Tom Hanks explains how a Bruce Springsteen song helped throwaway scene in Philadelphia become iconic
Movies are made in segments. This may seem very obvious to you. And yes, it’s true that some directors shoot in relative order, so that the cast maintains its momentum and stays in the story. But other times, situations dictate that you shoot what you can, when you can, and hope you can use the footage later. When it works, magic happens. And some of that magic apparently happened on Jonathan Demme philadelphia creamwhich he shot in 1992 with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
The film stars Tom Hanks as a lawyer who himself seeks legal help to sue his former employers, who he claims fired him once they found out he had AIDS. Hanks’ character, Andrew Beckett, turns to Denzel Washington’s character, Joe Miller, and eventually finds an ally in a battle against discrimination. Hanks recently opened up about playing a gay man onscreen, and whether the role should have gone to a gay actor at the time. But when the actor sat down with CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend Podcasthe talked more about the profession of shooter philadelphia creamand how a routine shot became an iconic sequence.
The way Tom Hanks tells it:
The power of cinema does not exist until everything is unified. And I’m not just talking about the sound and the score, but also everything that happened before the film, and then everything that happened after the film. And I’ll tell you one of the places I get that, over and over and over — all I did was walk in the door, look up and down the street, and walk away . That’s all I did that day. And that’s when I leave Denzel Washington’s office in Philadelphia, and the Bruce Springsteen song kicks in, and you know this guy can’t get a lawyer, and he’s dying of AIDS. , and he is all alone.
So much is conveyed through what could be considered a throwaway cliché, a simple setup of Tom Hanks leaving a desk and looking up and down the street. The genius of the late Jonathan Demme is that he understood the humanity and the emotional toll that was being sold at that time. And Hanks too, although he didn’t really hit home until later. As he kept saying ReelBlend:
Now when we shoot this on a day in Philadelphia where it’s kinda cold, and they’re just trying to figure it out, they’re trying to keep the traffic going the right way and talk to Jonathan Demme at that time, and I I said, “Oh no, I know what’s going on here, I’m fine.” But the reality is that it’s happening in real time, and it’s done in 15 seconds. That’s all it is. That’s the undeniable quality of lightning in a movie.
Tom Hanks is a masterful storyteller, with an incredible career filled with stunning stories. Think how difficult it was for us to compile this list of best tom hanks movies. You must listen to the full interview here:
The interview was conducted on behalf of the new film Elvisin which Tom Hanks plays the singer’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Some of the horrible things Parker did to Elvis were left out of the film, but audiences still respond in kind, helping the biopic to win the weekend at the box office by retaining the behemoth of Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick. Additionally, the film received the full support of the Presley familywhich should be the only criticism you need to hear. Elvis is in theaters right now, so grab some tickets and go.