Tom Hanks has made a candid admission about several films he’s starred in.
The actor has been a permanant fixture on the Hollywood scene since the late 1980s, starring in acclaimed movies including Big, Toy Story, Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me If You Can.
Hanks won two Oscars back-to-back in 1994 and 1995, for Forrest Gump and Philadelphia, with the Captain Phillips actor being nominated for Best Actor a further three times.
His most recent nomination, for Best Supporting Actor, came in 2020 for his role of Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood.
But, while Hanks has been fortunate to have starred in acclaimed projects, it hasn’t always fared so well for the actor. In fact, he’s admitted that he has “been in some movies that I hate”.
Speaking toThe New Yorker, Hanks said: “OK, let’s admit this: We all have seen movies that we hate. I have been in some movies that I hate. You have seen some of my movies and you hate them.”
While he didn’t name specifics, some of the films considered to be among Hanks’s weakest include The Bonfire of the Vanities, Brian De Palma’s Tom Wolfe adaptation that spawned the book The Devil’s Candy, Larry Crowne, which he directed, and Ron Howard’s Da Vinci Code films.
Speaking about the filmmaking process, Hanks said: “Here are the five points of the Rubicon that are crossed by anybody who makes movies: The first Rubicon you cross is saying yes to the film. Your fate is sealed. You are going to be in that movie.
“The second Rubicon is when you actually see the movie that you made. It either works and is the movie you wanted to make, or it does not work and it’s not the movie you wanted to make.”
He added: “That has nothing to do with Rubicon number three, the critical reaction to it. Someone is going to say, ‘I hated it.’ Other people can say, ‘I think it’s brilliant.’ Somewhere in between the two is what the movie actually is. The fourth Rubicon is the commercial performance of the film. Because, if it does not make money, your career will be toast sooner than you want it to be. That’s just the fact. That’s the business. The fifth Rubicon is time.”
Tom Hanks in ‘The Da Vinci Code’
(Sony Pictures Releasing)
He said it’s hard to predict how a film will turn out, stating: “You have to trust the entire process to collaborators who you hope are working at the absolute top of their game farther down the line. You can only have faith and hope – and what’s bigger than faith and hope?”
Hanks will next be seen in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, which is released on 26 June. Find The Independent’s review of the film here.
In January, Hanks said that “no one” talks about one of his most important films.