Tom Hanks is one of the Hollywood stars who is known to take intense measures to prepare for his on-screen characters. While it surely fulfills the purpose, as they present their best to the audience, sometimes it leaves a lasting impact on actors. While sometimes they suffer from mental distress from playing a character, it also leaves physical impacts on actors working on tight schedules and due to the injuries, they suffer while filming.
Hanks also went through something similar while working for his 2000 film Cast Away, which follows a plane crash survivor attempting to survive and go back home.
Tom Hanks Suffered a Serious Injury on Cast Away
The 2000 survival drama Cast Away features Tom Hanks as Chuck Nolan, a sole survivor of a plane crash, who desperately attempts to survive and go back home. And the struggle became real off-camera as well after he got a cut that later turned into a serious infection.
The Forrest Gump star shared that he did not think of it much before and thought that he “had a sore.” However, the infection was “eating its way through his [leg],” and at a point, it got so serious that he needed to be rushed to the hospital, where doctors told him how bad the infection was.
Doctors told him that they had to admit him and treat the infection, as it could have been life-threatening to him. Hanks shared, “Believe it or not, [it] almost killed me.” He was in the hospital for three days, receiving treatment for his infection, and was able to recover and get back to filming Cast Away.
How Did Tom Hanks Prepare For Cast Away?
Preparing for his role in Cast Away was also an exhausting experience for Tom Hanks. The actor shared that in order to prepare for his role in the movie, he read several logs of people who went through similar experiences. “It was despair,” he said.
He said that he learned that many such logs and diaries had been found of people who were involved in shipwrecks or other incidents. He learned that these people did everything to survive, from making fire to finding food and water. However, the constant struggle also takes a toll on their mental and physical health.
Everything the Greyhound star did for the film worked out for the best as it was a commercial and critical hit. Along with the film’s success, Hanks also received praise for his work and got nominated for Best Actor at the 2001 Academy Awards for the film.
Cast Away is available on Hulu.
Source: The Things
