Jon Hamm learned very quickly that he should never lie on a resume after auditioning for the 2004 movie Miracle.
The movie — as Hamm, 53, so eloquently described during The Hollywood Reporter Drama Actor Emmy Roundtable released on Thursday, June 6 — is “about the 1980 U.S. hockey team” who competed against the Soviet Union during the Winter Olympics that year. (Spoiler alert, they won.)
“I love ice hockey. Cannot play ice hockey, however, which is a very specific skill set. I can skate a little bit,” Hamm explained. “I can go forward and backward, I can turn, can’t really stop. But who needs that? That’s what the boards are for.”
He told fellow roundtable actors Matt Bomer, Clive Owen, David Oyelowo, Nicholas Galitzine and Callum Turner that he had an “absolutely humiliating” audition for Miracle — considering he sort of embellished his ice skating skills.
“I’ve learned now that I should take that skill off my resume,” he continued. “The movie ended up being great — one of my favorite sports movies of all time. … And I’m not in it.”
The film famously stars Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks, along with Patricia Clarkson, Patrick O’Brien Demsey, Nathan West, Noah Emmerich and Eddie Cahill, among others. Instead of teaching actors how to play hockey, director Gavin O’Connor decided that the cast should consist of real hockey players — some of whom were taught how to act. (The movie celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year.)
Hamm’s story during THR Roundtable sparked several anecdotes from his fellow actors, who revealed that they have also lied to get a role. Bomer, 46, joked that he is also a sports star on paper — or in an audition.
“I absolutely figure skate, I play ice hockey. Rollerblade,” he quipped. “Yes, years of experience.”
Galitzine, 29, said that he’s lied about his appearance.
“Mine’s more physical things, like being able to grow facial hair and look older than I am,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, no, I’ll come in with a little beard.’ Yeah, I’ll definitely look like 34 when I come in, not a 20-year-old prepubescent young man, but I’m still waiting for that.”
Turner, 34, agreed: “I’m with you, man. I can’t grow it. Wish I could.”
The drama actors also discussed auditioning overall, which had the room divided.
“I like auditioning,” Turner admitted, surprising some of the stars. “Because you get into the room, and you get a feel for the director and the people you are going to work with.”
