How an angry film scene inspired Tom Hanks’ most lucrative role: “Thus it began”
Tom Hanks is widely considered a national treasure, having devoted himself to Hollywood for decades.
Think of the actor, and countless different films come to mind. Perhaps you know him best as Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan, maybe it’s his role as the overgrown child in Big that warms your heart the best, or how about his portrayal of Forrest Gump? Hanks has appeared in so many iconic roles over the years that it’s hard to pick one definitive role that could sum up his career.
However, if we were really pressed to pick one that is his most beloved, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say Woody in Toy Story. The actor has voiced the toy cowboy in four films in the animated franchise, charming viewers with his comforting vocals and heroic personality, leading the group of playthings when humans aren’t around.
Since Toy Story was released in 1995, it has found fans who span generations. It’s one of those children’s films that can easily be appreciated by adults. And no matter how old you grow, you’ll probably still find a place in your heart for the franchise, where Woody, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, Rex and Slinky are getting up to no good.
The film was a huge hit, grossing $394.4million against its $30million budget, and it remains one of the greatest animated movies of all time. Yet, its origins date back to 1991, when early animation drafts for the film were getting underway, and there was a certain Hanks movie that helped shape the initial tests for Woody’s character.
Before Toy Story reached its final animation style, Woody looked a bit different, with a large head and a shorter body, and in a clip that shows this rough version of Hanks’ character, you can hear him animated to a scene from the Disney film Turner and Hooch, in which the actor had appeared a few years earlier. The movie, which saw Hanks star alongside a dog, was a quintessential quirky 1980s buddy cop film, and a scene in which the actor finds himself exasperated with his canine companion can be seen in the Toy Story test scenes.
Talking to BBC Radio 1, Hanks explained, “They took a line from a movie I made for Disney called Turner and Hooch in which I was yelling at a dog, and they animated Woody to that line, and it was on a loop; they did it again and again.”
He continued, “There were two things about it. One: it was like, I’m not sure what this is. The computer-generated animation itself had a look that was hyperreal, you know, but then also the marriage of the outraged voice of mine inside this outraged body of a toy was—I mean, it was just undeniably great.”
Hanks was in, regardless of whether the film would hit the big leagues, noting, “So I was in from the get-go. They invited me over to sort of explain this odd, unknown quantity of something that may or may not work. And I said, ‘Well, it looks fine to me. Let’s do it!’ And thus it began.”
Toy Story took several years to develop, but as soon as it was released, there was no doubt that this would become a classic. Hanks was perfect for the role, although it took a clip from Turner and Hooch, a much less successful film, to convince him.
