Why does hair make such a difference on a person? Whether longer than usual, or shorter than expected, it’s usually one of the first comments we make about people we know after seeing them make a major change. “Oh man, you colored your hair!” “What happened to your hair?” And now, in the case of Tom Hanks and the fact that he shaved all of his hair off, we ask, “Why would you do something like that?!” Here’s a hairless Hanks on The Graham Norton Show. It’s eye-catching.
Tom Hanks is back in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann’s as-yet-untitled Elvis Presley biopic, where he will be playing The King’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. And in order to do this, Hanks has to shave off his entire head, a look that he rarely wears on screen. Trying to think back over Hanks’ career, Philadelphia comes to mind as a time when the actor shaved off his signature curls. Probably in Saving Private Ryan, too?
We’re not dogging on Tom Hanks’ look. We’re merely picking up the baton of what he says about it! The actor was jokingly teasing Graham Norton during an appearance on the show, saying of the haircut:
Let me show you the horrible haircut I have to have. … Check out this horrible -- can you see that? Look at that thing! Look at that goofy… I just scared the children. I want to apologize.
In case you blinked while watching the clip, here’s the tease that Tom Hanks gave the audience, as it’s not making its rounds thanks to the Internet.
Tom Hanks is such a good sport about this whole thing, and he absolutely knows how to play his new look to the camera to generate the most press. Of course, his time spent in Australia ALREADY has generated more than enough press. As you no doubt recall, Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson were down under working on this Elvis movie when they each contracted COVID-19, making Hanks one of the earliest celebrity cases of the virus. He recovered beautifully, and shared several warm posts during his health journey. We are thrilled to see him back to work.
This has been a busy year for Tom Hanks, even on top of contracting a deadly disease. Professionally, he released two films in these uncertain times, one of which is in theaters as we speak. In Paul Greengrass’ wonderful News of the World, Hanks plays a frontiersman who earns his keep traveling from town to town in the post-Civil War west reading the headlines of the time. It’s an ideal role for his history buff on Hanks’ level, and it absolutely earns the right to be seen on the biggest screen possible, if theaters are operating safely in your area.
We will continue to track Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis project, which stars Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker and Austin Butler as the legendary singer-songwriter.
