(Credits: Far Out / Universal Studios)
Hollywood has fostered many hugely successful careers, but few names have become so universally well-known and loved than Tom Hanks.
Born in 1956, the actor spent his early years watching plays before moving to New York to pursue a career in the arts. The kid knew he had star quality right from the start and even went so far as to send a cold letter to an acclaimed director, calling himself the next big star and demanding he be cast in the filmmaker’s next project.
A few minor parts in cinema and television defined the start of his acting pursuits, although he soon landed a leading role in 1984’s Splash, which shot him to widespread recognition. The movie performed exceedingly well at the box office, giving Hanks his first taste of commercial success – something he would soon become very familiar with.
A leading role in Big also gave Hanks further star power, earning him his first Academy Award nomination. However, it was the following decade that proved most fruitful, giving Hanks a chance to demonstrate his full acting abilities through a range of diverse projects. He appeared in movies like Forrest Gump, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Toy Story, Saving Private Ryan and The Green Mile, making him one of Hollywood’s biggest icons.
Commercial success is perhaps the one elusive thing that all studios are chasing, and Hanks seemed to have a habit of bringing it to them. It might not be what every artist sets out to achieve, but it sure is handy to be able to share with your employers. Hanks built box office takings that dwarfed his counterparts, and because of it, he became a go-to guy.
Yet, it wasn’t until the release of 1995’s Apollo 13 that Hanks truly felt like he was coming into his own as a creative. The movie, directed by Ron Howard, sees Hanks star as the astronaut Jim Lovell, who was on board the third manned trip to the moon, which was aborted several days in. Apollo 13 also stars Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise and Bill Paxton as the rest of the crew.
The film won two of its nine Oscar nominations – ‘Best Film Editing’ and ‘Best Sound’. As well as being critically praised, Apollo 13 was a significant box-office success. For Hanks, he considered the movie to be a turning point in his career. It was the moment he moved out of the spotlight as just another leading man and finally got to stretch his muscles and go for a jog down a more creative path.
Talking to the New York Times, he recalled his agent Richard Lovett asking him, “What do you want to do?” He added: “No one had asked me that question, either. People always said: ‘What do you want to do with this opportunity?’ But what do you want to do? I said I’d like to make a movie about Apollo 13. That was the first time where I was saying, ‘This is the type of artist who I want to be.’”
Hanks continued: “But if you look at anybody’s career, there’s hits and misses. There’s movies that simply don’t work, and if something not working is debilitating to you, you’re toast.” These moments provide artists a reason to keep on going. Making money is always great, but achieving critical success and allowing yourself to grow as a creative is the real feeling we all chase.
Reflecting on the trajectory of his career, he explained that he “was not an overnight sensation.” However, by this point in his career, he realised that he had enough experience to know that he didn’t have to take every role that came his way.
“Some of that was, What am I going to do instead? Wait for the phone to ring?” he explained. Luckily for Hanks, “The phone rang! I said yes! But I was fortunate in that my sense of self and artistic thirst grew at the same time.”
The movie goes down as one of Hanks’ finer productions in a sea of incredibly well-received and well-paid-for pictures.
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