“He wants to get laid”: Tom Hanks Had a Verbal Spat With a Female Director for His Classic Meg Ryan Movie That Failed to Understand His Role
Tom Hanks is seen as America’s sweetheart due to his work in movies such as Big, Forrest Gump, You’ve Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle. Naturally, people always seem to take him as this soft-spoken, charming man due to the tremendous influence of his online persona. However, he was much closer to Otto Anderson in A Man Called Otto in real life, at least at one point of time.
Sleepless in Seattle is one of the biggest hits of Tom Hanks’s life. The movie, made on a mere budget of $21 million, went on to make $227.8 million at the box office. Tom Hanks was at the height of his stardom when the movie was being made, and that might have gotten to his head. Hanks allegedly behaved poorly on the set of Sleepless in Seattle, as well as with director Nora Ephron, who turned out to be incredibly accommodating. In an interview, Tom Hanks opened up about how he might have been irritable on the set of the movie and how he changed his attitude.
Tom Hanks opened up about being cranky on the sets of Sleepless in Seattle
When The New Yorker did a profile on Tom Hanks in June 2023, the actor opened up about his experience working with some of the most legendary directors, like Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Nora Ephron. He especially elaborated on working with Nora Ephron, with whom he delivered two smash hits that solidified his position as a romantic hero: You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle.
Also Read: Tom Hanks Struggled to Watch Star Wars in Theatre Because of One Surprising Reason
The American heartthrob has admitted before that he was rather grumpy when he was filming Sleepless in Seattle. In this particular interview, he went into the nitty-gritty of why he behaved the way he did. He explained that the verbal spats basically boiled down to him having a different point of view from Ephron when it came to his character:
“I was very cranky, particularly when I first met her to do Sleepless in Seattle, because I was really big and, you know, I had some hits under my belt. We got together, and we were going to make this movie about a guy and a kid and a la di da di da—Sleepless in Seattle. And she was very intimidating, right off the bat.”
He continued.
“When we were working on the rehearsals for it, I realized that one of the things that was driving me nuts about the project is that Nora and Delia Ephron, who helped on the screenplay, are—-sisters, but they are also mothers. It was a movie about a father. And I said, ‘You guys are the wrong gender to understand what’s going on in this scene between me and my son.’”
Tom Hanks also admitted previously in an excerpt of the book I’ll Have What She’s Having about being ill-tempered on set, according to NY Daily News. He did not like the fact that his character’s son had better lines than him in the movie, which seems rather ridiculous coming from a full-grown adult, in hindsight.
“I was an extremely cranky actor at that time. Coming in and saying, ‘Why does the kid have so many good lines?’ I had made enough movies to get smoked on a couple of occasions as well as thinking that I was a big shot and ‘My voice must be heard.’”
Also Read: 1 Clint Eastwood Film Gave Tom Hanks a Bad Reputation Due To a Long List of Hilarious Coincidences
In fact, he was so annoyed with having to work with a kid that he was even behind the first young actor, Nathan Watt, being fired.
“Tom is being driven crazy and this boy keeps repeating dialog off-camera when Tom’s trying to film a scene and he’s not adding to the film right now.”
However, Nora Ephron was very collaborative when it came down to working with Tom Hanks and his bad mood. In fact, she was encouraging of the pushback and asked the actor to elaborate more and give more of his input. In the end, what came out was a classic to marvel at:
“And she loved it. ‘Oh, Tom, tell me more.’ And the argument I had was, ‘You have written a scene in which a father is undone by the fact that his son is upset about him going out with a woman.’ Oh, no. I said, ‘There is not a father on the planet Earth who is gonna give a rat’s ass what his son thinks about him going out with a woman.”
He continued.
“Because you know what that father wants to do? He wants to get laid. And that’s what’s missing from your little gender-ish scene that you wrote.’ And she said, ‘Well, then, why don’t you say that?’ That was a very empowering moment. She would often say this: ‘Well, when you’re right, you’re right.’”
Erin Carlson’s I’ll Have What She’s Having: How Nora Ephron’s Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy is out on August 31.
Tom Hanks’s angry exchange at the Cannes red carpet
Tom Hanks was caught in a heated argument with a Cannes staff member at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. He was there for the premiere of his acclaimed movie, Asteroid City. As per the photos obtained by the media, the staff member was seen trying to diffuse the situation before they both stormed off to the red carpet to click pictures.
Tom Hanks’s wife, Rita Wilson, later took to Instagram to dispel the rumors.
“This is called I can’t hear you. People are screaming. What did you say? Where are we supposed to go? We had a great time! Go and see Asteroid City!”
(Via. Entertainment Weekly)
Despite the seeming argument, both were seen to have a great time on the red carpet. Hanks wore a black tuxedo with a matching bow tie, whereas Rita Wilson complimented her spouse with a glamorous black dress and silver jewels.
Tom Hanks is gearing up for his upcoming movie Here, which is slated to release in 2024.
