wanting to work together. I was a fan of his writing - he's a wonderful novelist and his prose is really thought-provoking and well crafted. And we we were in the mutual admiration society, so we decided to try to find something to do together."

For Hamm, the role of Coop presented a challenge - to not make him "a caricature".

"I think we've seen the kind of rich d***, for want of a better word, who's kind of over-privileged and under-aware," he says. "So it's really to make that three-dimensional and make him a real person that has more than just a cool car and a bunch of stuff. That was the real challenge of making him the centre of this story.

"And I think what Jonathan has done, and what I've done in bringing him to life, is really highlight what it is that Coop is missing.

"Because when all of the stuff is taken away and all of the access and the privilege and all of that is taken away, he has to really kind of boil down and drill down and figure out, 'Well, what are the things in life that are meaningful to me moving forward?' And I think that's what the show becomes, is an examination of that.

"Obviously, it's set in this incredibly attractive landscape and it's got a murder at the centre of the story as well, and all of those serve to be plot points that keep people engaged, but fundamentally, I think that's the story of the show, is really, 'What is it in Coop’s life that he finds he needs to be fulfilled and satisfied,' because it ain't watches and jewellery."

Materialism and the question of its value is really at the heart of the show, with Coop's inner monologue frequently explaining the (ludicrous) monetary value of the items he's stealing.

It is by no means the first show to examine these themes. In recent times, we've had the likes of The White Lotus, Succession, Bel-Air, Billions, The Fall of the House of Usher and many more, each of which have shone a light on the 1 per cent - particularly in American society.

As expressed up top, Hamm has a very clear position on this - he believes that wealth and privilege are fundamentally corrupting, no matter who comes into contact with them.

"I think most people, when they're given too much stuff, they behave badly," he says. "We see it certainly in something like The White Lotus. We've seen it even from a governmental standpoint in shows; maybe The Thick of It is something that you could look at of privileged people behaving absurdly.

"There's too many examples to count, but I think it is something that holds up a lens to those of us in the world that have this privilege and say, like, 'Maybe try to do better than this.'"

In spite of this, Hamm explained that he and Tropper never wanted the show to be "relentlessly didactic or judgmental", explaining that "that's the last thing you want" when watching, and trying to enjoy, television.

"It is meant to be entertaining, and that doesn't necessarily mean it has to always be funny or ridiculous," he says, before revealing his own latest TV binge - Adolescence.

Hamm continues: "[It's] not funny at all. But it is tremendously entertaining and riveting and thought-provoking and all of those things. I'm glad it's only four episodes, because it's pretty intense.

"So there is something to our show in finding that right balance. You don't want it to be too much of one thing, it needs to be offset with some sort of absurdity of humour or something to kind of make the dramatic moments stand out even more."

Speaking of those dramatic moments, viewers approaching the series and its nine-episode run will no doubt want to know what they have in store, and what they have to look forward to in the weeks ahead.

For Hamm, the clearest point to note is the resolution of the show's central mystery, which he calls "a pretty satisfying moment".

"I won't get too deep into it, for fear of spoiling what that is," he says, "but I do find that that part in the story is really quite satisfying. So I'll leave it at that."

Your Friends and Neighbours premieres on Friday 11th April on Apple TV+ with new episodes airing weekly. Sign up for Apple TV+ here.

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