The Tom Hanks rom-com that inadvertently changed the course of cinema history
With the greatest of respect, romantic comedies rarely change the face of cinema. Tom Hanks would have had absolutely no clue at the time, but one of his most popular starring vehicles ended up becoming the first domino to fall in what became a seismic industry-wide shift.
It’s always an event when Hanks signs on for a rom-com, given his illustrious history with the genre, and that’s especially true when he’s starring opposite Meg Ryan. Following their first dalliance on Joe Versus the Volcano, the sparks flew, and the chemistry was off the charts, which made them one of the hottest pairings in the medium’s history.
Things went from good to great when they reunited on the smash hit Sleepless in Seattle, with the duo becoming a trio when Nora Ephron steered them towards massive critical and commercial gains. Hoping that lightning would strike twice for the triumvirate and a third time for the central stars, history repeated itself yet again when You’ve Got Mail hit cinemas in December 1998.
Hauling in $250million at the box office, it was the big screen equivalent of comfort food. Warm, fuzzy, and powered by two performers at the top of their game generating effortless charm and charisma, the film itself had almost nothing to do with the sweeping change that would blow through Hollywood just ten years later.
However, it was a formative moment for one crew member above all others, who was only working on their second production ever at the time. After being hired as a production assistant to producer Lauren Shuler Donner on Tommy Lee Jones’ disaster flick Volcano, a 24-year-old runner named Kevin Feige performed an identical role on You’ve Got Mail.
A lifelong fan of Marvel Comics, Shuler Donner’s husband and renowned director Richard of Lethal Weapon and The Goonies fame was impressed with Feige’s encyclopaedic knowledge of superhero lore, which he realised could come in very handy on an upcoming blockbuster he was producing. Deciding that an expert was required, the youngster was swiftly upgraded to an associate producer – the first producorial credit of his career and only his third picture – on Bryan Singer’s X-Men.
Fellow producer Avi Arad was also blown away by Feige’s enthusiasm and familiarity with costumed crimefighters, quickly naming him as the second-in-command at Marvel Studios, which saw him serve behind the scenes on virtually every comic book adaptation bearing the comic book company’s name for the next seven years.
However, Feige was an ambitious sort, and it clicked that instead of Marvel leasing its rights out to various studios across town, the outfit owned enough to become a production entity in its own right. In March 2007, he was named Marvel Studios’ president of production at the age of only 33 and quickly put a masterplan in motion.
The following year, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr in the lead role was released, and as they say, the rest is history. By the sole – and very important – metric of cold, hard, box office cash, Feige is far and away the single most successful producer the film business has ever seen.
And to think, if it weren’t for those conversations with the husband of his boss on You’ve Got Mail, the complexion of Hollywood would look remarkably different from how it does today, with Feige one of the most powerful names in town.
