How The Beatles inspired Tom Hanks’ first director role
To casual cinema-goers and devoted cinephiles alike, Tom Hanks has become one of Hollywood’s most dependably endearing on-screen presences. Whether he’s comparing life to a box of chocolates, attempting to save Private Ryan, or voicing a toy cowboy, the actor brings a certain familiar warmth to each of his roles.
Hanks has secured his place as one of the most well-known and well-loved actors on the planet, but his work behind the scenes has been slightly less publicised. The actor helms production company Playtone, but he has also tried his hand at directing. In 1996, Hanks made his debut in the directorial seat with That Thing You Do!, a film that took inspiration from one of the actor’s favourite bands, The Beatles.
Hanks has never been shy about sharing his love for the Fab Four. While picking out his Desert Island Discs in the event of a real-life Cast Away situation, the actor named ‘There’s A Place’ by The Beatles as one of his favourite tracks. The song seems to have had a particularly formative impact on Hanks, coming to him while he was “searching for that music that is going to be yours and yours alone.”
Their impact on Hanks was so powerful that the story and surroundings of the band heavily informed his directorial debut. The inspiration of the Liverpudlian rock and rollers is evident within the film’s story, which begins with the transformative impact of a talented drummer on a budding band. The legacy of The Wonders would never quite reach the heights of their real-life counterparts, but the 1960s setting and the style of music are entirely reminiscent of the Fab Four.
Tom Everett Scott, who played The Wonders’ drummer Skitch, once stated that Hanks was “inspired by The Beatles” during a conversation with Billboard. “He was watching some documentary, I think,” he recalled, “And thinking about how just changing out the drummer, putting Ringo in the band – he had this idea. It is super creative. He was involved in every single song.”
The influence of The Beatles extended to the music Hanks oversaw for the film, with the titular hit being written by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger. According to the songwriter, via Consequence, the brief he was given for the one-hit wonder said that it should sound like “an American band that was blown away by The Beatles right after they arrived and was trying to imitate them.”
The final song certainly succeeded in that goal, infusing the sound of the Beatles in their youth with an American energy. Between the story and the soundtrack, That Thing You Do! seems like Hanks’ subtle ode to the Fab Four.
Listen to the track below.
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