It is hard to imagine Hollywood gentleman Tom Hanks in a hardcore gun-blazing tough guy role. However, the actor who never played a villain before appeared in a role that was inherently violent but he had some demands before doing the movie.
Sam Mendes’ R-Rated 2002 crime drama, Road to Perdition starring Hanks in the lead as Michael Sullivan was a success— both critically and commercially. However, the movie was supposed to be far more violent than it was depicted in the movie.
Tom Hanks Refused Further Gore in Road to Perdition
Tom Hanks has a decades-spanning decorated career and in his long career, the actor played characters that are mostly grounded in common human-like attributes. However, the actor did go overboard appearing in some un-Hank-esque roles, the best example would be the Sam Mendes-directed Road to Perdition. Adapted from Max Allan Collins’ graphic novel of the same name, the $183.4 million movie omitted the extensive gore represented in the book. “In the graphic novel for Road, they describe my character as the Angel of Death,” Hanks once said. “And it was just loaded with bloodletting – razor blades, decapitations, I believe they even threw bombs. It was extremely violent,” he added.
Further, Hanks revealed that the director was also not interested to glorify further violence in the movie. “Sam wasn’t interested in making that kind of movie. And quite frankly, neither was I,” Hanks said of cutting out the extensive gore.
“It’s loud. It’s very messy and it’s very uncomfortable. And this alters the level of that pure cinematic choice that you make. It’s got less bullets than your average James Bond movie, but the mayhem that’s caused is much more tactile and frightening.”
Of course, Hanks’ character was a ruthless assassin but he has a sensitive side and a great emotional bonding with his son which transformed the viewers into his humane side and could sympathize with the character.
Real Reasons Why Tom Hanks Will Never Play A Villain
Beyond Road to Perdition, Hanks hardly played a rough guy in movies. Playing Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis was a bold move for the actor but he was not much deviating from what can be termed as Hank-esque. Hanks revealed that he would never play a villain in a movie stating the reason that the actor is not suited to play an antagonist.
“It’s because I never get them, because bad guys, by and large, require some degree of malevolence that I don’t think I can fake. I recognized in myself a long time ago that I don’t instill fear in anybody. Now, that’s different than being nice, you know? I think I have a cache of mystery. But it’s not one of malevolence,” Hanks said in an interview with the New York Times.
Certainly, Hanks has made his image as a nice guy both in the industry and in the majority of his movies. His acting caliber is well reflected in his works without even trying out to be a hardcore antagonist and it’s very unlikely that the actor would play such characters ever again.
Hanks who recently appeared in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, will appear in Nia Vardalos’ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. The actor will also appear in Robert Zemeckis’ 2024 drama Here.
Source: The Digital Fix.
