DBWI: Could Tom Hanks have transitioned into a serious actor?

(Mike Nichols was the first director on Bonfire and he wanted Steve Martin and Jack Nicholson. I don't have a replacement for Hank on Philadelphia or Apollo 13. The Studio first offered Gilliam the opportunity to do Forest Gump. In our timeline, he did not do the film and it was then offered to Sonnenfeld who also turn it down. Here Gilliam started on the film, but did not get along with Hank. I then replaced Gilliam with Sonnenfeld.)

OOC: Christopher Reeve? Robin Williams?
 
Fascinating idea. It's hard to believe nowadays but there was a time when Tom Hanks was spoken of in the same breath as Judge Reinhold and Steve Guttenberg - they were a kind of alternative brat pack of young actors who could also do comedy. Obviously Reinhold and Guttenberg were conventionally handsome whereas Hanks was gawky-looking, but back in 1984, 1985 or so there was very little to separate them.

If you go back and watch their work from that period, it is hard to believe that Steve Guttenberg would be the one out of the three to nab a Best Actor Oscar (for Forrest Gump).

I get the same reaction going back and watching old Saved By The Bell reruns. I never would have guessed that Elizabeth Berkley would be one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. I mean Jerry Maguire was a such huge break for her. And it was a good swan song for Michael J. Fox before he quit films. I wonder if Tom Cruise would have had a better recent career had he accepted. Things have been rough for Tom since that movie where he yelled "THE BEES! NOT THE BEES!"
 
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I also dislike Forrest Gump. I suppose some could try to redeem it as taking a "meta" view of the whole Reaganesque, Morning In America thing(IOW, we're supposed to recognize that it's a right-wing fairy tale, and know that fairy tales are by definition not real), but it's still too open to non-ironic appreciation for that to really work.

Same thing with the films of David Lynch(which are often mistaken for irony), except that Lynch is actually really good at creating an eerie, disturbing atmosphere. Zemeckis is mostly just a hack, IMO. (Well, Contact was okay.)
 
I hate Forrest Gump with a passion that surpasseth all understanding, although I quite like Tom Hanks.)
I went to see Forrest Gump because I like the book and wanted to see the movie. About two third of the way through I was bored and wanted it to end.
I did not think that Tom Hanks deserved a Best Actor for his role.

The actor who should have won Best Actor that year was Nigel Hawthorne for the role of King George in the movie "The Madness of King George".
My wife wanted to see it. I had no interest in the movie. Then Nigel Hawthorne came on screen. He caught my interest and I could not take my eyes off him when he was on screen.
This is far better acting then any thing Tom Hank did.
 
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I also dislike Forrest Gump. I suppose some could try to redeem it as taking a "meta" view of the whole Reaganesque, Morning In America thing(IOW, we're supposed to recognize that it's a right-wing fairy tale, and know that fairy tales are by definition not real), but it's still too open to non-ironic appreciation for that to really work.

Same thing with the films of David Lynch(which are often mistaken for irony), except that Lynch is actually really good at creating an eerie, disturbing atmosphere. Zemeckis is mostly just a hack, IMO. (Well, Contact was okay.)

Yes, it was the 'dirty hippies are scum, conform or have horrible things happen to you because you're a woman' schtick that really got me. If it was meant to be ironic, and I'm perfectly (EDIT - I spelled it 'prefectly') prepared to believe that it was, it failed on a scale immeasurable by our puny human metrics.

Having said that, no BTTF trilogy love?
 
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Having said that, no BTTF trilogy love?

Funny thing. I can remember watching Sneak Previews the night that they reviewed the first movie, but in that entire time, I have never watched a single one of the series. No particular reason, just never got around to it.

And yeah, it's only a slight exaggeration to say that I have had people gasp in shock when I tell them that.
 
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Funny thing. I can remember watching Sneak Previews the night that they reviewed the first movie, but in that entire time, I have never watched a single one of the series. No particular reason, just never got around to it.

And yeah, it's only a slight exaggeration to say that I have had people gasp in shock when I tell them that.

Horses for courses, and if we all liked the same things it would be a dull world. But jamming all three together in a tasty six-hour sandwich works for me.
 
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Horses for courses, and if we all liked the same things it would be a dull world. But jamming all three together in a tasty six-hour sandwich works for me.

Yeah, for the record, if the opportunity to watch one of the BTTF films came my way, I almost certainly would, if only to see "what everyone's talking about", as the saying goes.

Oh, and just looking at his canon, I see that Zemeckis did Flight, with Denzel Washington, which I did quite enjoy.

However, scanning the list further, I see that he also filmed this unforgivable atrocity.

"Wow, thanks Bob! We really needed all that hissing and snapping to know that when Ignorance and Want grow up, they'll be ANGRY at the rich! Couldn't have figured that out just from the fact that they're starving, and the ghost says Scrooge should fear them!"
 
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Yeah, for the record, if the opportunity to watch one of the BTTF films came my way, I almost certainly would, if only to see "what everyone's talking about", as the saying goes.

Oh, and just looking at his canon, I see that Zemeckis did Flight, with Denzel Washington, which I did quite enjoy.

However, scanning the list further, I see that he also filmed this unforgivable atrocity.

"Wow, thanks Bob! We really needed all that hissing and snapping to know that when Ignorance and Want grow up, they'll be ANGRY at the rich! Couldn't have figured that out just from the fact that they're starving, and the ghost says Scrooge should fear them!"

Heh. I think I can state, with the confidence that comes with absolute certainty, that I won't be watching that. Thanks for the heads-up, because I wouldn't have wanted to watch it by accident :neutral:
 
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