Reflections on Tom Hanks interviewed by Dave Eggers last night (who was an incredible interviewer, weird Tom Hanks pic in that link btw) in no particular order:
Tom Hanks had a mix and match upbringing in the Bay Area that included his “original parents” as he said getting divorced. He said he was kind of big deal because his parents got divorced at a time when only people named Zsa Zsa got divorced.
At some point during his youth, he realized that acting was not just something to goof off and have fun with but something to be studied. He talked about a class where they read a play, went to see it and wrote a paper on it and that was part of the transformation.
He said he thought one movie could be done over and over: That Thing You Do! He also talked about the inspiration being a song called Little Honda by the Hondells and how they got sick of singing that hit song. He kind of wanted the movie viewers to get tired of the song “That Thing You Do” in the movie.
My truth is I wish he would have played the full song every time because the camera work each time they did it and the setting of the story was different each time. I also binge listened to that song with my daughter when she was like 10 and we loved it.
He talked about how he writes pages and pages of backstory for characters when he does movie that go beyond the script. I didn’t even know actors did that. The idea is to create a past story for the context of the current character’s motivation.
This is probably really basic for most, but I didn’t know that each scene in a movie has a purpose: to move the story forward. He talked about how one director told him they need to find the “Red Dot” in the scene. (I couldn’t help but think of the Seinfeld Sweater episode or a few of my married Hindu friends)
He has a book of short stories and so many of them are founded either in history or in the lived experience of both discovering our tiny part of the universe and the related gigantic reality of our lives in that context. I really appreciated how he shared that he doesn’t feel drawn to the classic protagonist/hero narrative.
He told the story about how his Father In Law came to America which was a compelling 2 hour chat. When he mentioned how incredible the story was to his wife, his wife said basically I’ve never heard the story, what was it? It’s funny how we have people in our lives where there is tons of back story that we may not even be aware of.
He did a great physical imitation of writers who are confused and uncertain. About that time, he also touched on how a writer thinks a story will go one way but upon writing it, the story follows tributaries to the river down all kinds of other paths.
This is not an exact quote, but he sort of said “Hubris and celebrity are not qualifiers for leadership” or something like that as he reflected on politics. Not long after that he responded that he would not run for President. He said that the level of commitment and ideological certainty at a minimum don’t fit.
One of the best stories was when he shared about the scene in John Adams where Adams was the lawyer for the British Soldiers who shot into the mob. It was a substantial reframe of a historical event for him. It is a totally compelling scene from a series I’ve watched twice from beginning to end.
He brought up how when he watched movies he assumed everything was totally accurate. (he told a really funny side story about how he talks to people he portrays in movies saying he’ll do things they’ve never done, go places they’ve never been and his single desire is to play them truthfully!) He feels a responsibility to be as close to accurate as possible because he understands kids sometimes watch it.
One funny quote: “Politics is Hollywood for ugly people”
The quality he thinks is most important in work of almost any kind and I’m guessing life is perseverance. He talked about when the phone is not ringing with opportunities you have to keep fighting for your dream. I know it seems like a throwaway quote, but for some reason it felt real for him. He seems like a really hard worker.
He talked about the abuses of power in the industry and not surprisingly strongly called it out as wrong. He also asked the women in the audience to basically clap if they’ve been harassed or assaulted in the work place and it seemed like 80-90% of the women clapped.
Finally, three reflections on how he talked.
First, I’ve seen other actors/actresses talk and they tend to talk about acting at a level that is just not relatable. He takes on the same topics but does it understandably. It made it totally engaging.
Second, dude swears like a sailor at times. He dropped f-bombs like he was auditioning for a Scorsese mob flick.
Third, he’s funny, like really funny. I don’t know why but I was surprised he was that funny.