The two-time Oscar winning actor opened up about how his COVID diagnosis and recovery was a wake-up call and discussed his latest ode to the old west, News of the World, a story of communication and acceptance set in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Five Things You Need to Know:
- The drama follows a Civil War veteran who travels from town to town to read to the people newspaper articles from around the states. During his journey through Texas, he finds and agrees to deliver a girl, taken by the Kiowa people years ago, to her aunt and uncle, hundreds of miles away.
- Shot mostly in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the film takes place in 1870, Texas. Director Paul Greengrass sees a lot of parallels to today's present state of America, where the country is divided with fears of a pandemic, distrust of the media, and racism.
- Hanks' films have grossed more than $4.9 billion in North America and more than $9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fourth-highest-grossing actor in North America. He's won two consecutive lead acting Oscars, seven Primetime Emmy Awards for his work as a producer of various limited series and television movies. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2002. In 2014, he received a Kennedy Center Honor, and in 2016, he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, as well as the 2020 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.
- On March 12, 2020, Hanks revealed that he and his wife had both tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic while he was shooting Elvis in Queensland, Australia. Wife Rita Wilson and Hanks were released from the hospital, returned to Los Angeles following their quarantine, and decided to donate their blood antibodies for virus research. Hanks is a type 2 diabetic and Wilson is a cancer survivor. Hanks said, "Yeah, don’t get it cause it’s dangerous and it’s not pleasant, but more important don’t pass this along to someone else. Just do your part and do the common sense thing and I think that if that's what being public about it helps promote, then we’ll take that as a good thing."
- With nearly 100 acting credits to his name and being a true movie buff himself, Hanks knows it will take time before movie theaters return to normal, saying, "The great thing about the movies, going to the movies is 200 strangers go into a room and they come out two hours later with something in common. They saw this film together and they probably remember where they were. If you tell me where did you see a certain film, I could tell you the theater I saw it in, I remember exactly where I was."