By: Jerry Beck,
on 9/14/2016
Vienna-based studio NÖT shares the unedited opening sequence of the Tom Hanks-starring "A Hologram for the King."
The post The Tom Hanks Film ‘A Hologram for the King’ Had An Inventive Cartoon Sequence That Was Cut appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 3/11/2015
Ben Foster has signed on to star in the Inferno film adaptation. Foster’s character, a villainous scientist named Bertrand Zobrist, has an obsession with Dante Alighieri’s famous poem.
This project, based on Dan Brown’s 2013 novel, marks the return of Tom Hanks as the symbologist Robert Langdon. Ron Howard, the director behind both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, will also come back to take the helm.
Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, and Irrfan Khan also are in the cast. The story sees Langdon drawn into a conspiracy to unleash a deadly plague centered on Dante’s ‘Inferno,’ the 14th century epic poem about the nine circles of hell.” Click here to download a free eBook of The Divine Comedy.
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By: Deborah Jensen,
on 11/4/2014
Given his affinity for typewriters and his collection of favorite models, including a Hermes 2000, a 1930s Remington, and a midcentury Royal, we imagine Tom Hanks tapped out first drafts for the book he just sold to Alfred A. Knopf. Images of his typewriters inspired a series of short stories.
According to the New York Times: “’The stories are not about the typewriters themselves, but rather the stories are something that might have been written on one of them,’ Mr. Hanks said in a statement released by Knopf on Monday.”
In September, Hanks shared the origin story for his typewriter love with NPR’s Audie Cornish, “I ended up just having them around because they’re beautiful works of art, and I ended up collecting them from every ridiculous source possible. It really kicked off probably when I had a little excess cash. But better to spend it on $50 typewriters than some of the other things you can blow show-business money on.”
He also discussed with Cornish how using a typewriter changes the writing process:
“It makes me work a little slower, and when you work a little slower, you work a little bit more accurately. … I like operating a little bit slower. Typing on an actual typewriter on paper is only a softer version of chiseling words into stone.”
Hanks’ book of short stories follows the release in August of his writing app, Hanx Writer, which simulates a typewriter keyboard and action, and his 2013 New York Times op-ed, “I Am TOM. I Like to TYPE. Hear That?”
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 8/28/2014
Sony Pictures and Imagine Entertainment are teaming up to adapt Inferno by Dan Brown. According to USA Today, this novel was the bestselling book of 2013.
The movie studios will be skipping over the third installment of this popular fiction series, The Lost Symbol. Actor Tom Hanks will return to play Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, filmmaker Ron Howard will serve as the director, and screenwriter David Koepp will pen the script.
Here’s more from Deadline: “In Inferno, Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital with amnesia. He teams up with Sienna Brooks, the doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories and prevent a madman from releasing a global plague connected to Dante’s Inferno.” Which actress would you cast to play Sienna Brooks?
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 4/8/2014
Just in time for National Poetry Month, Django Unchained actor Samuel L. Jackson recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and performed slam poetry about the 90′s American sitcom, Boy Meets World.
In the video embedded above, Jackson makes references to the Corey-Topanga love story, the Corey-Shawn bromance, and Eric’s infamous “Feeny” call.
According to Mental Floss, Fallon later asked Jackson whether or not he was a fan of Boy Meets World; Jackson admitted that it’s probable he had never even “seen one episode.”
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By: Jason Boog,
on 10/15/2013
Producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman will work together with documentarian Ken Burns to curate an audiobook collection for Audible called Playtone.
The series is named after the three creators’ film and television production company, featuring a wide range of books–you can see the complete list of titles below. The series will include Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried narrated by Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. Check it out:
Other books in the Playtone line are the classic war memoirs With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge and Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie. These two memoirs, which inspired Playtone’s award-winning HBO miniseries The Pacific, are narrated by the actors who portrayed Sledge and Leckie in the series, Joseph Mazzello and James Badge Dale, and both feature introductions by Hanks. Finally, celebrated documentarian Burns (The Civil War, The Dust Bowl) has handpicked a selection of audiobooks covering the past 150 years of American history that has inspired his own work, personally recording introductions to each.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/11/2013
Here’s the trailer for Saving Mr. Banks, the fictionalized Disney-produced account of the relationship between Walt Disney and Mary Poppins creator P.L. Travers. The film, which stars Tom Hanks as Disney and Emma Thompson as Travers, is scheduled for release on December 13. It’s unclear what the studio is attempting to achieve by making this film, but if the cornball trailer is any indication, it’s unlikely to make a dent in addressing the studio’s Walt Disney image problem.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/10/2013
Among the juicier dramas surrounding the production of the megahit Despicable Me 2 is Al Pacino’s sudden departure from the film. Six weeks before the film’s premiere at Annecy, Pacino quit the film as the voice of the antagonist El Macho. Neither side will say what happening, simply citing ‘creative differences.’
At that point, the production was nearly finished and the animation had already been locked. This sent Illumination head Chris Meledandri scrambling to find a replacement, which turned out to be Benjamin Bratt. Since no new animation could be created at that late stage, Bratt re-recorded the dialogue by matching the existing animation, and in true Hollywood fashion, they fixed it all in post.
The controversy serves as a perfect case study for one of the long-running debates in the animation world, which is whether celebrities make any box office impact on the success or failure of an animated feature.
Back in the early-1990s, when Robin Williams provided the voice of the Genie in Aladdin, he earned scale pay for his performance, which was less than $100,000, so it hardly mattered whether celebrities affected the bottomline. But today, celebrities demand lucrative fees for their voices and drive film budgets up by tens of millions of dollars. Owen Wilson took home $2.5 million for Cars 2, Cameron Diaz had a $10 million payday for Shrek Forever After and Tom Hanks earned a reported $15 million for Toy Story 3.
What would happen if you took a celebrity out of one of these films? Would audiences still show up? That’s exactly what happened with Despicable Me 2. The result? It was the fourth-biggest opening ever for an animated feature in the United States.
Those who create animation know the reality: audiences don’t go see animated features because Al Pacino is in it. They go see animated films because they want to be entertained, and the quality of the animation performance and storytelling are far bigger factors than who voices any particular character. The most popular characters in Despicable Me 2, the minions, are voiced by two no-name French actors—Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin. They’re not well known actors because they were the directors of the film.
The celebrity culture of animated features won’t change anytime soon. Studios believe that they derive benefits from having A-listers in films because audiences love celebrities. But there’s no empirical evidence that audiences are attracted to famous voices in the same way that they are attracted to seeing those actors in the flesh.
Still, celebrities do play one hugely important role in the animation process. They pad the egos of fragile animation executives who would otherwise be embarrassed to tell people they produce animation. At Hollywood parties, these execs can tout to their friends that they, too, are working with A-list Hollywood stars. Because after all, who would want to tell their friends that the stars of their hit film is two French dudes named Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin?
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By: Jason Boog,
on 4/22/2013
Knopf will publish Lucky Guy, the final written work by the great Nora Ephron, as part of a hardcover-only release on October 29th.
The play will be part of a $35 collection edited by Robert Gottlieb called The Most of Nora Ephron. Lucky Guy tells the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning police reporter in New York City, and Tom Hanks now stars in the Broadway edition of the play. Gottlieb introduced the book in the release:
It includes her brilliant writing as a reporter and columnist, her novel, Heartburn, and her screenplay for When Harry Met Sally… as well as her last finished work, the play Lucky Guy. Nora’s unique takes on feminism, politics, family, marriage, food, being a woman, aging, and dying — everything her readers came to admire and love her for — are represented here. Hers was a remarkable life in letters.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 11/6/2012
Twitter user Melissa Farley snagged the first photo of Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. Hanks is portraying the role of Walt Disney for the film Saving Mr. Banks, a drama about the making of Disney’s Mary Poppins. Hanks spoke about the role recently in this Hollywood Reporter interview. So what do you think of the pic: does Hanks evoke Walt or does he evoke Tom Hanks with a mustache?
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By: Jason Boog,
on 10/10/2012
Actor, director and typewriter collector Tom Hanks recently appeared on the Nerdist podcast, thanks to a beautiful bribe–a crimson 1934 Smith Corona typewriter.
The Nerdist podcast host Chris Hardwick knew that Hanks collects old typewriters, so he mailed the invitation along with a Depression-era machine. Above, you can read Hanks’ reply to the invitation, typed on the same typewriter. Below, you can see a photograph of the lovely typewriter. Here is the original letter sent by The Nerdist team:
Please accept this typewriter–o–gram as a formal invitation to be a a guest on my wildly-popular-with-the-kids Nerdist Podcast. It is a super relaxed, fun chat that will probably cover comedy, NASA, and whatever else you want to talk about — a new WEBSERIES, perhaps?? We are nice guys who are easy to get along with and have never murdered anyone. Other guests have included folks like your son Colin, Tina Fey, Conan, Jimmy Fallon, Bryan Cranston, John Lithgow, Willem Dafoe, JJ Abrams, Neil Patrick Harris, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Joel McHale, Jon Hamm, and THE MUPPETS. It would be an absolute dream come true to add you to this list. Please accept this 1934 Smith Corona as a gift for even considering this request. It should only VERY SLIGHTLY affect your decision.
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By: Jason Boog,
on 7/30/2012
A long trailer for Cloud Atlas has been released online, giving us a glimpse of Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in the adaptation of David Mitchell‘s award-winning novel. Follow this link to watch the trailer at Apple.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the trailer has driven some new interest in the book, making it the seventh most popular book on Amazon: “To cash in on the renewed interest, Random House has ordered a new paperback printing of 25,000 copies, to hit stores before a special movie-tie in edition of the book is released in September. Currently, “Cloud Atlas” has 227,000 paperback copies in print in the U.S.”
We’ve embedded the trailer above–what do you think? The film comes out October 26th. Follow this link to see cast photos from the movie as well. The Matrix creators Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski (the creators of The Matrix) directed the movie.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/17/2012
He’s lived in Knoxville, Seattle and Los Angeles, but animator Joel Trussell recently moved to a town you won’t find on any map — Electric City. Electric City is the name of the new animated series spearheaded by actor/director Tom Hanks, and it’s one of the first major animation productions specifically designed for online viewing. Premiering today on Yahoo’s video site Yahoo! Screen with ten five- to seven-minute episodes, Electric City is a co-production by Hanks’ Playtone shingle and Los Angeles animation studio Six Point Harness, who tapped Trussell to direct this unique animated series.
Trussell’s career has seen a steady uphill trajectory since graduating from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 1998, doing animated music videos to commercials and even segments of television shows like Yo Gabba Gabba. Cartoon Brew has followed Trussell’s career for years, beginning with 2005’s War Photographer music video . After doing a prodigious amount of work out of his Knoxville home far removed from the traditional animation hubs, Trussell moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to pursue opportunities for larger projects. In no short time, Trussell connected with Six Point Harness to do commercials which segued quickly into the opportunity to helm Electric City.
Chris Arrant: Electric City is the biggest project you’ve ever done – 20 episodes, 5 to 7 minutes each. How’d you get involved and did you have any concerns about such a large scale project?
Joel Trussell: For several years I directed animated many music videos (Jason Forrest’s War Photographer, M. Ward’s The First Time I Ran Away) commercials (Esurance, Nicorette) and TV/film segments (Yo Gabba Gabba, The Animation Show) while living in Knoxville, Tenne
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By: Jason Boog,
on 4/25/2012
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Stephen Colbert will release his first children’s book on May 8th, and actor Tom Hanks will read the audiobook–complete with “interruptions” from the The Colbert Report star.
You can see the cover of I Am A Pole (And So Can You!) at Amazon. Above, we’ve embedded a video of Colbert talking about the book: “the inspirational story of a pole trying to find his place in the world.” Both Hanks and Colbert will donate proceeds from the audiobook to U.S. Vets.
The kid’s book began as a comic moment during Colbert’s interview with came about as a result of a two-part interview with Maurice Sendak.
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 11/30/2011
Universal Studios has acquired the movie rights for In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar winner Tom Hanks and his producing partner Gary Goetzman may produce the project. Hanks could star in the movie as well.
Here’s more from the article: “The book tells the true tale of William Dodd, the United States’ reluctant and mild-mannered ambassador to Berlin in 1933, and his daughter Martha, a vivacious socialite who had romantic affairs with a Gestapo official and a Soviet spy.”
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 5/17/2011
Actress Susan Sarandon and actor Jim Broadbent will star alongside Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in the upcoming film adaptation of Cloud Atlas.
Directing duo Andy and Lana Wachowski (the creators of The Matrix) will helm this project. Author David Mitchell published Cloud Atlas in 2004. The novel earned the British Book Awards Literary Fiction Award and the Richard & Judy Book of the Year award.
Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “The film, is an adaptation of the epic novel by David Mitchell which follows six storylines, each set in a different place and era, stretching from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future. Each actor in the film will be playing multiple roles.” (via Shelf Awareness)
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By: Maryann Yin,
on 4/15/2011
Neil Gaiman‘s American Gods could be coming as an HBO series. The cable company is discussing the acquisition of the fantasy novel with Gaiman and his collaborators.
Here’s more from Deadline: “The project was brought to HBO by Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and it was brought to them by Robert Richardson. The plan is for Richardson and Gaiman to write the pilot together.”
In 2002, American Gods won the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards in the Best Novel category. Last year, American Gods was voted as the title to kick off the One Book, One Twitter program.
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