Jon Hamm "had a blast" making 'Tag'.

Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm

The former 'Mad Men' star was delighted to team up with Ed Helms, Jeremy Renner, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Hannibal Buress, Isla Fisher, Rashida Jones, and Leslie Bibb on the new movie because they were all "kindred spirits".

He said: "I had a blast. I've known a lot of these guys before. I worked with Renner on 'The Town', and with Isla.

"But I also knew Ed and Hannibal and Jake through various social connections around the way and I knew that they were all kindred spirits."

The movie is based on a 2013 Wall Street Journal article about a group of friends who started playing the titular playground game at school in the 1980s, and it's still going strong, with the pals going to great lengths to tag one another.

And Jon thinks there's an "infectious joy" to the story that will touch the heart of viewers.

He told the Irish Times newspaper: "I read the article the movie is based on first, long before I read the script. And I was like, 'This is a really cool story', And I came away from it thinking like, 'I want to hang out with those guys'.

"The article opened like the film does, with somebody jumping out on this high-powered mid-town executive. There's nothing funnier than seeing a grown-ass man in a suit playing this ridiculous game. There's an infectious joy about it.

"I loved the idea of real people physically connecting and that it keeps them bonded."

The 47-year-old star particularly liked the physicality of the game because he has such a dislike for the way people interact largely on social media these days.

He said: "I don't know how people do it. It's just not part of my vocabulary. I know there is a whole generation now that thinks in likes and clicks. That's part of the job of being an actor now. It's part of the business model and part of getting a movie out there. But it's a virtual world that I don't engage with or understand."

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