The movie Tom Hanks calls “hands down the greatest, most spectacular motion picture I had ever seen”
The list of high-quality films with Tom Hanks attached to them is seemingly innumerable. Throughout his career, Hanks has delivered an unbridled sense of charm and a fearless commitment to the craft of acting that has led to some of the most memorable performances in recent cinema history.
Whether he be capturing the guileless innocence of Forrest Gump or the desperation of a lawyer suffering from AIDS in Philadelphia, whether embodying the plight of World War II in Saving Private Ryan or the bravery of Chesley Sullenberger in Sully, Hanks has always proven his performative quality.
Simply put, so many of Hanks’ movies have comprised some of our favourite movies from contemporary cinema, and Hanks himself is no stranger to having a deep passion for the medium, as any actor worth their salt ought. There’s one movie franchise in particular that Hanks seems to have a profound love for, too.
In an interview with the BBC, Hanks was asked about his interest in the James Bond film series. “Who doesn’t love James Bond?” he simply replied, highlighting the wide reach that the famous British spy film franchise has across the world. The actor then noted the first Bond film he ever saw and gave a truly incredible statement of his impression of it.
“I remember the first James Bond movie I saw was You Only Live Twice,” Hanks said, “which was hands down the greatest, most spectacular motion picture I had ever seen.” In fact, Hanks loved the 1967 spy classic so much that he proceeded to watch it a further six times, showing the evident love he has for Sean Connery’s beloved version of 007. “You’ve got to have a James Bond movie every couple of years,” he added.
Directed by Lewis Gilbert, You Only Live Twice is the fifth movie in the Bond film series. Released during the peak of the Cold War era, the film manages to explore the ongoing tensions between the East and the West, with most of the action taking place in Japan, as Bond traverses ancient tradition and modern urban environment.
Sean Connery continued to deliver his ultra-suave version of James Bond, the depiction that would epitomise the character for decades to come. At the heart of the antagonism in the film is the iconic villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played with excellence by Donald Pleasance, while Bond was joined by a new ally, too, in the shape of Tetsuro Tamba’s Tiger Tanaka.
Given the fact that Hanks loves James Bond so much, one might think that he would have been at least remotely interested in playing the iconic spy character. However, it appears that if the actor were to take on a role in a Bond movie, then it wouldn’t actually be the hero that he’d be keen to portray.
Hanks would be interested in playing the CIA operative and friend of Bond, Felix Leiter, who has most recently been played by Jeffrey Wright. Hanks explained, “I’d like to be that American CIA operative who comes up in a little putt-putt boat and says ‘Hi James!’ And James replies, ‘Well, Felix Leiter of the CIA!’ That’s who I’d like to be.”
Check out the trailer for one of Tom Hanks’ favourite movies of all time below.
