Casting What-Ifs
Jon Hamm and Thomas Lennon auditioned for Derek before Adam Scott was cast; the film was built around Ferrell and Reilly, so there were few other what-ifs
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:47Read transcript
- The movie started with John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell and then went and found actors, so the only real what-if is Derek, for which Jon Hamm and Thomas Lennon auditioned during Mad Men (as transcribed, 'Badman'); something in Adam Scott's audition won them over.
- Hamm as Derek is called one of the better what-ifs the show has had, more intimidating and still funny, but Adam Scott has something evil and punchable about him, and it would be scary to punch Hamm.
- Scott told the oral history he modeled Derek on moneyed, douchey people he found online and in the Rob Report (as transcribed), a guy who reads a magazine with a speedboat on the cover; the name-drops at the first dinner are all people who seem douchey, Mark Cuban as 'the cubes', Chad Michael Murray, Bobby Flay and Seal, plus the Dane Cook pay-per-view, and being name-dropped by Derek is a tough beat.