Acting legend Tom Hanks says only four of his movies are actually any good
Tom Hanks is one of the most beloved and well-known actors in cinematic history, having starred in numerous blockbusters, from Saving Private Ryan to Toy Story.
But it seems that the illustrious actor isn’t as impressed with his back catalogue of movies as we all are, having recently admitted that he has only made four “pretty good” films.
This statement comes from a recent interview with People, in which Hanks spoke about writing his first novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, which spans several decades and highlights how US culture changed after World War II.
The book contains a myriad of stories, from one being about a boy who grows up to make comic books in the 1970s to a director in the present day who adapts one of those comic books into a film.
“The source for a movie can go back as many years as are in history. A story turns on a single moment in the life of someone, then all the anecdotes of the current day magnify that moment,” Hanks explained.
“No one knows how a movie is made—though everyone thinks they do,” he continued.
“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 on screen, the whole process is a miracle.”
Unfortunately, Hanks did not divulge the details on which four films he was referring to exactly. That being said, according to IMDb, Hanks’ four top rated films are Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile and Toy Story 3. Are these the four Hanks was talking about? We may never know.
1994’s Forrest Gump, widely considered as the actor’s best cinematic venture, is known across the world mostly for the iconic line “Life was like a box of chocolates.” It won an impressive six Academy Awards, and when the Oscars came around, it was up against Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction which it managed to beat—winning Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director, an even bigger feat. Pipping Pulp Fiction to the post is a conversation that arises at every awards ceremony all these years later, something which Hanks himself has acknowledged in the past by labelling the latter a “masterpiece.”
With over 80 films under his belt, both live-action and animated, the fact that the Toy Story star was able to pick only four films out of absolute classics such as Cast Away and Catch Me If You Can is beyond me. You are too humble, Mr. Hanks and that’s why the world loves you.
