Jon Hamm has revealed that he become a mentor to James Gandolfini’s son following the Sopranos star’s sudden death.
Gandolfini died of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 51. His son Michael was 14 years old at the time.
Now, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hamm has revealed that Michael “reached out” to him when the actor died, due to encouragement from his father.
“He said, ‘My dad told me that you were a good guy,'” explained Hamm, noting that he was emotional about the interaction. His response to Michael, now 25, was: “‘OK, let’s be friends.’ And he is. He’s my buddy.”
Hamm said that he’s since “been a bit of a mentor to him” as Michael has taken up acting, even reprising his father’s iconic character, Tony Soprano, in the 2021 prequel film The Many Saints of Newark.
The Mad Men star noted that he didn’t know Gandolfini closely, though they now have “a very interesting connection” thanks to his son.
One thing the pair did share, however, was an odd relationship with their beloved characters – Tony Soprano and Don Draper.
Hamm said his Mad Men character “got celebrated for the wrong reasons,” adding: “People thought that Don was this paragon of masculinity or whatever. There were so many think-pieces, and you go, ‘Wait, he was pretty fucked up.'”
Gandolfini “had a similar relationship to Tony Soprano,” Hamm said, adding that Bryan Cranston felt the same about Breaking Bad‘s Walter White.
Earlier this week, it was revealed by fellow Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler that Gandolfini used to quietly donate to multiple sclerosis (MS) charities under the name Tony Soprano.
The actress, who played his daughter Meadow Soprano on the HBO series, was diagnosed with the disease in 2002, and Gandolfini was the first person that she shared the news with on set.
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