Born in 1956 in California, Tom Hanks became one of the most famous Hollywood’s actor in the 1980s with more than one hundred movies that change our perception of cinema. Passionate of theatre, the young Thomas Hanks had decided to move from the West of the United States to the East of New York City in 1978. He appears for the first time in the cinema’s business thanks to He Knows You’re Alone of Armand Mastroianni in 1980. It’s in 1988 with his nomination to the Oscars for Big from Penny Marshall whom Tom Hanks see his career taking off.
How does Tom Hanks succeed to embody a comic character in a drama movie as Forrest Gump ?
Tom Hanks career is very rich, he played in several movies as Philadelphia of Jonathan Demme, Saving Private Ryan of Steven Spielberg, The Green Mile by Frank Darabont or Ron Howard’s movies as Apollo 13, Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.Besides, all those movies deal with a drama subject. Starring by Tom Hanks but also Denzel Washington or Antonio Banderas, Philadelphia is an American drama film and one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge AIDS. This film is definitely not a comic ones but it’s a consecration for Tom Hanks because thanks to this movie he won his first Oscar in 1993. The following Oscar that he received is for Forrest Gump, a Robert Zemeckis’ film.
First, we can say that this story is comic and dramatic in itself. Forrest Gump is a movie based on the eponymous novel written by Winston Groom, an American author. In this story we follow the adventures of Forrest through the history of the United States of America during the second part of the 20th century shaken by the Vietnam War, The Segregation… Tom play a simple-minded character in this movie which is very emotional. In addition of his simple-mindedness, in his childhood, Forrest suffer from his back that prevent him from being a normal child.
At his entrance at school in Alabama, Forrest will count on his new friend Jenny, wich will be the only child of his age to understand him. Furthermore, Jenny ask him to run if he had to face a problem, hence the now famous scene : « Run Forrest ! Run ! ». This film is also one of the first movie to develop computer generated images. This story is definitely very emotional because Forrest see his family weakening, his mother dies from cancer and his wife, Jenny from a new disease, AIDS. Unfortunately as if he was bound to this story, Tom Hanks lost his wife from a cancer in 2002. Tom Hanks successfully embody this character which was at the base destined to John Travolta.
Some critics say that Tom Hanks has an actor’s play that make laugh involuntarily which may be his secret in this movie. . Tough it is not a matter of dramatisation or acting but rather of representing and exploring a role or attitude. He was anticipated to play Peter Banning’s role in Hook, role finally interpreted by Robin Williams,this shows that Tom Hanks is not limited to drama characters but also to comic ones. One of the qualities that we find in Tom Hanks is that he can appropriate a character and shoulder his story as if it was himself. His success will allow him to make a turning point in his career, being director.
