LA Noire Could Have Featured A Different, Very Famous, And More Expensive Lead Actor
LA Noire, the acclaimed 2011 detective game published by Rockstar Games, nearly featured a very different lead actor. According to Daniel McMahon, a writer who worked on the game, Jon Hamm—best known for his breakout role as Don Draper in the television series Mad Men—was seriously considered for the role of protagonist Cole Phelps.
Ultimately, the casting went to Aaron Staton, Hamm’s Mad Men co-star who portrayed Ken Cosgrove. In a recent interview with IGN, McMahon explained that while Hamm is “a wonderful actor,” he simply wasn’t the right fit for the character. The consideration of both actors was facilitated by the fact that Mad Men and LA Noire shared the same casting director.
McMahon emphasized that Staton proved “much better at portraying Cole’s fragility,” suggesting that the character’s complexity and vulnerability required the specific qualities Staton brought to the role. This revelation comes more than a decade after LA Noire’s release, providing behind-the-scenes insight into the creative casting decisions made during the game’s development.