The actor Tom Hanks wishes he could be like: “He’s got a level of confidence”
It’s hard to imagine an actor like Tom Hanks being self-conscious or insecure. He is, after all, Tom Hanks, an Oscar winner, a professional nice guy, and a collector of typewriters. There are very few people who have anything bad to say about him. In fact, you can spend a good chunk of your afternoon on Google trying to find the slightest bit of rancour directed at him and even more time trying to find negativity from the man himself.
After many decades in Hollywood, Hanks has played a wide range of roles that demonstrate that he isn’t just the charismatic youngster who danced his way through Big and somehow made Turner and Hooch worth watching. He’s played castaways and washed-up sports stars, grieving widowers and evil music managers. He might be likeable in almost every role, but that has more to do with his unassailable charisma than with being typecast.
In addition to his famous charm, he is famously self-deprecating, downplaying his talent in every interview and refusing to comply when given an opportunity to take a victory lap. Sure, he might not win everyone over, but he sure has done his due diligence in winning over a sizeable portion of the movie-watching public. So, when Hanks singles out a fellow actor and admits to being jealous of his persona, you know that star has to be pretty darn charismatic.
During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2024, the Forrest Gump star said, “I am a huge, huge fan of – I’m sorry – Mr Pitt. He’s got a level of confidence to him that I wish I could put in my pocket.”
It is hard to deny Pitt’s swaggering charm. Since the early ‘90s, he has been beaming his otherworldly good looks through the silver screen and demonstrating a decent talent for acting as well. He might not have the same kind of everyman approachability and charisma that Hanks has, but he is about as starry as movie stars come these days.
Believe it or not, Pitt has also won two Oscars and has even more nominations than Hanks. However, instead of being recognised for acting, he has also racked up nods for producing. His first Oscar, for 12 Years a Slave, was for ‘Best Picture,’ which he shared with four others, including director Steve McQueen. In fact, three out of his seven nominations have been for ‘Best Picture,’ while his second win was for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his role as a stuntman in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
One of the most interesting revelations to come out of Hanks’s comments about the Inglorious Basterds star is that the two have never worked together. This is pretty surprising considering how often Pitt has appeared in ensemble casts, whether it’s for studio epics like Troy, Tarantino movies, or the Ocean’s franchise. Perhaps the reason has something to do with their discrepancies in personality, which Hanks highlighted in his compliment. Pitt tends to play snarky characters, while Hanks tends to play earnest ones. That’s a tough combination to pair, but if anyone can, it’s them.
