Colin Hanks on The Good Guys, Mad Men, and Comparing Himself to Dad

I read an interview with Good Guys creator Matt Nix who said that Jack tries to drag Dan into 2010 while Dan tries to drag Jack into the '70s. Your presence actually seems more old-fashioned to me. Do you ever feel like a product of a bygone era, or are you an adamantly 2010 actor?

No, I sort of definitely feel like the kind of things I like to do and see are of a bygone era. I look at things already and I'm starting to go, "Why does it have to be so fast and so loud? Can we just have a moment where we just look at each other for a minute and get lost in each others' eyes?" You know? I'm a little bit different than the faster-faster-faster, better-quicker-faster-warmer kind of mentality of the past few years. But I totally understand what Matt is saying. I think that's a very apt description of the two characters. But I sort of -- I'm constantly wrestling with "What is the best way to tell a story?" There have only been a few instances in which I've been able to help tell a story in the way that I like to tell stories. That is in no way putting down the jobs in which I've not been able to do that. I am an actor, and my job is to tell a story, and it's a collaborative thing. The first question is, "OK, what's the story we're telling? And how do we want to tell it?" And you find out what that is, and you go about doing it the best you can. You try and add little things here, you try to bring your stuff to the table. It's a collaborative thing. It's what I love doing. But yeah, I definitely feel like my way of doing things is a little bit more old-school in that regard. I don't think you're wrong there. You've just validated my last eight years of existence. (Laughs.) We're needy people, actors.

No problem. I guess I see... a Hitchcock protagonist in you? A classic gent who cautiously allows himself to enter a world of intrigue?

There's the classic archetype of the guy you have to go on a journey with. And that's primarily the kind of stuff that has come my way. I'm not a particularly scary-looking individual, or a particularly unique looking individual. There is that sort of middle-of-the-road, "Oh, he looks like a nice guy" type of thing.

The fact that you look so much like your dad must influence the roles you get.

There's definitely -- there's really nothing I can do about that. The older I get, the more and more it comes up. "Oh, you look so much like him! You sound so much like him!" I mean, that's science. It's like that with everybody. (Laughs.) Whether we want to admit it or not, it's just the way the whole life thing kind of happens. It just so happens that everyone knows what my dad looks and sounds like. Workwise, you were talking about eras; I look at some of the movies that he did, and I'm like, "Oh, he's already playing a young married guy, and he's got a good job and all of that sort of stuff. He's doing funny stuff." He was doing that at 27. Well, I'm 32, and the only things that are available are "Why can't I get the girl?" The stories are different. A lot of times I feel like, I'm not worried if I do something too similar to him because there are just different types of stories now. It's not a huge major concern.

So far I haven't read many Good Guys reviews that go for the Bosom Buddies comparison. So I guess I should congratulate you.

There were a few when we were doing the press junket. One thing that actually made me laugh was that they called Bradley my "Hooch." I'm Turner and Bradley is Hooch. That made me laugh.

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