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Matthew Weiner has admittedly nabbed more than his fair share of souvenirs from the Mad Men set.
“Oh my God, I took too much home from the set. I would have taken everything!” the showrunner told Esquire of his post-production keepsakes. “It’s my favorite period. I had emotional attachments to everything. One of the specifics — I took Don’s Clio, the one he broke upon his desk. I have to admit, I took something from almost everybody’s set. I took Roger’s bar. Roger’s bar is the happiest bar on the show, so I always thought that would be nice.”
Weiner also laughed while noting that his taste in drinks has changed, possibly due to his lead character’s (Jon Hamm) impact on cocktail menus. “Ordering an Old-Fashioned, which was always my favorite drink, used to be a lot less of a wait. It’s gotten to the point where the drink science has been elevated to the point that if you order an Old-Fashioned, you might not get your drink for a good 15 minutes after they burn something on top of it and shake it and change glasses, muddle and everything. It never used to be that way, so I’ve kind of moved into simpler drinks, a bit more Don Draper: ‘Give me something brown with ice in it.’ That’s just impatience.”
Still, the showrunner is ready for inconsistent reactions to the final episodes. “The road has been paved for a mixed review, no matter what. I do what I’ve always done on the show and rely on the people around me. The actors, the writers, and my wife all liked it, so that’s all I can go on at this point.”
Though Weiner is facing the end of Mad Men in spring 2015, his first feature film, Are You Here, hits theaters this weekend, starring Zach Galifianakis and Owen Wilson as estranged childhood friends who embark on a journey back to their hometown.
“Their friendship is both the best thing in their lives and it’s a liability because it’s allowing them to keep from moving on and accepting the choices of adulthood, allowing them to stay in their current pattern,” he explained of the dramedy, also featuring Amy Poehler. “The movie starts off with a feeling of these two guys living their life like they’re in a stoner comedy, but you see that they’re just avoiding the next stage in life. In the end, I hope you realize that the friendship is the most essential and valuable part of their life; they can be there for each other and face the compromises of accepting adulthood.”
Are You Here hits theaters Aug. 22.
Email: Ashley.Lee@THR.com
Twitter: @cashleelee
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