Tom Hanks says his debut novel wouldn't exist without Nora Ephron
The American cultural icon joins Q’s Tom Power to share the experiences that inspired his new book
It's hard to overstate the importance of Tom Hanks to pop culture. As one of the world's most recognizable film stars, his resumé alone is like a crash course in modern American cinema.
Now, the acclaimed actor and filmmaker has released his first novel, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, which follows a process he knows well: the creation of a blockbuster from its conception to its premiere.
In an interview on Q with Tom Power, Hanks said, for him, writing is "a cross between a hobby and a mission," but he also joked about his newfound status as a novelist.
"When anybody says, 'Yes, I've written my first novel,' what they should say is, 'Yes, I've written a novel,'" he quipped. "'First' has a hint of more to come — how do you know? That's whistling in the dark if you ask me!"
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is a work of fiction, but it draws on the actor's real-life experiences and observations about the complex life cycle of a movie.
Any movie, it's a miracle that it gets made at all.- Tom Hanks
"By and large, everybody thinks they know how movies are made," he said. "And I will tell you this: the odds are against you being able to make any movie. Any movie, it's a miracle that it gets made at all. The odds are equally stacked against you making the movie that you want to make. And then the odds are still stacked against you about making a movie that works. And this does hinge on a handful of bolts from the heavens, literally a deus ex machina."
Beyond the maddening process of making a movie, Hanks wanted to capture the sheer inspiration, collaboration and luck required to overcome the seemingly insurmountable odds facing its completion.
"For those in your audience who might say, 'Well, I've read some books and seen some movies that sort of capture this,' no, you haven't!" he told Power. "None that I've read anyway. I think the only motion picture that truly does say, 'This is what it's like to make a movie' is [François] Truffaut's Day for Night … that actually captures just how goofy a line of work this can be sometimes."
Nora Ephron told Hanks he was a writer before he knew he was a writer
In the acknowledgments of his book, Hanks writes that "these pages would not exist" without the late writer and director Nora Ephron, whom he first worked with on the romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle in 1993.
"She told me I was a writer when I didn't realize I was a writer," he said. "When we first met for Sleepless in Seattle, I was a big shot. I had everybody telling me I was a big shot."
Ephron's prowess and intellect intimidated Hanks but, as a big shot, he wasn't shy about voicing his problems with the movie. "I had this problem with it, and I had that problem with it ... blah, blah, blah," he recalled wryly. "Nora was very, very patient." Her sister, author Delia Ephron, was also present after being brought on to make some adjustments to the script (though she remains uncredited for her contributions).
One of Hanks's issues with the script, which is about a widowed father whose son gets very involved in his dating life, was that he didn't feel the dialogue reflected what a real fight between a father and son actually sounds like.
"So here are these two women that are running rehearsals … and I was complaining continuously that they were women and I was a man," he told Power. "'Men are not undone by their sons. Oh, boo hoo, my son doesn't want me to go out. You know what I'd say to the little bastard if I was going out on a date and he tried —' and I just kept going on, all this kind of stuff. And Nora and Delia would say, 'Well, what would you say?' I said, 'Well, I would say this, la la la.' And they took that and they put it in the movie."
"Once the movie came out, I said, 'Hey, you know, that stuff was pretty funny.' And Nora said, 'Well, you wrote that.' I said, 'No … I just said it, then you guys put it in the movie.' And she said, 'That's what writing is!'"
Ephron helped Hanks establish his confidence as a writer again in 2006, around the time his film The Da Vinci Code was released.
"My makeup man, Danny Striepeke was his name, his last movie with me was The Da Vinci Code," recalled Hanks. "He turned 75 the day we wrapped The Da Vinci Code and a couple of weeks later, he called me: 'Well, kid, I want you to be the first to know, I'm done. And when I mean done, I mean done done.'"
Upon hearing the news of Striepeke's retirement, Hanks asked if he could interview him for a profile.
"He and I had shared so many stories about the cuckoo aspect of the business," said Hanks. "This was a man who … worked on Giant. He worked on The Magnificent Seven. He manufactured Laurence Olivier's nose for Spartacus. And he did Elvis's tan in five or six Elvis movies — so he had stories."
When Hanks was done, he asked Ephron for her thoughts and advice.
"I sent it to her and I said, 'Hey, Nora, is this a thing?'" said Hanks. "And she said, 'Yes, it is a thing. It needs work. You have to remember: voice, voice, voice, but I think it should go into the Thursday style section of the New York Times.' And that's exactly what happened. So Nora told me I was a writer, showed me how to be a writer, reminded me of all the hard work that it required to be a writer, but also did imprint this very important thing about being a writer, which is: you really do have to write."
Why Hanks says making movies is worth it
In his novel, Hanks describes the making of a movie as "a stressful job done by vulnerable human beings — all cracked vessels, all fraught with insecurities."
Even after four decades in the movie business, the actor said you still have to "start off at square one" with every new project — and it never gets easier.
There's a barrier that everybody has to get over, and that is some degree of their own self-loathing.- Tom Hanks
"I think the novel is a record of this," said Hanks. "I've seen everything that can get in the way of the movie getting made that day. And I've also experienced an awful lot of stuff that can get in the way of me, as the artist, the professional, not being able to show up in the course of the day and getting to where I have to."
For Hanks, one of the challenges of showing up on set every day is that he often finds himself questioning his own preparation or whether he's "done enough to warrant these people's faith" in him.
"There's a barrier that everybody has to get over, and that is some degree of their own self-loathing," he said. "Over time, the only way I could get a cup of coffee down me and pick up my script and go off to work ... is in the understanding that I felt like this before and I made it through the day."
When it's all done, the final product is ultimately taken for granted, and it might not even be any good. So what makes the process worthwhile? Hanks said he believes the journey matters more than the destination.
"A movie is made by a bunch of individuals in 24-hour increments. And at the end of it, they go their separate ways, and all they really have with them as the memory is the experience of those days," he said. "The movie will be like a photograph in an album at the end of the day, and maybe it's good. Maybe it's horrible."
"I think all movies end up having these days of whimsical magic, of a shared experience that is some combination of the hardest you'll ever work, the most fun you'll ever have at summer camp, and the most you will ever learn in one of those two or three college courses you took in which somebody put everything in such clear terms that you don't even have to study for the test — you ace it."
The full interview with Tom Hanks is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. He also spoke about one of his first roles on the TV sitcom The Love Boat, his directorial debut, and the three things he's learned to do before he shows up to work. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Tom Hanks produced by Vanessa Greco.
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