Jon Hamm basically went through hell to bring us the last scene of Mad Men

The Emmys are tonight, and soon we’ll know who’s going to take home the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. The competition is TOUGH, especially considering the fact this is Jon Hamm’s last shot at snagging the award for his portrayal of Don Draper on Mad Men. He’s been nominated eight times before this, one for every season (bearing in mind Season 7 was split in half) and lost every time (but he’s always a winner in our hearts).

While we all have our favorites in the category (that includes Bob Odenkirk, Kevin Spacey, Kyle Chandler, Liev Schreiber, and Jeff Daniels, too), it should finally be Hamm’s time to shine. According to Hamm, filming that last scene of Mad Men ever  — the one that finds Don Draper sitting cliff-side, meditating about Coca-Cola — was incredibly painful for him in more ways than one.

Talking to USA Today, Hamm explains that shooting that scene was a “tricky day,” and everything needed to be perfect since it was the last we’d ever see of the show. Not only was it tricky, it was also kinda painful for Hamm, since for the non-flexible actor, sitting cross-legged cause him to “literally [pull] both of my groin muscles.”

On top of that, Hamm was given a pretty important task: “Not to fall off the cliff.” That proved difficult as well, since it was an incredibly windy day and a strong of a gust of wind might have sent him and everyone else toppling right over the edge. So, it’s a good thing there was no strong gust.

If you’re wondering why you can’t see any wind movement in this final cliff-side scene, it’s because on top of the groin muscles, and not falling off the cliff, Hamm was suffering under “nine pounds of hairspray” to make sure that his slicked back hair didn’t move an INCH during filming.

Good thing all the prep, the hairspray, and the pulled groin muscles were worth it – at least for us. Mad Men delivered a phenomenal closing moment, with a tiny hint of a smile. Let’s just hope it’s enough for Hamm to win big tonight.

(Image via AMC.)