script

Tom hanks case study
What is film auteur ship?
The film auteur theory may seem simple as the initial idea is that the director of a film can be classed as an auteur thanks to his or hers recognisable techniques to make a film unique. But does it have to be a director, could it be an actor or a producer using their so called trademark styles to have a creative influence on a film.

That brings me to my theory; can we consider Tom Hanks as a film auteur due to his solo style acting in some of the block buster’s he has starred in? Is he casted for that production because of his sheer acting skills or are film almost moulded around him allowing him as much creative freedom as the director themselves...

A brief history on tom hanks
Tom Hanks is perhaps one of the most successful actors of his time with achievements such as two academy awards for best lead actor. His more recognised films include:
· Forrest gump
· Cast away
· Philadelphia
· Big
· Apollo 13
· Saving private ryan
· Da vinci code
· The terminal
· Toy story trilogy
· And so many more...

So I’ve decided to direct my attention to three of his films which may determine if he has true creative influence on the films these are Big, Cast away and Forrest Gump.
Big
Big is one of the early pieces of work starring tom hanks directed by penny Marshall in 1988 which got hanks nominated for best lead role in the academy awards. The role that Hanks played was divided with two actors one a teenage David Moscow and a 30 year old tom hanks as the character is a kid who discovers a machine to make his wish come true in being older. He then regrets his decision as he realizes that he missed out on the happiest days of his life as a kid and searches out for the only machine that could reverse his wish after complications.
As i was doing secondary research on Hanks involvement in the film, i stumbled on footage of tom hanks having an interview on BBC television show Friday night with Jonathan Ross where Hanks revealed that the director was looking for a better way to show a connection through two characters, so Hanks suggested a rhyme that his son learnt at summer camp which turned out to be one of the most famous lines in tom hanks history. However creative this is it doesn’t back up my theory that his trademark solo acting style of hanks has any influence on the film, mainly because big doesn’t give Hanks the freedom to take over like he does in films such as the terminal or one of the other key films cast away.

Cast away

Cast away is based on a FedEx delivery personal on a overseas job to deliver a package when disaster strikes and the plane crashes. Main character Chuck Nolan played by hanks ends up on a empty island where he has to survive for 4 years before he builds up the courage to attempt to escape. This film gives Hanks all the relative freedom that he could ask for as for over half the film hanks becomes the only actor as he twists the story to keep the viewer interested in the plot of one story line as normally there is a shadow story which we also follow to keep the audience from getting bored of the one story.
Robert zemeckis
Robert zemeckis who is the director of the film worked with hanks years before on Forrest Gump where he described hanks as he’s creative soul mate at an oscer award ceremony. This has made me more interested into discovering the actual influence hanks has off screen and why zemeckis brought him back with cast away.

Forrest gump

Forrest gump is one of the most successful films of all time where zemekis and hanks first worked together which earned both men academy awards for best director and best actor, and with this film i was interested in how hanks managed to keep the busy story line through the film focused on one real story of the learning of hanks character Forrest Gump.

yahoo

Before i look more into the films i was intrigued to get the basic view of other people, so i asked the users of yahoo answer for their opinion and the answers where quite blunt. 4 people answered with all of them saying NO! The main response was do i know what an auteur is in a rather nasty manor. But one response was constructive speaking on how he could see where i was coming from with the style of acting seen in films of like cast away and the terminal but if he has any constructive control he can’t see past castaway which may be the only film he does because of the duration of hanks being on screen by himself.

Staying with cast away support actress heather hunt mentioned at tom hanks afi life achievement award that hanks took over the film.
Experience behind the camera
When reading a article on tom hanks in a old empire magazine which was interviewing him on his success before 2003 he mentioned that after starring in film Philadelphia, hanks wrote a comedy called ‘that thing that you do’ saying how he wanted a project that he could have full creative influence, so hanks wrote, directed and co produced this film where he could have full creative control, after seeing a clip from the film i was hoping of signs of a solo story line to see if hanks does truly love the solo role, but i was disappointed to see nothing special to relate to tom hanks acting.

Actors point of view

Although i found little sparks of evidence of a creative influence as interviews with director and co stars praise him, my theory has become weak due to the lack of specialty technique in any of the know creative in puts by hanks, this has gave me extreme doubt that hanks is an auteur but i kept digging hoping to find something major on more than one film that hanks solo style changes a film, but now im more interested in how hanks was casted for the 3 film and discover the directors views in why he was casted for that film.

Facebook surprise

Well when i was looking up Zemeckis reason into why hank’s was chosen to be the lead roll simply on google i stumbled on the fact that which i was surprised i missed earlier on in my research, Tom Hanks was one of the producers on cast away. Hanks came up with the key concept with William boyles jr while working together on Apollo 13, a fan of hanks wrote on facebook a quote that i thought was rather relevant to the solo style. ‘Through its many drafts, his script became a model for the often unappreciated art of true screen dramatization, where events and emotion are brought to life with minimal dialogue.’ Although it proves that hanks did have strong creative control on cast away with moulding the way the film went around the technique he is confident to pull off.

conclusion

But looking into the other focus film in big and Forrest Gump i struggle to see past the fact that although Hanks plays his role so well in both films, there is no real further evidence that he has creative influence besides the fact that he is just one of the best in the world at what he does in acting. I have made the conclusion that hanks cannot be classed as an auteur when you compare him to some of the better known auteurs such as Hitchcock and speilberg. In fact the whole study has put me off on the theory that actors can be true auteurs unless you was a director who plays similar roles in their own films such as Tarantino. So although i feel Hanks does play a creative role in the fims he stars in, i don’t think it involves a trademark technique, in this case his independent style acting.

helen hunt

at the afi life achievment award for tom hanks, co star helen hunt in cast away made an apperance calling tom hanks performance extraordinary and admits that tom hanks made the film.

film, tv and theater

i discovered on the channel bravo early in the morning a tv show called inside the actors studio which is an interview based show on famous actors/directors. so i looked up tom hanks on the Internet and found him make the appearance on the show, the info was mostly on his early career, however he does say an interesting quote that 'film is a director median, television is a producers median, actors can have moments in each of those but the point where the actor really is the definer that night is on the stage.

directing

Hanks does have expirience on being on the other side of the camera with his self produced and directed 1997 released film 'that thing you do' which besides being nominated for an academy award, the success hank found through it seems to be erased from history as people cant see past the amazing performances by hanks in front of the camera.

robert zemeckis

Robert zemeckis is one of the most successful directors of recent times with award winning films such as the back to the future trilogy, who framed roger rabbit, forrest gump, cast away, beowulf and the polar express.

three of the films featured Tom Hanks as the main character be that being mealy a voice or a full performance. the first time the two worked together went so well theres no wonder why they would have such a connection, as forrest gump brought in multiple awards most notibly academy awards for both zemeckis for best director and best actor for hanks.

it was interesting for zemeckis to describe hanks as not just as actor but as a creative sole mate for forrest gump and has made me more determined into how hank influenced the film off the screen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJGo9nEaQok&feature=PlayList&p=86BABC4E242C2F4A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=64

look what i need

Looks like i need to go shopping this weekend and this looks to be the main thing to buy. tom hanks autobiography is probably the most obviouse place to find info on the man him self.

the book to the right about director robert zemeckis is also a key book to purchase as he has had tom hanks star in several of his films.

tom hanks popular films

BIG (1988) (case study against)
philadelphia (1993)
forest gump (1994) (case study for)
apollo 13 (1995) (case study against)
toy story (1995)
saving private ryan (1998)
toy story 2 (1999)
the green mile (1999)
cast away (2000) (case study for)
catch me if you can (2002)
the terminal (2004) (case study for)
the polar express(2004)
the da vinci code (2006) (case study against)
Angles and demands (2009)
toy story 3 (2010)