Emmy Award-winning actor and producerJon Hamm, known for his iconic role as Don Draper in the drama seriesMad Men, is starring in an Amazon Original true-crime podcast. The podcast, titledAmerican Hostage, justlaunched on February 22.
Based on a true story, the series is set in Indianapolis in 1977. Hamm playsFred Heckman, a local radio reporter beloved by everyone, who suddenly finds himself thrown into a life-or-death predicament whenTony Kiritsistakes him hostage and demands an interview on Heckman’s radio news program. Using Heckman’s show to his advantage, Kiritsis progressively grows into a media sensation as well as an anti-hero during a 63-hour hostage situation and a standoff with the police. More than a nail-biting story,American Hostageasks questions that are just as relevant today in 2022 as they were decades ago in 1977, namely “Who is the real victim?” and “Is the media helping or causing harm?”
Alongside Hamm, other members of the cast lending their talent and voices to the project areCarla Gugino(The Haunting of Bly Manor),Dylan Baker(Hunters), andJoe Perrino(Power). The series is directed by Academy Award-winnerShawn Christensen(Blackout), written byCD Carpenter, withGabriel Mason, Hamm, and Christensen as executive producers. Amazon Music and Criminal Content co-produced the podcast.
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Regarding Hamm’s role in the project, Mason and Christensen said:
“We feel incredibly fortunate and grateful that our first project is with the exceptional and talented Jon Hamm, who stars in a story that is not only powerful, but also asks thought-provoking and timely questions about America, the media, and the world today.”
In turn, Hamm had these words to share about what he thought of the series' theme:
“Part of what attracted me to this story was the absolute brazenness of the crime itself compounded by the slow burn realization that something was terribly wrong. The parallels to today’s dissatisfaction on all sides with not being heard, not being understood and somehow being taken advantage of by something bigger than us are glaring. We apparently still haven’t learned our lessons about the consequences of dismissing people’s outrage.”
All eight episodes ofAmerican Hostageare available now for binging on Amazon Music and Wondery+. You can listen to the whole series on Amazon Musichere.
