The one movie Tom Hanks thinks everyone misunderstood: “Right over everybody’s heads”
In 1984, Tom Hanks charmed audiences with a leading performance alongside Daryl Hannah in Splash. The Academy Award-nominated movie was widely praised, and Hanks subsequently rose to prominence as a result. Thus, the actor landed roles in a string of movies throughout the 1980s, finding particular acclaim with 1988’s Big, establishing himself as one of the most bankable names in Hollywood.
As the 1990s rolled around, Hanks became one of the biggest stars in the business, with credits in movies such as A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Toy Story and Saving Private Ryan. Moreover, he won his first Oscar in 1993 for Philadelphia before winning the following year for his leading performance in Forrest Gump.
Hanks is still one of the industry’s most prominent actors, recently starring in Elvis, Pinocchio and Astroid City. Beloved by many, Hanks has even been labelled ‘America’s Dad’ thanks to his friendly persona and recognisable voice, a staple of many people’s childhoods.
However, Hanks has sometimes been criticised for starring in movies that present a certain view of America during the mid-20th century. During an interview with the New York Times, he was questioned on the depiction of “nostalgia” that permeates much of his work, even though “nostalgia for that time has curdled for so many Americans into retrograde politics”.
In response, Hanks discussed his movie Cloud Atlas, the 2012 epic sci-fi that utterly divided critics, with the actor arguing that the film went “right over everybody’s heads”. Directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, the movie stars Hanks alongside a stacked cast of other actors such as Hugh Grant, Halle Berry, Ben Whishaw, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent and Jim Sturgess. Set over various different decades, the movie is certainly ambitious, although many critics thought it simply fell flat.
Hanks said: “I was in a movie called Cloud Atlas that went right over everybody’s heads. It said, ‘What is the point of trying to do the right thing when it’s just a drop in the ocean?’ But what is an ocean but a multitude of drops? Things get better when a multitude of drops form an ocean and sweep things away.”
Detailing further, the actor added: “World War II: The Nazis were defeated, as was the Japanese empire, because enough good people said no. Civil rights came about because of, I think, an American belief that our responsibility as citizens is to work toward making a more perfect union.”
In defence of many of his acting choices, Hanks explained that he has “a fascination with the progress that America has made in all these incremental moments. That is an American sense of what is right and what is wrong”.
Fellow star Halle Berry was also effusive about the picture as she led a promo for the movie. Calling it a “once in a lifetime filmmaking experience,” the monster’s ball star routinely showered it with praise despite a tough box office start. Noting she would never make another film like it, she explained to Flicks and Bits, “Cloud Atlas will always be incredibly special. I’m going to always remember the experience and everything I got from it. I love its originality, the originality of everything.
“There are so many barriers being broken here, so many exciting concepts and, hopefully, it will leave people thinking about how they perceive the world and their own lives.”
Sadly, for Berry and Hanks the movie has yet to become a cult classic, but that doesn’t mean it never will.
