Hanks for the Memory
If you've ever wondered why Tom Hanks has a reputation as a "good guy," this clip will help. It comes from The Graham Norton Show on BBC America, during the "Big Red Chair" segment.
I've written about the show often, which I like a lot, but the "Big Red Chair" part is not one I particularly like. I appreciate that they do it, because it's different and can be amusing. But I tend to fast-forward past. It's when an audience member sits in a... well, big red chair to tell what's usually an embarrassing story about themself -- and if any guest on the panel doesn't like it for any reason, they pull a level and the chair flips back. (It's all very cushioned.) I just don't care much for embarrassing stories, especially from total strangers when I tuned in to watch something else. But on occasion I've watched and seen some good things. This is one.
The audience member turns out to have worked as what was probably not all that much more than a day player (maybe a couple days) 18 years earlier on Saving Private Ryan with Hanks -- a movie that clearly had a massive number of day players and extras. And again, was 18 years earlier. And not only does Hanks remember him, but remembers a small detail about that one day. Needless-to-say, not only is the host amazed, but the panelists at first think he's joking. But how it comes about is even more surprising, because by all rights the segment should have been over, until Hanks speaks up. It wasn't that the actor first mentions that they worked in the one scene...but it's Hanks who does!!
Side note: I checked the iMDB for the fellow, Adam Shaw, and not only was Saving Private Ryan his first professional credit, but he's gone on working somewhat consistent since then -- all seemingly in small roles, but still. Among other things, he was in a couple episodes of Ted Lasso and played a guard in the wonderful, The Death of Stalin, written and directed by Armando Iannucci, who created Veep.
There's an addendum to this.
As you'll seen in the User Comments below, Douglass Abramson provides a link to a clip of Hanks appearing on the Graham Norton's show the year before, and telling a story about a young British actor in his first movie and talking with him feeling completely out of his depth -- which is Adam Shaw above. That Hanks remembers such detail 17 years earlier is impressive, as well. (As is him recognizing Shaw from only about 30 seconds, now 17 years older.)
I remember watching the episode when it first aired -- Hanks and fellow-guest Peter Capaldi got to talking about winning Oscars at the same 1995 Academy Awards ceremony (Hanks for Best Actor with Forrest Gump, Capaldi for directing a live-action short), which got around to the third guest David Walliams sardonically joking about feeling left out.
But I would never have remembered this connection to the story a year later. What I wonder is if the show's producers tracked Adam Shaw down, or if he saw the episode and contacted them. It could have been pure chance, though that seems unlikely.
Here's that earlier clip.
Comments