Dishing with Jon Hamm about Million Dollar Arm, Filming in India, and Baseball #MillionDollarArmEvent

Sharing is caring!

Last week attending the Million Dollar Arm premiere was a whirlwind. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and we had the pleasure of chatting it up with Jon Hamm, star of Million Dollar Arm. We laughed, we cried (when he left), and we learned what it was like to play the lead role in a film that is sure to inspire millions.

Disney did send me on an all expenses paid trip to this amazing experience, but I swear all the awesome commentary, fan girling, and starlet drooling are my own.

Jon Hamm is famous for his stellar role on AMC’s Mad Men. Since this girl doesn’t have cable, I wasn’t quite familiar with his work, but oh boy was my mom! She gave me a slew of questions to ask him about his acting career. Luckily for me, we had a chance to see Million Dollar Arm before interviewing Mr. Hamm, and I got a chance to see for myself just want a talented actor he is.

In Million Dollar Arm, Jon Hamm plays JB Bernstein a sports agent that is on the ropes trying to revive his ailing agency. After a big client slips through his fingers, he’s left looking for a creative solution to keep his business partnership together. Of course that means one should head to India to look for baseball players.

Myself and 24 other bloggers sat down with Mr. Hamm, and asked him what it was like playing someone that was a real person rather than a fictional character. He shared

“[he] felt very responsible towards J.B. Especially after having met him and, and kind of learning his story and learning how profoundly this experience changed his life.  We, we tried to tell that in the film.  You know that actually happened to the guy.”

It was really refreshing despite the fact that JB Bernstein and his story was not known world wide, Hamm felt a sense of responsibility to do a stellar job retelling the tale behind Million Dollar Arm. After meeting the real JB Bernstein, I would have to say that Jon did a fantastic job capturing the essence of JB on the big screen.

Photo courtesy of Disney

A lot of  Million Dollar Arm was filmed in India. There is a lot of beauty in those portions of the film, but it is also very different from life here in America. We asked Jon to dish on what it was like to film in India for those portions of the film. Jon jested ”

[Filming in India] was a full on, immersive experience.  It was hot.  So much so that even our Indian crew were like, “What, what do you do about this stuff?”  “Well, we don’t shoot in May.  You guys, you guys are idiots.  Like, the only ones who shoot in May are Americans.  Like, we go inside.”

It was funny to hear that it was so blistering hot that even the Indian film crew was beginning to struggle with the heat. Leave it to American film makers to film in one of the hottest months of the year, but there was movie magic that had to be made! (Other casts mates later shared that Jon had about 25 wardrobe changes a day because the heat was so sweltering)

Photo Courtesy of Disney

All joking aside, Jon shared a lot of great insight into the inspiration behind the movie and how he thinks Million Dollar Arm is different from other inspirational sports movies. We asked him specifically what sets Million Dollar Arm apart from other sports movies that have come along, and he boasted

Most good sports films, it’s not necessarily all about the sport. I think if you look at something like The Natural.  Ostensibly that’s about baseball or a baseball player.  But it’s really about this guy and his life and how it was changed ,and how it was interrupted and then he got to come back and fall in love and all that other stuff.  That’s a movie that if I watch the whole thing and I’m a mess by the end of it.

[Million Dollar Arm] is a family movie but it’s set against the backdrop of sports, in particular baseball. It would be a disservice to it, I think, to just say it’s a baseball movie because it means much more than that.  TThat’s kind of one of the reasons why I wanted to do this film.

It was really refreshing to get a chance to speak with Jon Hamm about Million Dollar Arm and to see his passion for this project. It wasn’t just another job. It was a project he believed in because he wanted to make sure people heard about the story of JB Bernstein and Million Dollar Arm

The more I’ve learned about Million Dollar Arm and the real life story that inspired this movie, the more I want to learn even more! If you are intrigued by Million Dollar Arm? Make sure to check out my green carpet experience at the film premiere, PLUS other great interviews with Million Dollar Arm cast members!