Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have been happily married since 1988 and have two children together. A happy married life always comes with arguments and disagreements and these two are no exception to the rule. While Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson might have disagreements behind closed doors, they were also once on different pages when it came to casting for his directorial debut.
The 1996 comedy That Thing You Do! stars Tom Everett Scott in the lead role as drummer Guy Patterson. And even though the shoe fits perfectly on the actor’s foot, Tom Hanks was a bit unsure about casting him. Why? Well, his charming looks and resemblance to the director had something to do about it. Luckily, Rita Wilson was right beside Tom Hanks to steer him in the right direction.
Tom Hanks Was Skeptical about Hiring Tom Everett Scott
In a 2021 interview with The Ringer, the team of That Thing You Do! came together to talk about their experience on the set of the 1996 film. Since it was Tom Hanks’ directorial and feature writing debut, he obviously wanted everything to be perfect, including the cast members.
He went through a long line of potential actors to play Guy Patterson but didn’t quite like any, except for Tom Everett Scott. The only problem was that Hanks believed Scott’s looks were a bit too identical to his. While this was creating confusion for the filmmaker, his wife, Rita Wilson, managed to put some clarity in his mind.
Wilson stated,
“Tom was showing me tapes and he said nobody was quite right. He goes, ‘Well, there’s this one guy that came in and he’s perfect for the part, but I think people are going to think he looks too much like me.’ And I said, ‘Let me see.’ He played me the audition tape, and I was like, ‘OK, this guy is the guy. Why wouldn’t you cast this guy?’ Even if somebody said, ‘Oh, he looks like Tom. So what? He’s perfect for the role!’”
It’s a relief that Wilson lent a helping hand to her husband who might have passed on Scott despite him being perfect for the job. The film also stars Liv Tyler, Charlize Theron, Steve Zahn, and so on, and it made $34 million at the box office on a budget of $26 million. It flaunts an incredible score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes with both the audience and critics going absolutely gaga over the toe-tapping film.
Tom Everett Scott Talks about Getting Cast in the Film
In the same interview, Scott recalled how taken aback he was when his agent set him up for the film as he could potentially get to work with his hero, Hanks. Scott stated,
“I had done Law & Order and an episode of Grace Under Fire. Then my agent called and said he submitted me for this wonderful project. He gave me the script and I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is the lead of a Tom Hanks-scripted movie’ He was my hero.”
He then recalled how Hanks reacted to his headshot stating that his enlisted talents could all very well be false, that is until Scott proved that he was just as talented in real life as he seemed on paper. The audition went so well that the Finding You actor was on cloud nine when he left the building.
“I went in very nervous and Tom’s looking at my headshot, ‘OK, so it says trumpet and guitar…’ He was like, ‘I know this could all be bulls*it. I was like, ‘No, I can read music.’ The scene I read wasn’t even in the movie. I left and it seemed to go well. I was on cloud nine for a while.”
After Scott went back to the studio to read with Tyler, Hanks was convinced. He soon called the actor up and delivered the good news. Scott describes the moment as “one of the coolest moments” of his life. Impressing a star of Hanks’ stature is not an easy task but Scott was simply too good to ignore!
You can stream That Thing You Do! on Paramount+.
Source: The Ringer
