How Dan Rad Got Cast As A Young Hamm

How Dan Rad Got Cast As A Young Hamm

It was revealed in May that Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe had been tapped to play the same character, albeit at different ages, in the British miniseries A Young Doctor's Notebook. Now, Jon tells TheInsider.com that he was actually behind the inspired casting!

RELATED - Jon Explains How He Avoids The Gigli-Curse

"The project came to fruition when I was working on The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," Jon tells me. "One of the producers on that said, 'If there's ever anything you want to put together, let me know.' And I said the same to him. One of the things that came up was this collection of short stories called A Young Doctor's Notebook. By nature of this work, it's very episodic and I thought it could be a cool little miniseries, which the Brits tend to be more open to than we are."

Emmy Hopeful Elisabeth Moss Talks Mad Men

Once they got a writer involved, the idea to have two versions of this doctor -- his older self and younger self -- came to light. "I literally said, 'The young guy should be Daniel Radcliffe.' Not really thinking about who looks like what, just knowing Dan is a talented guy and is interesting in doing different things. They asked, 'Do you know him?' And I didn't ... but I met him once, so I figured we could ask. So we did and he said yes."

And there's good news for fans who worried the format of the series will keep Dan and Jon apart -- the Mad Men star tells me that the titular doctor interacts with himself at various points in a "fantastical drug-addled way." As one is apt to do.


Hot New Hookups! | The Latest Hollywood Trends | Summer’s Hottest New Movie