“Making a movie also has this vicious reality to it” - When Tom Hanks boldly deciphered the art of filmmaking 

Following the release of Tom Hanks' first novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece in 2023, David Remnick from The New Yorker interviewed the eminent actor. In this 2023 interview which took place at Symphony Space, a theatre on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Remnick spoke to Hanks about the process of making a movie, where the Oscar winner said:

"Making a movie also has this vicious reality to it: they last forever."

Tom Hanks, whose career spans over four decades, has won two Oscars and starred in box office hits like Splash, Saving Private Ryan, and Catch Me If You Can. He drew from his decades of experience in the film industry into his novel, where he discussed the art of making a film and its interactions with reality.

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What did Tom Hanks say about making a movie?

In the 2023 interview with Remnick, who quoted a line from Hanks' book and asked about his movie-making experience, Tom Hanks replied:

"Let me put it this way. You ran away from your miserable life and your horrible, abusive family to join the circus when it came through town, because it was a number of things: It was glamorous. It was an escape from your life of missed opportunities."

He continued:

"And you work on that circus now, and you join it, and you are on the road, and you tear down that tent, and you put it back up every Thursday. What’s required of you, as a member of the circus, is to make sure that the net for the trapeze artists will actually save their lives when they fall from the sky."

Hanks further said:

"Suddenly you’re not just a member of the circus. You have a life-and-death responsibility for the safety of somebody else that you work with every day. Making a movie also has this vicious reality to it: they last forever. So, if you’ve done a shitty job in whatever your responsibility on that movie is, it will haunt you for the rest of your days."

Hanks also talked about the perceived mysteries of making a movie, saying that it is not any "conspiracy" or a mystery:

"No one is hiding anything. If anybody who is what we call a “noncombatant” or a “civilian” wants to visit the making of a motion picture, they’ll be bored out of their skull. Nowadays, you’ll go onto a soundstage, and there’ll be a blue screen, and there will be guys up on a cherry picker moving some cables around. And you’ll think, Is that it? And the answer is . . . yeah."

Hanks went on saying:

"Because they have to move those cables around, and because somewhere somebody is being put into a harness, and they’re going to be dangled above an air mattress, and they’re going to have to make out with somebody else. And you’ll wonder, What’s going on in this movie?"

He concluded:

"And then, when you see that moment from the movie, it’ll turn out it’s the most passionate, important beat in the film. And you were there!"

The actor, while discussing his then-newly published book with Remnick, also opened up about his experiences shooting his most-renowned film, Forrest Gump. He also shared his opinions on the near-impossible task of predicting how well a movie would be received by the audience.

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More about Tom Hanks, one of Hollywood's most celebrated actors

American actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks needs no introduction. With two Academy Awards, seven Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, under his belt, Hanks is critically acclaimed for his diverse roles and celebrated for his magnanimous personality.

Hanks rose to fame with his roles in films like Splash (1984), A League of Their Own (1992), Philadelphia (1993), and Forrest Gump (1994). He has also starred in box-office hits like Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Bridge of Spies (2015), and popular mini-series The Pacific (2010) and Masters of the Air (2024).

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Read more about Tom Hanks here.