The $600m movie Tom Hanks refused to cast himself in: “I wanted to hire myself”
Hollywood is a place where ego and megalomania often run rampant, and the biggest stars in the business usually get more leeway than most to indulge themselves when they’ve got the awards, acclaim, and box office to back it up. However, in a classic Tom Hanks move, Tom Hanks refused to cast himself in a movie that would have comfortably been one of his biggest-ever hits.
If there was any cinematic superstar who’d be voted the most likely to sabotage themselves out of a nailed-on blockbuster role that would have earned them a pretty penny through their salary and a potential cut of the profits, then he’d be right up there with Keanu Reeves.
Despite reigning as one of the most beloved and consistently praised performers of the last four decades, Hanks has never gotten too big for his boots. That’s just one of the many reasons why he’s been designated as ‘America’s Dad’, and having worn it as a badge of honour for so long, he’s not going to change.
Eliminating animation from the equation, since three of the four Toy Story flicks and a cameo as himself in The Simpsons Movie account for four of his six highest-grossing releases ever, the two-time Academy Award winner has only appeared in two pictures that cleared half a billion dollars at the box office: Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code and Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump.
Angels & Demons, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Catch Me If You Can, and The Polar Express all earned big bucks, but if Hanks had let his ego get the best of him, then he could have played a role in a feature that would have, and still would be, the second top-earning entry in his entire filmography after it hauled in a hefty $610 million.
Based entirely on how Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård fared, being able to hold a tune was hardly a requirement to be cast in Phyllida Lloyd’s Mamma Mia! Hanks was credited as an executive producer on the smash hit song-and-dance spectacular through his Playtone banner and helped develop the stage adaptation for the big screen, but that’s as much muscle as he was willing to flex.
Reflecting on finally being given the chance to work with Meryl Streep for the first time on Steven Spielberg’s The Post, the actor revealed that it had almost happened in the past. “There was never a whiff before, but I was a producer of Mamma Mia! and I tried out for a role,” he shared.
As someone with plenty of behind-the-scenes cache, he could have cast himself in the film if he wanted, but he had one reason for ruling himself out of the running. “I wanted to hire myself,” he admitted. “But my singing voice would have scared the children.”
Presumably, he was eying one of the parts played by the aforementioned Brosnan, Firth, and Skarsgård, and those three evidently had no issues with starring in a musical, despite the obvious fact that none of them could sing worth a fuck. Hanks being Hanks, though, he wouldn’t weaponise his producorial status to force his way into the ensemble.
