The movie Tom Hanks saw as a rebellion against Hollywood: “Thank god this landed”
Rebellion isn’t a word that comes to mind when anyone thinks of Tom Hanks, but that doesn’t mean he can’t celebrate the acts of cinematic insurrection that go against the grain to give audiences something they didn’t even know they were craving.
As an actor who’s been around the block enough times to see originality increasingly fall by the wayside in favour of homogenised franchises and a constant stream of remakes, any film that comes along and shakes up the status quo to a significant extent is one worth celebrating in Hanks’ eyes.
The object of the two-time Academy Award winner’s affection captured his imagination so strongly and vividly that he could barely contain himself from singing its praises, which is fitting, considering it’s a musical. Not just any musical, though, but a fresh and vibrant romance that ended up becoming a critical, commercial, and awards season juggernaut.
“When you see something that is brand new, that you can’t imagine, and you think, ‘Well, thank god this landed’ because I think a movie like La La Land would be anathema to studios,” Hanks gushed at the Telluride Film Festival, per Deadline. “Number one, it is a musical, and no one knows the songs.”
A completely original work written and directed by Damien Chazelle with music and songs created by Justin Hurwitz, Benji Pasek, and Justin Paul, the $30million love letter to the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood’s song-and-dance spectaculars, star-crossed romance, and Los Angeles at large went on to earn almost $450million at the box office.
A filmmaker mounting a musical was hardly breaking new ground, but as Hanks explained, it was the way Chazelle went about it that set La La Land apart. “This is not a movie that falls into some sort of trend. I think it is going to be a test of the broader national audience, because it has none of the things that major studios want,” he continued. “Pre-awareness is a big thing they want, which is why a lot of remakes are going on.”
Not content with turning a substantial profit, La La Land would go on to tie an Academy Awards record by netting 14 nominations, ultimately winning six prizes, including ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Actress’, although failing to beat Moonlight to ‘Best Picture’ did lead to one of the most infamous moments in the history of the Oscars.
For Hanks, La La Land was the antithesis of what Hollywood was becoming, a place where “there are other people whose parking spaces with their names on them are paid to follow these trends.” To him, Chazelle’s musical was a breath of fresh air that was the very definition of cinema, a way “to be transported to someplace we have never been before.” It didn’t quite reinvent the wheel, but it certainly rocked the boat.
