Entertainment
Jon Hamm Names the 3 Pixar Movies That Leave Him a “Weeping Mess”
Summary
- Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Jon Hamm for Pixar’s Hoppers.
- Hamm discusses the animation projects he’s been a part of and his favorite Pixar films.
- He also shares his favorite films from Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg.
Emmy Award winner Jon Hamm is probably best known for his role as Don Draper in Mad Men, but lately, he’s found a new passion within the industry. While talking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub about Pixar’s new comedy adventure, Hoppers, Hamm was discussing the magic of animation and how he’s been fortunate to lend his unmistakable voice to several animated projects now. “I’ve been animated,” he says proudly, “and I like it.”
In Hoppers, Hamm voices Mayor Jerry Generazzo, who’s taken hostage by a group of animals on a mission, rallied by a 19-year-old animal-lover named Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda). Disney and Pixar’s latest takes audiences on a hilarious adventure when Mabel borrows a new technology to “hop” into the body of a robotic beaver, allowing her to infiltrate the animal kingdom. By doing so, she manages to convince King George (Bobby Moynihan) and the others to take a stand against a looming threat.
Check out the full conversation in the video above or the transcript below, where Hamm breaks down the animation process to turn him and fellow castmates, Dave Franco, Vanessa Bayer, Moynihan, and more, into their Hoppers characters, and which Pixar movies are his favorites. He also shares his favorite films from directors Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg.
How Does Pixar Always Leave Us All a “Weeping Mess”?
Jon Hamm shares his favorite Pixar movies.
COLLIDER: I heard you haven’t seen this yet.
JON HAMM: I have not. I’m looking forward to seeing it at the premiere in front of a ton of kids and a packed audience. I’m very, very excited to see it.
I’m going to give you a spoiler warning: the movie is incredible.
HAMM: Good.
It is easily my favorite Pixar movie in years. It is tremendous. You have no idea what you’re about to get yourself into.
HAMM: I’m very excited. I have some idea. I did make it and read it. I have a lot of trust in the people who had their hands on it, so I’m very excited to see what they’ve done.
I’ve been asking this of everyone at every Pixar junket, but do you have a favorite Pixar movie?
HAMM: It’s hard to pick one.
I know. The answer is Ratatouille.
HAMM: [Laughs] It’s hard to pick one. Ratatouille is great. Obviously, Patton [Oswalt]’s work in that was so spectacular, but also the message of the film and the idea of the critic is so… as you may or may not have an opinion on that yourself. I love WALL-E. I love how the story was told without, really, any voices, just sounds and images. It’s a really elegant, beautiful way to tell a story. Toy Story, my god. I mean, the amount of times I’ve sat on a plane and watched that movie, those movies, and am completely a weeping mess, to the point where stewardesses were getting worried. [Laughs]
What Pixar does, their history of doing this, is combine an incredibly well-told story with deeply, deeply funny, humorous elements, and really connect emotionally. All the movies that we mentioned do that incredibly well, and I think this is certainly worthy of that lineage.
By the way, I would also accept WALL-E as an answer for my favorite Pixar.
HAMM: Yeah, man. It’s great.
It’s incredible.
Jon Hamm Explains Pixar’s Animation Process
Have we seen Mayor Jerry somewhere before…?
So when they came to you to play Mayor Jerry, did the design always look like that, or when you got cast, all of a sudden he morphs to look a little bit like you?
HAMM: It’s hard to tell which is the chicken or the egg. But I certainly think that what the animators do incredibly is that as you continue, as you start laying down the tracks, and as you get through the scripts and as they get rewritten and as they get roughed in and animated a little bit, they definitely start taking all of the footage that they have of you in the booth and they start using that as a kind of guide track for the characters’ facial expressions, for their physicality, for sure. As you go through the movie and you start watching it, you really start to see Bobby [Moynihan] in King George, and you see Vanessa [Bayer] in Diane, and you really start to see Dave [Franco] in Titus. You really start to see these people. They kind of come out through the animation. It’s very cool.
So, I don’t know how. I think it’s magical. I cannot draw a lick, so I think it’s incredible what these guys can do. It’s very cool. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in quite a few cool animated films, whether it’s Shrek or Minions or now this, or even Grimsburg on Fox. I’ve been animated, and I like it.
Oh, I can’t imagine, truthfully.
Jon Hamm Discusses His Favorite Films From Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg
“Wait, what did I just watch? What just happened?”
I’ve been asking this of a lot of people I’ve been interviewing recently. Do you have a favorite Christopher Nolan movie?
HAMM: Favorite Christopher Nolan movie? I’ll go back to the source material and say Memento. I think that one showed his incredible attention to detail and the incredible acuity that he has with telling a very complicated story. And it was a story that I don’t think a lot of people were prepared for. It was almost like the first time you saw The Usual Suspects, and you’re like, “Wait, what did I just watch? What just happened?” It’s just so creative with the storytelling. I thought that was the one that really established him as someone to watch.
The other thing I’ve been asking everyone is what’s your favorite Steven Spielberg?
HAMM: Holy moly. That’s a tall order. But I guess if I’m going to go with one, I’d say Jaws.
That is a very common answer with a lot of people. It’s a masterpiece and flawless.
HAMM: Yeah. And the most amazing thing about it was Jaws was, what, ‘77, ‘76?
I almost want to say ‘75.
HAMM: Maybe it was. Maybe it was around there. To then kind of the next major thing be E.T. is such a genre shift.
I think he did Close Encounters.
HAMM: Close Encounters in between, but to tell a story, that deeply terrifying blockbuster that Jaws was, and then to come back on the other end of the spectrum and you tell E.T.? And you’re right, Close Encounters in between, but holy moly, what a what a gifted storyteller.
Hoppers is in theaters now.
- Release Date
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March 6, 2026
- Runtime
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105 minutes
- Director
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Daniel Chong
- Writers
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Daniel Chong, Jesse Andrews
- Producers
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Nicole Paradis Grindle
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Piper Curda
Mabel Tanaka / Mabel Beaver (voice)
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