‘Cast Away’: The movie that “almost killed” Tom Hanks
Throughout his trailblazing career, Tom Hanks has received praise for the diverse range of projects he has signed on to. Ranging from war dramas like Saving Private Ryan to romantic comedies such as You’ve Got Mail, Hanks has built a body of work that continues to appeal to a massive audience base with widely different cinematic tastes. That’s one of the major reasons why he has successfully entered the pantheon of great American screen icons.
While many of his movies have received accolades, the production processes behind some of Hanks’ projects haven’t always been smooth sailing. This is definitely the case when it comes to Cast Away, Robert Zemeckis’ beloved survival drama. The film, released in 2000, features Hanks as a FedEx employee who finds himself stranded on a strange island. Forced to adapt to a completely different way of life, he learns what it means to survive in isolation.
During an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Hanks actually named Cast Away as one of his favourite professional experiences because of the adventurous nature of the project. He said: “We had just bold adventures when we were making that movie… I mean we were out in the middle of the ocean just — you know — trying to grab shots. We were off in Fiji on two different occasions… There was nothing but adventures every single day, every single night.”
However, Cast Away was also the movie that almost killed the famous actor without his knowledge. According to Hanks, the on-location filming nearly proved to be fatal because of an infection that had become severe. Although it could have been easily stopped had it been noticed and taken care of in a timely fashion, Hanks had to be hospitalised because he hadn’t even noticed the initial symptoms of the infection while shooting.
In an interview with BBC, Hanks revealed: “[Cast Away] put me in the hospital. I was there for three days with something that, believe it or not, almost killed me. I got an infection from a cut and it was eating its way through my leg. I didn’t know it, I just thought I had a sore… I went to the doctor who took one look and said, ‘I have to put you in the hospital because we have to get this infection out of you before it poisons your blood and you die.'”
Thanks to the doctor’s efforts, the infection was eliminated before it affected the blood and the actor escaped without any major damage. The ordeal proved to be a small sacrifice for Hanks, who scored another significant hit with Cast Away. Not only did the film become a smashing box office success, it also earned him a ‘Best Actor’ Golden Globe in addition to an Oscar nomination.
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