When individuals consider Tom Hanks, they have a tendency to recall to mind an honest, stalwart American whose against-all-odds heroics encourage them to persevere when going through their very own travails. They consider “Saving Non-public Ryan,” “Apollo 13,” even “Toy Story” — a few of Hanks’ finest movies, and ones that might’ve simply starred traditional Hollywood actor James Stewart had he been thriving throughout Hanks’ heyday.
There may be, after all, extra to Tom Hanks than this. Certainly, it usually looks like individuals have memory-holed the star’s zany, adult-skewing comedies like “Bachelor Social gathering,” “The Man with One Purple Shoe,” and “Volunteers.” And what of the noble box-office misfires “Punchline,” “Joe Versus the Volcano,” and “Charlie Wilson’s Warfare?” Hanks can play a loser or a cad when known as upon, which, in case you’ve a agency grasp of movie historical past, is as Jimmy Stewart because it will get. (And talking of Jimmy Stewart, try our rating of his finest films right here.)
Hanks accommodates multitudes, but when I have been to select considered one of his movies that exemplifies the whole lot I’ve learn and heard in regards to the man, I might go along with the Wachowskis’ “Cloud Atlas.” It is a sweeping, humanistic saga spanning centuries that permits Hanks to play a number of roles, whereas dipping into science-fiction (a style the star loves). And understanding what I learn about Hanks, I am not stunned his all-time favourite film is the sci-fi extravaganza to finish all extravaganzas: Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A House Odyssey.”
Tom Hanks is a tad obsessive about 2001: A House Odyssey
Tom Hanks is not simply an actor. He is a filmmaker. And filmmakers love “2001” a lot they collectively named it the best movie ever made two years in the past in Sight and Sound journal’s decennial prime 100 ballot. So it tracks that when requested to call the film he loves above all others, Hanks went with the sci-fi epic.
The actor/producer/author/director mentioned his affection in a Q&A with the app Letterboxd, telling its customers, “I nonetheless watch it a few instances a yr … I may stroll you thru ‘2001: A House Odyssey’ and never cease speaking as soon as throughout your complete movie. So I do not know if you wish to have that have.”
Talking as somebody who’s seen “2001: A House Odyssey” from begin to end not less than a dozen instances, I would gladly sacrifice one screening to a Hanks commentary — which might differ from different administrators as a result of, once more, Hanks may converse from his expertise of engaged on a movie the place the method is each bit as essential as his efficiency. How do you navigate that as an actor, particularly for a director as meticulous as Kubrick, with out dropping your emotional attachment to your character? Let this be my name for Hanks to document a “2001: A House Odyssey” commentary posthaste, and if he may persuade his buddy Steven Spielberg to trip alongside, all the higher!