The “cruel whipmasters” Tom Hanks hated working with: “Here I am, bowing down”
Having been celebrated as one of the nicest people in Hollywood since the beginning of his career, Tom Hanks hasn’t given many reasons for anyone to think otherwise. After all, nobody gets called ‘America’s Dad’ if they’ve got a history of being a dick to people.
The two-time Academy Award winner has tried to fight his corner on occasion by hinting that he’s just as capable of on-set and behind-the-scenes arseholery as the next actor, but it’s always been hard to believe him. He’s too wholesome, too polite, and too beloved to be viewed as anything other than a beacon of positivity.
Nobody who’s worked with Hanks has a bad word to say about him, although the same can’t be said for the star and certain outfits he’d worked for. One company, in particular, left the legend crushingly disappointed and borderline heartbroken after his passion project was scooped up and handed a release strategy he never wanted.
To say Hanks invested a lot in 2020’s World War II drama Greyhound would be an understatement. A noted enthusiast of the history surrounding the conflict, he developed the project, wrote the screenplay, played the lead role of submarine commander Ernie Krause, and produced through his Playtone banner.
The film was all set to be released theatrically by Sony until the pandemic came along, after which Greyhound was sold off to Apple TV and released exclusively on streaming. “It’s an absolute heartbreak,” he said. “I don’t mean to make angry my Apple overlords, but there is a difference in picture and sound quality.”
The technology conglomerate’s oversight of all aspects of Greyhound even extended to the promotional tour. Hanks had no issues criticising how the movie was being rolled out to a mass audience, but when asked to conduct all press duties against a blank wall, he acquiesced.
Even though one such chat was being conducted from his home office, Hanks told The Guardian that “the cruel whipmasters at Apple” had instructed him to use a more muted backdrop to the conversation, which made him feel like he was part of “a witness protection programme.” And yet, he didn’t have a choice. “But here I am,” he lamented. “Bowing to the needs of Apple TV.”
Despite such a miserable experience, it didn’t entirely put Hanks off streaming. He made a cameo appearance in Prime Video’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, reunited with Apple for the post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama Finch, stayed silent when Netflix acquired international distribution for Paul Greengrass’ western News of the World and made the terrible decision to re-team with Robert Zemeckis for the dismal Disney+ live-action remake of Pinocchio.
Not only that, but his whipmasters couldn’t have been that cruel when Hanks and Playtone signed an exclusive development deal with Apple Studios in 2022, which came burdened with the news that a Greyhound sequel was in the works.
