President Tom Hanks?

What is he going to do- run for prime minister of Cambodia and work his way up?

If nattering naybobs like you had their way, no one would run naked through the Chicago Merchantile Exchange.

 

Nattering naybobs?

 

For somebody who is involved in theater, you are the person I thought most likely to understand my point. After having a brother-in-law working in Hollywood for one of the largest film companies on earth (clue: they produced Top Gun), the general consensus I picked up from him and his buddies is that the Hollywood elite simply live in a vastly different reality from everybody else.

At least guys like Kerry and even Clinton have convinced me that we are from the same planet.

 

Ref, of course I understand that. I just think it's beyond incredibly weird for a Bush supporter to make the argument that Hanks wouldn't have the common touch. Tom Hanks, at least at some point in his life, had to work for a living. And he didn't receive favorable treatment in his line of work due to his lineage. Bush, on the other hand, has never known the struggles of the common man. He was a made man when he was born. I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with that -- just that it's hypocritical to say Hanks would be too removed from normal folks to do a good job as president while supporting Bush.

 

Hey MacBeth... You're the won who can see into the future! Now go back into your garage, and tell us if he will win!

 

This is really interesting. Hanks has probably been the biggest proponent , on TV at least, of the WW2 memorial. He is a huge supporter of veterans in general and the military, as far as I can fathom. So I think it would be hard to come at him from that direction. I don't know if he served or not, but that doesn't seem to be a requirement anymore. But, like MacBeth was wondering, what are his stances on the issues??

One thing that would appeal to me, at least, is that he's a HUGE supporter of the Space Program and NASA. Kudos from here on that one. I think we can safely figure out his stance, and it's a good one, imo.

(did I mention I think we should be in space?? )

 

NASA, WWII, hmmmm, so Hanks is obviously pro-whatever happened in his movies. We know then that he would push for more money into treating and curing AIDS, as well as protecting the rights of people with AIDS. Forrest Gump tells us that he wants to help people who aren't quite mentally disabled, but aren't of normal intelligence either. Probably punish people who sell crappy houses like in Money Pit, put money into govt funded blind date programs (Sleeples and You've Got Mail), he's probably gonna be a big supporter of police thanks to Dragnet, etc. You guys get the idea.

 

OK, you got me.
I've seen him in interviews, however, where I thought his stance on the Space Program was far more clear than mud. He is quite a good actor, though, so how could we trust anything he says??


Whoops, I forgot we were talking about a potential politician. Trust doesn't enter into to the equation. Only the appearance of being trustworthy. And he would be superb at that.

 

I think it could be done, but someone who has no baggage, has no experience. And That puts us all at the mercy of his staff. But now that I think of it. When isn't that the case. The President makes decisions based on information. Anyone of us could do it. The question is who wants that responsibility. Maybe Tom Hanks does.

 

I heard that Tom Hanks is going to star in a movie about Abraham Lincoln, playing the lead character. Steven Spielberg is set to direct. Seriously.

 

Hanks sounds like a great, down to earth guy. I’m not big on celebrities with no political experience jumping into the ring, but I think that with a little experience he’d be a great person for the job.

Can you talk a little about how Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks got involved in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding?”
Nia: When I was doing a stage play, Rita Wilson heard about it because it was becoming a bit of a successful run in Los Angeles, and that's rare. Plays don't really work there. She came to it and she said right away, “This should be a movie.” I'd already tried to write the screenplay so I handed it to her like, “Here's a…I don't know… Just read it and maybe you'll like it.” That was the screenplay they bought. My actual first draft is what they bought. Isn't that nuts?
She sent Tom Hanks to the very next show. He called me and said that they're going to make it into a movie.
I heard that you received a letter from Tom Hanks after he saw the play?
Nia: Yes. He came to the show and he didn't stay afterwards so I thought, “Oh, okay, I guess I'm not going to meet him.” I did eventually meet him but he sent me a letter two days later saying, “Sorry I couldn't stay but my daughter had school in the morning." I loved so much that he had to go home to drive his daughter around. So normal!
And he said, “Thank you for this story that I know by experience to be true,” because he had married Rita and he'd been swallowed up into this big fat Greek family himself.
John: He's a big wuss (laughing). He's one of the sweetest wusses you'll ever meet. I never meet a sweeter wuss. He's a family guy, rides his bike around Santa Monica, has more money than any of us could ever dream of, and drives a little PT Cruiser. He's just great.
Nia: One of the things I think is great is when you first meet him - or now that I've introduced him to friends - is he gives you a second to just get used to it. Because you can't believe you're actually meeting Tom Hanks and he just kind of waits, gives you a second, and then you have the most normal conversation you've ever had with a human being in your entire life. He is very normal. He strives to retain his normalcy because you have to live life to play life. If he was just jetting around in limos and private jets, there's no way he could portray his characters so truly. He is that guy.
They have a very normal life. He just drives to work. He doesn't expect, when we're looking at something, to go, "I'm here. Please present me with the latest marketing campaigns for 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.' " He's just very normal.
So you never felt any pressure working with Tom Hanks or his company while making this film?
Nia: I never felt pressure; I only felt support.
You were actively involved in casting John, but how closely were you involved in casting the supporting roles?
Nia: They let me be in on everything - everything. The editing, the music - everything. They are not normal people (laughing). I had the most beautiful moment where I was watching the orchestra playing Toula's theme, us kissing on the bridge. I just wept. It's just an amazing process.
http://romanticmovies.about.com/library/weekly/aa072602c.htm

 

thats a quote from Tom Hanks in an 60 minutes interview before Castaway came out..

 

Ooh, he lost my vote right there. There are definitely more productive, and dare I say, heroic things that we should be focusing on as a nation, rather than spending billions of dollars just to send people to float around in space for awhile just because we can.

 

Well, since we're discussing the highly unlikely idea that Tom Hanks is mulling a run for the Presidency, and not mulling over whether or not to be Abe Lincoln in a movie (much more likely, no doubt), I would say that his stance on the Space Program is important to supporters of the Space Program. Most of those folks think it's heroic to float around in space in an oversized tin can and believe that the exploration and colonization of space is as eventable and necessary as the exploration and settlement of the West in this country. (although Native Americans might not agree)

It would also be nice to be able to DO something about an asteroid of catastrophic size on a collision course with this planet, rather than be reduced to acting out my signature... which is all we would be able to do at present. The military possibilities don't really hold a great deal of interest for me, and I have the naive notion that it should be an area of peaceful cooperation, something we haven't figured out how to accomplish on Earth. I suspect someone like treeman could think of things militarily we are already doing in orbit and at Lagrangian points. I can. But that's really the topic of another thread, some other time. And if Hanks DID run, I certainly wouldn't vote for him solely on that basis.

 

I dont want anyone who greenlighted Big Fat Greek Wedding in the white house.

I just didnt think it was that good. And hell, I saw it on an airplane for free.