The Hanks family.Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty
Tom Hanksis adding more to the recent remarks he gavewhen asked about nepotism in Hollywood.
During Monday’s N.Y.C. premiere of his newest filmA Man Called Otto— in which his youngest child, sonTruman Hanks, plays a younger versionof his titular character — Tom, 66, opened more up about his previous claim that the entertainment industry is a “family business,” tellingEntertainment Tonight, “the shoe industry is a family business, the car industry is a family business.”
“I think my kids are all like Renaissance artists, you know? [They] are good at whatever they choose to be. Butthe question here is, ‘Can you make it stick?'” he said. “You’ve got to have a passion, you’ve got to have a drive. And yeah, our household has existed in the company town that is Los Angeles.”
The two-timeOscarwinner allowed that a director had suggested his child “play [him] at an early age,” explaining, “that would make sense because we do resemble each other a lot.”
“But the final analysis is the person has to show up on the day and hit the marks and tell the truth. Only he can make that decision. It was totally up to him,” Tom said, noting that any related success is “a combination of talent, perseverance, drive and no small amount of luck.”
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Tom Hanks and son Truman Hanks.Karwai Tang/WireImage
Earlier this month, Tom weighed in on the nepotism in Hollywood conversation. He spoke with Reuters, perThe Sun, about his role inA Man Called Ottoand the “family business” of entertainment.
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“This iswhat we’ve been doing forever,” said Tom. “It’s what all of our kids grew up in. We have four kids — they’re all very creative, they’re all involved in some brand of storytelling.”
“And if we were a plumbing-supply business or if we ran the florist shop down the street, the whole family would be putting in time at some point, even if it was just inventory at the end of the year,” the actor added. “The thing that doesn’t change no matter what happens, no matter what your last name is, is whether it works or not.”
“That’s the issue anytime any of us go off and try to tell a fresh story, or create something that has a beginning, middle and end,” said theForrest Gumpstar. “Doesn’t matter what our last names are. We have to do the work in order to make that a true and authentic experience for the audience.”
“And that’s a much bigger task than worrying about whether anybody’s going to try to scathe us or not,” he concluded.
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At Monday’s event, Tom told PEOPLE what it was like working with his son, whom he shares with wifeRita Wilson, on the film.
“Without a doubt, it’sspecial because, you know, I changed his diapers,” said Tom of Truman, 27. “But you get past that right away because you gotta show up, and you gotta hit the marks, and you gotta do it on time, and you gotta be right there.”
He continued of Truman, “I know what that takes, and he does too. It’s a little different when it’s the whole shebang. He was cast for a very specific reason. We resemble each other, he’s not a stranger, and he knows what the pressure is, and he’s gotta do it.”
“Whenever I do my imitation of him, people are like, ‘That’s not what he sounds like.’ But I have to convey to you the way I hear him,” Truman said. “Everyone else hears, ‘Houston, we have a problem’; I hear this grumpy old man who’s mad at the DVD player.”
A Man Called Otto, based on Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novelA Man Called Ove, is in theaters nationwide Friday.
source: people.com
