"Mad Men": the actors did not smoke real cigarettes
When it arrived on our screens in 2007, the series "Mad Men" seduced by its scenario, the acting and its 1960's atmosphere. In the fiction, which tells the story of Don Draper, an advertising genius, we smoke as we breathe. But while tobacco is all over the screen, it's actually nowhere in "Mad Men."
Bright ideas, men in misogynistic costumes and clouds of smoke. This week, in SERIELAND, Clémence Olivier takes you behind the scenes of the "Mad Men" series.
Does Jon Hamm, the actor who plays Don Draper, really smoke all those cigarettes? This question, I asked myself while watching Mad Men, this series launched in 2007 which tells the story of this advertising genius in the 1960s in New York. On screen, the main character, his colleagues, his wife, his neighbors, his mistresses also smoke a LOT. AMC, the American channel that broadcast Mad Men, had fun doing the math. And over the seven seasons, in total, 942 cigarettes were smoked by the characters.
Except they don't really smoke. We can see the actors with a cigarette in their mouths, and smoke coming out of their nostrils, but what they inhale is not nicotine, it is a mixture of herbs and plants, rose petals and even licorice. Not sure it is better for your health. But at least it's guaranteed tobacco-free! And as with every scene, there are many takes, so it's not too bad. Moreover, smoking tobacco in the workplace, and on film sets, is prohibited in California. And it was in this state that Mad Men was filmed.
Cigarettes burned by props
For the creator of the series, Matthew Weiner, it's also a way to ensure a more serene filming. In an interview with the New York Times, he said that making actors smoke real cigarettes, especially when it's on a regular and rehearsed basis, is always a bad idea. It makes them restless, nervous. He even says that he has seen actors vomit from smoking too much… In short, according to him, it is better to avoid.
But that's not all. As the actors weren't very fond of herbal substitutes either, the props helped them by burning the cigarettes at the exact point where the previous shot had left off. That way the actors didn't have to shoot their cigarettes frantically.
But the creator of the series also had requirements. His goal was for all the comedians who smoke on the show to be believable. According to Buzzfeed, he therefore had a rule in place: No one on the set should smoke herbal cigarettes if they had never smoked in their life.
Sales of Lucky Strike, boosted by the series?
I do not know if the rule has been applied, but on the screen, in any case, we believe it. So much so that according to a British anti-tobacco association, The British Lung Foundation, the series would even have had an effect on the sales of Lucky Strike, the cigarettes that Don Draper smokes!
Between the 1st and the 5th season of Mad Men, the tobacco company sold ten billion more packs of cigarettes in the world. It's a great progression! According to the association, this is mainly because Mad Men conveys a cool and glamorous image of cigarettes. In the 1st episode, Don Draper is even tasked with coming up with a slogan for the Lucky Strike brand. He is inspired ...
So it's true, cigarettes are part of the DNA of the series. But the link between the broadcast of Mad Men and the sales of Lucky Strike is very complicated to prove. Me, in any case, I never wanted to smoke while looking at her. However, I quickly became addicted to this high quality series!
