Filmmaker Magazine: Most people know Tom Hanks as a two-time Oscar winning actor. Some would recognize him as the sometimes-director behind works including That Thing You Do!, and others know him simply as his often-nickname “America’s Dad.” But the beloved actor may not be as well known as one of Hollywood’s top producers, with 50 producing credits to his name from Band of Brothers to My Big Fat Greek Wedding to Olive Kitteridge.
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It is interesting to see how much privilege a actor has when he has reached certain stardom in Hollywood. For Tom Hanks, who is straight, cis, white, and male, "actors have it pretty good once they reach a certain level." However, this line posts such a stark contrast with what Mila Kunis spoke about in her article on Medium (which is included in News from the Real World as well). Mila Kunis has encountered endless biases and disrespect even after she became famous and successful, but she became a producer to establish her agency and defiance to the sexism in Hollywood. Becoming a producer is a form of self-empowerment for her. For Hanks, however, becoming a producer seems like just an extra challenge, a game he chose to play just for the joy, whose hardest challenges seemingly being people hanging up the phone on him or refusing to write certain things for him. The easy actor life that Hanks was referring to only belongs to a very small, privileged group of people in Hollywood. I like Tom Hanks as an actor, but I am surprised by the entitlement implied in his speech.
It seems as though Tom Hanks is oversimplifying both producing and being an actor. The dichotomy he describes of begging someone to do something and telling someone not to do something seems overly harsh. After all, his producing track record is quite long, diverse, and well established. There must be a reason - aside from a monetary aspect - that keeps drawing Hanks back to producing. I also believe that Hanks' statements apply to a very small number within the producing and acting population. Because of his status as an American icon - America's dad - he is afforded a very particular status within the acting and producing worlds. There are few other actors and producers in the world who carry his level of fame and notability. The overall tone of Hanks' assessment is bitter; though he speaks to a couple very real unpleasantries and responsibilities that producing entails, his view is very lopsided, and unforgiving.
In many ways, people have it easy. You become established, and getting things done becomes a little easier. It looks like that is not the same facet that happens in all walks of life. You can have an idea for a story built up, but it could be shot down multiple times like Tom Hanks has stated. Of course you don’t often think that someone like Tom Hanks would have those kinds of issues producing a movie. What has he done that hasn’t been good. It looks to me like he could go anywhere and pitch a movie and get it made. Of course I guess if every movie that was pitched was made, you’d probably have some broke investors, but that’s why you see some great films out there with great concepts, but then there are some that are just duds. I guess if the concept is good, but the storyline, or the writing doesn’t follow what’s is happening, you get bad reviews for a movie.
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