Over the past six months, the COVID-19 pandemic has vastly affected Hollywood. Productions have been delayed and release dates have been moved. Movie theaters are still figuring out how to make their lost money back with added safety protocols in place. A landmark moment for the industry that served as a wake-up call came back in March when Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson tested positive for the virus while the former filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic.
Hanks and Wilson were the first celebrities to announce they’d been affected by COVID-19. It happened on the cusp of shutdowns and calls for people to wear masks in public. Production in Australia was quickly paused, and the couple quarantined for two weeks there before returning to quarantine in their Los Angeles home. Wilson has offered an update on her experience with the virus with these words:
Thankfully I'm doing really well and really healthy. I remember when I was growing up and my parents always used to say, 'If you have your health, you have everything. When you're young and you hear that, you're like, 'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' But now that you have your health and you've gone through a couple of things, you're like, 'Yes. that actually does mean something.' You can pretty much handle anything if you have your health.
Sounds like her experience battling COVID-19 gave the actress and singer a new perspective on her parent’s advice. Staying healthy is extremely important – it’s “everything” in fact. While speaking to ET, Wilson showed her gratefulness for getting over the virus, as the U.S. has experienced tens of thousands of deaths from its effects so far. Wilson is currently partnering up with the American Nurses Association's "Race to 200 Million" campaign to encourage people to get a flu shot during the coming season for the sickness. In her words:
Flu season is upon us and COVID's not going anywhere ... so for us it's really important to make sure that the nurses aren't overwhelmed to take care of the people that may have COVID and that need more care. So what we're kind of suggesting, and what the CDC recommends, is getting your flu shot in September or at least by the end of October. That's ideal. It offers about six month's protection.
Rita Wilson said her experience with COVID-19 was worse than the flu, citing fever, chills, body aches, headaches, vertigo and a loss of taste and smell. Tom Hanks exhibited milder symptoms – his temperature didn’t run as high and he still had his sense of taste. The couple has been taking an active approach to the COVID-19 situation since getting better, doing things like donating their plasma and encouraging the public to wear masks as the CDC recommends.
The actor is getting ready to get back to work on the Elvis movie next week, six months after its shutdown. Tom Hanks will be playing Colonel Tom Parker, the longtime manager to the King of Rock, who is being portrayed by Austin Butler. The movie is expected to hit theaters on November 5, 2021. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates on how the pandemic is effecting Hollywood.
