“Like a combination of Elvis and John Wayne”: Tom Hanks on why he felt intimidated by ‘Sully’
Whether you’re a fan or not, Tom Hanks is widely considered an American national treasure, having dominated the late 1980s and 1990s with a versatile collection of movie roles, from Big to Saving Private Ryan. During this time, Hanks continuously booked parts in some of the most popular movies of the era, picking up multiple awards and becoming a Hollywood icon.
Over the years, the actor has lent his voice to the Toy Story franchise, appeared in heart-wrenching movies like The Green Mile and Cast Away, and even proved himself as a rom-com lead alongside Meg Ryan in Joe Versus the Volcano, You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. Hanks often challenges himself, appearing in roles that force him to morph into a different person and channel experiences very far removed from his own.
However, sometimes, certain roles are intimidating, even to a seasoned pro like Hanks. This was the case when he signed on to play Chesley Sullenberger in Clint Eastwood’s Sully. The character was directly inspired by the real Sullenberger, who performed a successful emergency plane landing that saved everyone on board after a group of birds collided with the flight. While he was dubbed a hero, Hanks couldn’t help but find Sullenberger “a very intimidating guy”, making him nervous to portray him on screen.
Talking to Film Ink, Hanks explained that he met Sullenberger at a party years before the movie was even made. “I met him and his wife, Lorraine, and we chatted for a little bit,” he said. “He was like a combination of Elvis and John Wayne all at the same time.” A few years later, he met Sullenberger again to prepare for the movie, but his preparedness only made Hanks anxious to execute the performance accurately.
“When it came to the film, he had the entire script and it was noted, underlined, highlighted, dog eared, and paper clipped,” the actor added. “He had a lot of things that he wanted to tell me about what was wrong with the script. It was mainly small stuff that could be easily vetted out.”
Hanks continued: “But the true task ahead for me was to communicate and somehow carry around the experience and gravitas. He explained to me that in his mind, he’s always calculating rate of descent, rate of ascent, land speed, flight angle, gravitational pull…you name it. As they were coming up on The George Washington Bridge, he knew how far instinctively he was going to go. He didn’t look at a gauge, and he didn’t pull out a calculator or a slide rule. His body told him what the stakes were. In a movie, how do you pull that off?”
Luckily for Hanks, his innate skill as an actor helped him to bring a fictionalised version of Sully to life, and the movie was both a financial and critical success. With Aaron Eckhart, Mike O’Malley, Laura Linney, and Anna Gunn also appearing in the film, Eastwood’s biographical drama proved popular – even if several airlines refused to show it onboard their flights, fearing it would make viewers fearful for their safety.
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