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Transcript:
Interview Tom Hanks
July 15, 2010
We catch up with Tom Hanks on the set of his new movie, he talks to us about Russell Crowe, Julia Roberts, and his newfound passion.
STD: Hey, Tom, how are you, you look great.
Tom: Hi, nice to see you.
STD: It's been a long time......
Tom: Erm.....have we met? I don't remember.....nah, I'm just kidding. I remember you, you're the one who got me into trouble with Harvey. You understand now, about off the record and on the record? I don't mind talking to you, regardless of your reputation, but some things are not for publication. I think my people talked to you about that.
STD: Sure.
Tom: Say, can I have a drink? Hang on a bit......I've had a really rough day......I'll be in a better frame of mind if I can have a few minutes to regroup.
STD: Sure. Just let me know when you're ready.
(Silence. Clinking of ice cubes. More silence. More silence.)
Tom: Ah. That was good. Ok, I'm ready when you are. Say when.
STD: How about now? You're in the middle of filming a fantastic new movie--
Tom: Yep. One Guy, One Dame's the title. We filmed part of it in Figi, and now we're in Beverly Hills until we're finished. It's a lot of fun.
STD: One Guy and One Dame--
Tom: No and. Just, One Guy, One Dame.
STD: Oh, sorry. That's kind of an odd name....considering there aren't any females in the cast.
Tom: (laughs) We like to think of it as avant-garde, not odd. I've made lots of movies, and Russell's made lots of movies, but this is something different for both of us.
STD: I like the mustache, by the way. It's......big.
Tom: Thanks! (stroking it) It feels a little like having a gerbil on your upper lip, but you get used to it.
STD: So I guess that means you're not playing the One Dame.
Tom: Can't slip anything by you. I seem to be empty here, could I possibly have another? Thanks so much.
STD: So how did this come about? I can't believe the studio even considered the idea behind this movie in the first place.
Tom: No, the initial plotline was Fox's idea if you wanna know the truth, I think actually it might have been Lachlan's idea--another one of those screwball ideas they get, and usually everybody just rolls their eyes and goes on about their business, but this was one that actually wasn't terribly offensive......so it went through development hell there for a while.....and when Fox relinquished it, Gophers picked it up.
STD: That sounds easy.
Tom: Yeah, I suppose it does.....but it wasn't. What really happened was.....ok, I can tell you what really happened, but it's gotta be off the record. Ok? Then you can write something innocuous that's sorta true.
STD : Sure.
Tom: What really happened was, Russell and Denzel and Julia and I were in the bar at the Ritz Carlton, and we'd had a couple of drinks, and Russell and I were doing most of the talking....Julia'd had more than a couple of drinks, and she was climbing all over Denzel, you know how she is, and he was fending her off.....
Anyway, we'd all seen the script for OGOD, and Russell was saying he wasn't crazy about the role the studio wanted him to consider, but shooting in Figi was something he could put up with if he had to (laughs), which is pretty much the way I felt about it. Julia wasn't locked in for the female lead, although they'd been talking--
STD: So Julia was onboard.
Tom: No, no, you're not listening, I just said she wasn't locked in yet, they wanted her, but I think there were probably salary issues, you know? And there were lots of things she wanted changed in the script. The character as it was written was supposed to be.....not extremely attractive, you know? Sort of frumpy. To go along with the character I play, who is not as young as he used to be.
STD: Who is?
Tom: Yeah. Julia was afraid the tab writers would print pictures of her in the makeup for the role, and no one would notice......
(Lots of talking over each other and garbled laughter)
Tom: I'm sorry, that was cruel, I just couldn't resist. (Laughing) No, she's gorgeous. You know, everybody gets older, but Julia just gets better. (Laughs some more) Where was I?
STD: In the Ritz Carlton, watching Julia harassing Denzel.
Tom: Oh yeah.....no, Denzel's cool. He knows how she is. And hey, who wouldn't want Julia smashing herself up against him? When she gets too close to his face with her tongue, Denzel just puts a hand over her mouth, and keeps smiling.
STD: Was Denzel in it at that point?
Tom: No, not then. That's what I'm telling you about......that was when Julia unofficially dropped out of the production, Denzel wouldn't kiss her, that always pisses her off, and after she'd had a few more drinks, she wanted to get married, I think that's what always happens......and the three of us were already married. So she took off for greener pastures, I think that was the night she met Jeff and married him, and of course, being a Mormon, he had definite ideas about what she can and can't do. Scenes in bed with me and Russell were out after that.
STD: So you're left without a female lead.
Tom: That's what Russell was saying, he said, damn, now the studio's gonna want Scarlet. I said, no, I think they're leaning toward Nicole. Oh god, no, he said, if they sign Nicole, something will happen and the picture will never get made. Well, I said, the only other name I heard mentioned seriously was Jessica Simpson. That was when he put his head down on the table and started to cry.
STD: Russell Crowe? Cried? Are you shitting me?
Tom: Oh no....he's a sensitive guy. All that stuff you hear about him being a big macho alpha male...........ok, that's all true, BUT--he's also a really sensitive guy.
STD: I guess he must be.
Tom: Sure. So after he wiped his nose, I told him there had been some talk about rewriting the part so Judi Dench could be the female lead, but she wouldn't be able to work it into her schedule till 2011. And obviously nobody wanted to wait that long, even for her. And what if she's dead by then? Then you're just screwed.
STD: Understandable.
Tom: We just wanted to go to Figi and make the fucking movie, y'know? So a little later in the evening, we'd been kicking around names of other actresses, and at one point, Russell said, I could play that part better than her--I'm not telling you who he was talking about.....and it just.....y'know, it just caught our imaginations, and Denzel said, why don't you?
Russell said, fuck, they'd never let me do that. I could do it, but it'd never get past the bean-counters. I said, let's go independent then. And after that there was no stopping us.
STD: So Gophers was behind it all the way.
Tom: Well......no......they did take a little convincing. You know, when you think of Russell Crowe, you don't think of lipstick and pantyhose.
STD: No, you really don't. But I've seen some clips, and he's great. Just disappears into the part. If you didn't know who it was--
Tom: Exactly. The man can do anything. But it's not such an improbable thing, there's been a little precedent, there was that movie with Felicity Huffman, um, um.......
STD: Transamerica.
Tom: Yes! And that movie Swayze was in.
STD: He was a cross-dresser in that, not a woman.
Tom: Whatever. And then there was The Year of Living Dangerously. Are you old enough to remember that? So it's not like it hasn't been done before. Damn, that last one didn't last very long, can I get another one? You make a great drink, honey, thanks.
STD: So how did you convince the studio?
Tom: Demi was the person we really had to convince. She holds the purse strings. So we laced Russell up in a corset, and got him an attractive frock, (laughs) let Sandy, our makeup artiste loose on him, and filmed a test. We didn't tell Demi who it was till after she'd seen it. She was totally blown away.
STD: Russell's got a lot of muscles. What did you do about that?
Tom: Oh, that part was easy. For the daytime scenes, all his dresses had puffy sleeves. And for the bedroom scenes.......camera angles and all that. And it was dark.
STD: Isn't the studio concerned that audiences might not want to see Russell Crowe in drag?
Tom: He's not in drag, he's playing a character, he's an actor. The character he's playing just happens to be a woman.
STD: Ok, don't get testy. So the studio's not concerned that he's not playing to type?
Tom: Of course they are, studios are always concerned when you're doing something that's not totally cliché. But Demi's behind us 100% and nobody tells her no. At least not at Gophers Inc.
STD: I expect there were a lot of angry actresses in Hollywood when that was announced.
Tom: You ain't kidding. I think there were a lot of actresses that had been hoping for that bedroom scene with Russell.
STD: I'm sure there were plenty of actresses that were hoping to work with you, too.
Tom: Maybe. Anyway.....when Russell took the female lead, that left the other role open, and Denzel put his hand up for that. And of course they snapped him right up.
STD: I bet the studio figured that with the three of you in it together, they had all the demographics covered.
Tom: Maybe. I don't worry about the marketing angles, I just do my job.
STD: So.....I have to ask......you know this is the question everybody's gonna ask you.......how were the love scenes?
Tom: Um.......what can I say about that? Russell's a terrific actor, very professional, and so is Denzel. There was a moment or two of unease right at the beginning--of course--but then we just got on with the job, you know? Russell's very good at putting everybody at ease, and he has a keen sense of humor, so we had a good time. It was fun.
STD: I see you're not going to tell me anything interesting about that.
Tom: No.
STD: Off the record?
Tom: No.
STD: Ok, one last question--- the title is One Guy, One Dame, but there are three of you. Is it you or Denzel that's the One Guy?
Tom: (laughs) I can't tell you what happens--you'll just have to see the movie.
STD: Ok, that makes a good closing line. Thanks a lot.
Tom: Is that all? Don't you need me to tell you more about the production, when it's coming out, that sort of thing?
STD: You don't need to, I can get that off the internet.
Tom: Ok.....now remember, that bit I told you before, that was all off the record. You can't use that. And bleep out any four letter words I used, I think Russell must have rubbed off on me......in more ways than one.
STD: Sure. No problem.
Tom: Ok.
STD: Ok. Thanks for your time.
Tom: No problem.
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