'Tag' stars Ed Helms and Jon Hamm reveal the Marvel superheroes they'd want to play
An out of bounds concept for keeping a friendship alive with a decades-long game of tag is hitting the big screen with an all-star cast of characters who thought the concept was too good to be true.
Actors Ed Helms and Jon Hamm told "Good Morning America" they were immediately drawn to their new movie "Tag" -- which follows a real-life group of five friends and their highly competitive, no-holds-barred game of tag.
"I don't think you can make this movie unless it's real," Helms said. "Because it's too absurd of a premise. It's just too ridiculous."
Hamm added, "It's just a really nice kind of warm-hearted story about friends and that's what attracted both of us to the project."
And while their co-star Jeremy Renner's character has yet to be tagged, Hamm is confident that if it wasn't scripted that way for the movie that he could tag him in real life.
"Jeremy has never been tagged in the movie because it's written that way. We're not allowed to tag him. I could get that guy -- I'm relatively athletic, I can catch Jeremy Renner," Hamm said laughing. "I'm twice as tall as he is and I have longer arms."
Hamm explained that the group of men who inspired the film were in disbelief when they found out their tradition was being made into a movie.
"I thought we did a really nice kind of honoring of these guys because we got to meet these guys, the real guys who came down to visit on the set and they were just giddy at the fact that this ridiculous tradition that they've had going on for over three decades has been made into a movie. They were just kind of like, 'you guys are doing this? Really? We started this kind of as a weird thing and didn't know when to stop.'"
Helms has a similar way of keeping his friendships going strong in real life. "I have something kind of like that in my life which is a band that I'm in, The Lonesome Trio, these are my buddies that I've known since I was 16, 17-years-old," Helms said.
Both co-stars said they had a blast filming the action-packed comedy with their "all-star group of funny people," as Hamm put it, but Renner was the only actor whose antics led to him breaking both arms.
"I think I'm most proud of the fact that I didn't break any arms," Helms said of his co-star who also plays Avengers superhero Hawkeye. "The non-Avengers [we're] fine," Hamm added laughing.
Helms riffed off Renner's Avengers character saying if he were to play a superhero he would want to be hawk guy, "Just a guy that's super into hawks."
Hamm took the notion one step further. "I guess there's all this buzz about Ed being hawk guy and my character was going to be just called hot guy," he said. "Really just because he's constantly like warm. I just run a temperature," Hamm joked.
But while the actors have no plans to try and create a film for these fictional characters, they can be seen in "Tag" nationwide in theaters Friday.
Hamm later appeared on "The View" and told the hosts that he still connects with old friends from his hometown of St. Louis to stay grounded.
"I have friends of mine that I have known since I was 12 years old, and I still am friends with," he said. "We still get together, and it pulls you back to that time in your life that kind of grounds you and makes you remember what's important and what's real."
Hamm also revealed another unlikely tie to his hometown with "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" star and Missouri native Ellie Kemper, 38.
"She was my student. When she was in ninth-grade, she and her sister were both my students," the actor, 47, said. "I taught drama at my old high school, and so, you know, there is this little, like, red-headed pixie dancing around on stage, and I'm like, 'This girl is really talented.' And 12 years later, we were in 'Bridesmaids' together and [now] I'm a guest on her show."
