The moment Tom Hanks lost himself in fame: “I fought my battles”
Some actors manage to establish themselves not only as brilliant performers but as cultural icons in their own rights, and it’s clear that Tom Hanks has more than achieved such a lofty ambition. With a versatile repertoire and a deep commitment to his craft, Hanks has become one of Hollywood’s all-time greats.
Whether exploring difficult social issues in Philadelphia or bringing in the laughs in Forrest Gump, Hanks shines on screen, embodying the excellence of American cinema. There aren’t many folks on the planet who haven’t bore witness to Hanks’ acting prowess, which has led to the ups and downs that fame naturally brings.
While Hanks has most likely become used to being one of the most famous actors on the planet, there was, of course, a time when he was still relatively new on the acting scene and following his early success, he enjoyed a period of sudden fame, a moment where all the hard work was suddenly paying off.
Hanks made his breakthrough performance in Ron Howard’s 1984 movie Splash, which ended up becoming a box-office hit and then followed up with Neal Israel’s Bachelor Party, another film that brought in commercial success. However, this kind of success seemed to have a negative impact on Hanks, at least for a brief period of time.
“When you have a hit, you get so much attention paid to you,” he once told Playboy. “Splash made $80million, and Bachelor Party made $40million. You think, ‘Oh, I know how to do this.’ But you can’t even begin to know anything after two movies, though you can get arrogant and lazy.”
Hanks suddenly realised that there is a darker side to fame where the bright lights can remove the need for hard work, and this wasn’t a phase he was willing to go into. “I didn’t become an actor to develop a personality cult or to get power over people,” he noted. “I went into this because it’s fun, because it’s a great way to make a living. That really governs my reaction to it all. But you get all this attention. Your head can play all sorts of bizarre tricks. By now, I think I have a pretty good grasp of how this stuff works. I fought my battles a long time ago.”
When pressed on just what those battles might have been, Hanks revealed the kind of mindset that he briefly entertained that might have sent him down the wrong path. He admitted, “Oh, I guess you have a period when you think you deserve all the attention you’re getting. You have people surrounding you, telling you that you’re the greatest thing in the world. I honestly don’t think I have an inflated view of myself now. But it happens.”
