Tom Hanks has played real people many times in movies. It's about time that somebody else did a biography of him, right? Of course, getting one of the people that Hanks himself has played to do the honor of playing Tom Hanks, may not be the way we would have gone. Check out Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger in Hanks.
As part of the promotion of Sully, Tom Hanks new film where he plays the man responsible for the "Miracle on the Hudson," both the actor and the actual man were guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Kimmel set up the movie trailer by talking about all the people that Hanks has played over the years, and that it was time somebody returned the favor. What we get, is Chesley Sullenberger in a dark wig doing the world's (intentionally, we hope) single worst Tom Hanks impression ever put to film.
The general premise of the bit is funny, though we have to say that the individual pieces aren't quite as solid. Watching Sully get way too frustrated over blowing a line from Forrest Gump is a little too corny. The Cast Away bit, where the airline pilot gets to put a little extra overacting in works a bit better. Although, overall our favorite bit is when the trailer starts with Tom Hanks early days, where he famously played one of the leads in the sitcom Bosom Buddies. His co-star, Peter Scolari, makes an appearance in the trailer as himself.
You've now seen an American hero in drag. You're welcome.
The best part of the whole thing is seeing Tom Hanks reaction after viewing the bit. He's loving it, though he obviously can't believe that they roped poor Sully into the whole thing. Although, for his part, it appears Sully loved it.
At some point, we will likely be looking back at this piece and laughing even harder, because it will be great to compare it to the actual Tom Hanks biopic that we will surely get one day. Hanks has had an epic career making some of the most memorable movies that we've ever seen. It seems almost too obvious that someday a Hollywood studio will want to make a movie about a life like his. While we would expect many aspects of the film to be dramatized, they likely won't dwell on him blowing his lines too much.
Would you like to see an actual Tom Hanks biography on screen? Who, other than the man himself, would you cast in the movie right now?
