Jon Hamm on working with Richard Jewell director Clint Eastwood

Actor Jon Hamm said he “loved going to work everyday” while shooting his latest film with director Clint Eastwood.

Eastwood, one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars, is still going strong at the age of 89 and got back in the director’s chair for the drama Richard Jewell.

The film is based on the true story of a security guard who discovers a bomb at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, only to be wrongly accused of planting it himself.

It features Paul Walter Hauser in the titular lead role, alongside a star-studded cast including Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates and Hamm.

Hamm, best known for playing Don Draper in Mad Men, said four-time Oscar winner Eastwood was an “inspiration”.

Speaking at the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles, he said: “He’s a legend. The guy has worked for 60 years in the movie industry, if not longer. I don’t know what to say about him other than he’s an inspiration and he’s incredibly talented. I loved going to work everyday.”

Asked how it was working with Eastwood – who rose to international fame starring in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy of “Spaghetti Westerns” in the 1960s – Hamm said: “Pretty loose and active and smart and funny and efficient.”

Richard Jewell’s actions saved lives but the FBI wrongly identified him among the suspects, leading him to be publicly vilified in the press.

Jewell was cleared after 88 days of intense scrutiny and died of heart failure in 2007 at the age of 44.

Hamm, speaking at the AFI Fest, said Jewell should have been treated as a national hero.

“He was tried in the media before any of the facts were in,” Hamm added.

“And he was wrongfully accused by law enforcement agencies, several law enforcement agencies, that didn’t have their facts correct and (which were) operating under agendas that weren’t right.”

Hamm warned a similar mistake could happen today, “because information travels even faster now”.

The film will be released in UK cinemas on January 31, 2020.