Jon Hamm, the star of AMC's critically lauded series Mad Men, is a huge baseball fan, so it's fitting that he star in Disney's new baseball movie, Million Dollar Arm.
In his new film, Hamm plays a version of real life JB Bernstein, a sports agent who devised and orchestrated a nationwide talent search for prospective Major League baseball players- in India! ABC News, a division of Disney, had the scoop:
"Back in 2008, Bernstein's idea seemed improbable -- stage an 'American Idol'-like contest across India, to discover Major League Baseball's next big stars. He thought if he could turn Indian cricket throwers into professional pitchers in America, the marketing opportunities in a country of more than one billion people would be endless. 'The probability of finding a raw, natural talent athlete there was huge to us."
In addition to Hamm's Bernstein, the story focuses on javelin throwers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel (played by Suraj Sharma and Madhur Mittal, respectively) who would win the contest and become the first two Indian baseball players to join the Major Leagues.
While there are similarities between Mad Men's Don Draper and the slick talking Bernstein of Million Dollar Arm, Jon Hamm was drawn to the role for different reasons:
"He realizes that he's impacting their lives, not always positively," Hamm said. "So he makes the decision to become a force for positive change in their lives, and becomes much more of a father figure to the boys than I think he ever intended... It's just a very interesting story for me, especially as someone who gets to play maybe not the most wholesome person on the planet, six months out of the year," Hamm said."
What do you think? Is Million Dollar Arm going to be sappy and sentimental? Is Jon Hamm worth it? Will you cry?
Tell us thoughts in the comment field below.
