For a 90s hit, Tom Hanks says he lay on the grass the whole time – when he wasn’t drinking beer and playing baseball.
After scoring numerous comedy successes in the 1980s, Tom Hanks’ career finally took off at the beginning of the following decade. “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) became a worldwide success, and he won an Oscar for Best Actor two years in a row for “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump” – a feat that no other actor apart from him and Spencer Tracy has ever achieved!
Previously He also starred in a sports comedy based loosely on true events that took him to “Big“ again with director Penny Marshall summarized: “A class of its own“ (1992). The film is set in the World War year 1943. While most of the men are on the front lines, several women (including Geena Davis and Madonna) start a women’s baseball league in a small town in Oregon. For this they are mostly laughed at – except by the somewhat worn-out ex-professional Jimmy Dugan (Hanks), who takes the team under his wing as a coach and does everything in his power to get them fit for the first game…
“A class of its own” at Amazon*
With a worldwide box office of $132.4 million (against a budget of $40 million), “A Class of Its Own” was a success. The reviews were also mostly positive. For Hanks, the film was also extremely easy money. The 68-year-old revealed this in an interview with NPR.
“I drank beer, ate hot dogs and played baseball all summer long,” the “Cast Away” star recalls of filming (via Far Out Magazine). “It was very difficult to return to real life after such a summer. Every now and then I would meet up with a few girls and say a few sentences, but the rest of the time I just lay on the grass. It didn’t feel like I was working at all. I can’t believe they paid me to do this.”
Let the sun shine on your stomach, chat with Geena Davis every now and then and collect a million-dollar salary? Of course it sounds absolutely enviable. That’s probably why Hanks is a little prouder of another achievement. You can find out which forgotten comedy it is about in the following article:
“I don’t know who this guy is”: Tom Hanks is particularly proud of his performance in this forgotten film
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