Tom Hanks names the one movie he can still watch “with great affection”
The American icon and all-around heartthrob Tom Hanks may be celebrated by movie fans across the world, thanks to such favourites as the ‘Best Picture’ Oscar winner Forrest Gump and the animated Pixar classic Toy Story, but the actor himself isn’t too fond of watching his performances back. Indeed, there is only one movie from his back catalogue that Hanks has no problem watching over and over again.
Hanks isn’t alone in this career quirk of sorts, with plenty of actors sharing his dislike for watching back his own performances. As he told fellow screen star Viola Davis in an interview with Variety, “The bad thing about doing things on film is they live forever…I just pray that I have no memory of doing it, because if I do have a memory, it’s a painful one: Here’s a moment that I didn’t land it, here’s a moment that I never thought was great”.
It was during a 2013 interview with Shortlist that Hanks revealed the one movie he doesn’t mind giving a re-watch on a rainy Sunday evening, telling the publication: “The one that I might watch with great affection is a little movie I directed, That Thing You Do, which I’m not in that much. I loved doing it so much that when I watch it now it still brings a smile to my face. I don’t watch my own performances – who does that? That would be madness. I’ve seen all the movies once, but I don’t need to see them again, because they don’t change”.
Starring the likes of Charlize Theron, Liv Tyler and Tom Everett Scott, That Thing You Do is a musically inclined comedy that tells the story of a Pennsylvanian band who score a one-hit wonder and attempt to ride the wave of fame for as long as possible. Nominated for an Academy Award for the original song, ‘That Thing You Do’, named after the title of the movie, Hanks’ feature film debut remains one of the actor’s all-time favourites.
It’s likely That Thing You Do makes it onto the actor’s elusive list of the only four movies he considers to be “pretty good” from his entire filmography.
His surprising comments came back in 2022, with Hanks stating: “No one knows how a movie is made — though everyone thinks they do…I’ve made a ton of movies (and four of them are pretty good, I think), and I’m still amazed at how films come together. From a flicker of an idea to the flickering image onscreen, the whole process is a miracle”.
For our money, these four “pretty good” movies must include Toy Story, Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia and The Green Mile, yet, now knowing his love for his feature film debut, this evaluation may have to be reconsidered.
Check out the trailer for That Thing You Do below.
