Tom Hanks is an Oscar-winning actor. He’s an award-winning producer. And yes, he’s even an accomplished director of multiple films and TV series. Now, he’s a novel writer, with a new book, “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” set to arrive in 2023. But with such a storied career in Hollywood, Hanks still only believes he can count the number of “pretty good” films he’s made on one hand.
Speaking to People, while announcing the title and release date for his new novel, Tom Hanks talked about the inspiration for the story and a little bit about how his filmmaking career plays such a large part in the upcoming book.
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“The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” as the title suggests, is a novel about characters creating a film. The book tells the story of the production of a superhero film, from the moment the comic book source material is written to when Hollywood gets its grubby little hands on the property and the production of the film. And as Hanks has plenty of history making movies, the writer has infused his novel with many of those personal stories.
“No one knows how a movie is made — though everyone thinks they do,” Hanks said. “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.”
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He added, “Movie-making is very hard work over a very long period of time that consists of so many moments of joy slapped up against an equal number of feelings of self-loathing. It is the greatest job in the world and the most confounding of labors that I know of. I hope the book captures as much of ‘the accidental judgments and casual slaughter’ that go into a motion pictures dictum to hold ‘a mirror up to nature’ that I have witnessed (and caused) since I joined the Screen Actors Guild.”
With films such as “Forrest Gump,” “Philadelphia,” “Cast Away,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Big,” and many, many more under his belt, it’s interesting to think the actor only believes he’s made four that are worthy of calling “pretty good.” You have to assume “Forrest Gump” and “Philadelphia” make the cut, considering he won Oscars for his performances in those features. We also have to consider that he absolutely adores “Cloud Atlas,” which is a controversial entry in his filmography. What others make the cut?
“The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece” is set to arrive in bookstores on May 9, 2023.