Tom Hanks Reveals Clint Eastwood Who’s an Infamously Strict Director, Treat Actors “Like Horses”
Actor Tom Hanks has starred in many classic films throughout his career, including Forrest Gump, Splash, A League of Their Own, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, etc. He has won praise from both the public and critics for playing his roles so accurately and convincingly.
One such film is Sully or Sully: Miracle on the Hudson, which was written by Todd Komarnicki and directed by legendary director Clint Eastwood. Sully is a 2009 American biographical drama film based on Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles’ memoirs Highest Duty. The story of US Airways Flight 1549’s emergency landing on the Hudson River, during which all 155 passengers and the crew survived, is continued in the film. Tom Hanks continued by discussing his time spent on Clint Eastwood’s set. Look at what the actor has to say now.
Tom Hanks describes Clint Eastwood’s directorial style as ‘intimidating’
Sully, which was released in 2016 was the first collaboration between Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks and director Clint Eastwood, and during an appearance on the Graham Norton Show, Hanks said
“You certainly don’t want one of those Eastwood looks. He treats his actors like horses because when he did the 60s series Rawhide, the director would shout ‘Action!’ and all the horses bolted. So when he’s in charge, he says in a really quiet soft voice, ‘All right, go ahead,’ and instead of shouting ‘Cut!’ he says ‘That’s enough of that.’ It’s intimidating as hell!”
Tom Hanks, who later appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, was once again asked about his experience working with Clint Eastwood, to which he explained that it is like Mount Rushmore just came down from South Dakota and everyone’s working for him now. He further said,
“He’s so obviously the man when he comes on the set. You just want to please him. You don’t want to look him in the eye too long, because he gets that kinda, y’know [does Clint Eastwood squint stare] and you don’t want to experience that.”
The actor further noted, “Well, here’s the deal, in other movies, they make a big deal about ‘Action!’ Y’know, ‘Alright, start it up, get ready everybody, we’re rolling, we’re rolling, we’re rolling…and everybody, stand by! AND… ACTION!’ That’s what most movies are like.” But with Eastwood, he would quietly raise his finger in a circle to signify rolling and everybody would do the same thing.
Tom Hanks revealed how the real Sully criticized Clint Eastwood for lack of punctuality
On Graham Norton show, Hanks, who continued to talk about his time on the sets of Sully, revealed that the real Sullenberger, who made sure that he had a strong presence on set while they filmed the movie based on his life, had criticized the director for not being punctual. He said,
“Sully was very particular about how we portrayed the procedure and the emotions. He pulled out this dog-eared, stapled and notated script that he had read. Postits, stapled index cards all over it – I’m sure his wife had even written ‘No’ across it in lipstick! We went through every page and every moment, every beat had been commented on. He had opinions.”
Sully, when released, received positive reviews from the critics and the audience at the time and managed to gross over $240 million worldwide. The movie was picked as one of the best ten movies in 2016 by The American Film Institute and National Board of Review and is regarded as one of the best movies of both Hanks and Eastwood.
Also read: Tom Hanks’ Cousin Is None Other Than Us President Abraham Lincoln? Family Relation Revealed
Tom Hanks isn’t the only one talking about Clint Eastwood’s directorial style
Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who worked with the director on J. Edgar in 2011, in which DiCaprio played FBI director Edgar Hoover, shared that he would not ever work with the director again.
The movie was not well received by the critics or the audience, which according to Far Out Magazine may have reflected the tense situation or atmosphere on the set and between the crew while filming, noting that the actor and the director didn’t see eye to eye. It was reported that the actor had requested a retake of one of the scenes to which Eastwood had announced the day wrap.
DiCaprio’s co-star Armie Hammer also claimed that the one-take style of Eastwood was difficult to get on board with, explaining that he thought that he had been rehearsing a scene as the script was in his hand, but Eastwood kept rolling and took that as a first take and assured the actor that the script would be edited out of the shot.
Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live, Graham Norton Show, The Guardian
