Tom Hanks, not surprisingly, has never been in a fight. The two-time Oscar-winner and notorious nice guy said, “Gentleman don’t do such things,” when asked about his fisticuffs history at a downtown Chicago hotel Friday.
But in the unlikely scenario that you ever happen to find yourself throwing down with the star of “Big” and “Forrest Gump,” the new how-to book from comedian Kevin Seccia, “Punching Tom Hanks” (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011) has you covered.
“His weakness … is his giant heart,” according to the book, which also covers how to beat up such things as a zombie Abe Lincoln. “Literally, his heart is the size of an enormous pumpkin. It occupies the majority of his upper body and chest region. Any blow to that area will hurt him like an actual punch to his heart would. Good luck. … And may God have mercy on your soul for punching Tom Hanks.”
It’s OK to laugh. Hanks did.
“I don’t know where they did their research, but I guess it’s pretty accurate,” Hanks said after hearing the passage. “I hope no one tries because I’ll have to destroy them.”
Hanks doesn’t take himself too seriously. It’s part of what has made him one of film’s most likable and bankable stars. In his next movie, “Larry Crowne,” Hanks is joined by another one of Hollywood’s biggest names: Julia Roberts. Hanks plays the title character, who enlists in community college after losing his job at a Walmart-like store. Roberts, Hanks’ co-star in “Charlie Wilson’s War,” plays Crowne’s speech professor at the college.
Hanks directed and co-wrote the film with Nia Vardalos. It marked the first film he had directed since 1996’s “That Thing You Do!”
“When we first started talking about it, I just wanted to star in it,” Hanks said of “Larry Crowne.” “A movie never works out when the actor starts off by saying, ‘I have this script and want to play this guy.’ No director will touch it. The director has to be in charge. As it went on, it got to the point where I didn’t want to give it up. I said ‘OK, I want to direct.'”
“Larry Crowne” arrives in theaters Friday, two days after the highly anticipated “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” Even with “Larry Crowne’s” star power, Hanks has already conceded the weekend box office victory to the “Transformers” sequel. “We’ll never be No. 1 at the box office,” Hanks said. “I don’t care about that. The movie is what it is.”
He doesn’t have to care because the film had a smaller budget than your typical Hanks film. And besides, his movies have grossed over $3.5 billion at the box office, as was noted in January by Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais, who mentioned the figure to put down the acting résumé of Hanks’ co-presenter at the awards show, Tim Allen. And no, there aren’t any hard feelings between Gervais and Hanks. Hanks claimed he wouldn’t mind seeing Gervais return to host the Globes for a third straight year.
“Why not?” Hanks said. “Let him go ahead and host again. He was on a highlight there. He decided to go some place that was pretty deep. When you’re getting gasps from the crowd, you’re in a high country, man. He took a shot. … I saw him afterward. I thought it was funny.”
Late Friday night, Hanks and wife Rita Wilson visited Enclave nightclub in River North to watch their 20-year-old son, Chet, aka aspiring rapper Chet Haze, perform three songs. His reaction to Chet wanting to pursue a career in rap? “You want your kids to follow their passion,” Hanks said. “That’s what Chet is doing. I’m proud of him. And I dig his stuff. It’s getting better.”
The elder Hanks said he is more of a “three guitars and a keyboard” fan than a hip-hop fan, but he does speak highly of Eminem (“The guy cuts pretty deep to the bone of what his own life is — you have to respect that,” he said) and he isn’t going to let his own taste in music keep him from supporting his son’s dream.
“I remember my Dad sitting around saying ‘”Yeah, yeah, yeah” — that’s a song? That’s not lyrics,'” Hanks recalled. “I’m not going to be that kind of guy.”
