I miss Tom Hanks. Not the one you can find in Angels & Demons,a film on its way to something close to blockbuster status in no small part due to Hanks as a Harvard symbologist on the trail of a Vatican killer. And I dont begrudge him Angels & Demons either,with a payday rumoured from $30 million to $50 million. Whether its funding some of his other creative dreams or just putting another wing on the house really is beside the point. Hanks has gotten to where he is on the merit system,so he deserves whatever freight Hollywood will pay. But I do long for a different Tom Hanks. The actor in whose eyes you could see absolute wonder and joy in Big Love,absolute humanity and compassion in Forrest Gump,extraordinary pain and resolve in Philadelphia,loss and love in Sleepless in Seattle. Silly,heartbreaking,sentimentalall essential Hanks,all essentially alone. Hanks has does some of his best work alone. Remember the shape of his performance in Cast Away. Hanks spent roughly a third of the movies 2 hours,23 minutes alone on a tropical island,creating a symphony of silence. Where is the hero we knew we could count on even before he made those movies? The Apollo 13 Hanks? The Saving Private Ryan Hanks? Even his ruthless hit man-father in Road to Perdition,one of the darkest characters Hanks has done,was played with such a steady hand that you trusted him to do the right thing when it mattered. How much do we believe in Hanks? He was No. 1 on Forbes list of most trusted celebrities in 2006,the last time the magazine checked,even beating out Oprah. I wonder why Hanks isnt getting better movies. It should be his time. Hes our Jimmy Stewart,a heartland guy,good people. As a reader recently put it to me,Hanks remains one of Hollywoods gentler souls. Thats what most moviegoers love about him. Edging toward 53,Hanks is the boy next door grown into an ordinary Joe of a man that we could imagine talking to over the backyard fence. Hes got,as my mom would say,a nice face,open and honest. What he doesnt have is the swooning looks of a Brad Pitt or George Clooney; the chiselled hardness of Tom Cruise; the defiant aloneness of Denzel Washington; the crazed passion of Mel Gibson; or the eclectic dramatic moves of Johnny Depp or Robert Downey Jr. So is it Hollywood then,or Hanks? Probably a bit of both. The passing years have moved him into actings Middle-earth,just shy of hell,that place between headlining a movie and the rich character standing slightly left of centre stage. Thats not to say he cant do both. Its just that the rules of the town are more interested in another Angels & Demons than in Saving Private Ryan. The actor is still a big movie star,still averaging 13 movies a decade as he has since the 1980s. He has proven economic power. Maybe the actor has simply grown tired of the movie game. Hes certainly not creatively dry,having a hand in producing some of televisions most ambitious projects,including the extraordinary performance piece that is HBOs Big Love and miniseries that embody high-minded quality: John Adams,Band of Brothers and From the Earth to the Moon. Occasionally he tries his hand behind the camera,directing (and writing) an episode on his TV projects here and there. Hes dropped into a few smaller movies,cameos for friends and relations. And maybe theres something in development that will allow him to be exceptional again. But second acts are always the hardest,the meat of a movie,a career,a life. I hope for a strong one from Hanks. I miss him. You know the one I mean.
