Jordan Karlesson
If anyone knows the secrets to making a movie masterpiece, it’s Tom Hanks. As one of the most lauded actors ever, it’s a surprise that the Oscars aren’t called the Tommies at this point.
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Now, the decorated thespian is taking a slight pivot. The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece sure sounds like it could be a meta movie tracking Hanks as he goes for more movie medals.
But in fact, the project will be a book — and a fictional one at that. Tom Hanks posted a photo of the book’s cover on Instagram last week. Penguin Random House will reportedly release the book on May 9.
“Movie making is very hard work over a very long period of time that consists of so many moments of joy slapped up against an equal number of feelings of self-loathing,” Hanks said, according to The Guardian. “It is the greatest job in the world and the most confounding of labours that I know of.”
Channeling no less than Hamlet, Tom Hanks continued: “I hope the book captures as much of ‘the accidental judgments and casual slaughter’ that go into a motion picture’s dictum to hold ‘a mirror up to nature’ that I have witnessed (and caused) since I joined the Screen Actors Guild.”’
Tom Hanks on The Making of The Making Of
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is reportedly a twist on a big-budget superhero blockbuster. Characters reportedly include a troubled war vet, an eccentric director, an arrogant movie star, and a lowly production assistant.
The Penguin Random House imprint Hutchinson Heinemann will put out in the U.K. Its publishing director, Ailah Ahmed, called Tom Hanks’ book “a publisher’s dream come true,” according to The Guardian.
“The fact that he has written an epic about ordinary people in a rather extraordinary world, and one that is thoughtful, poignant and hugely entertaining is icing on the cake,” she said.
While The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece will mark Tom Hanks’ first novel, it won’t be his stab at the craft of writing. In October 2017, the prolific artist put out a short story collection called Uncommon Type about antique typewriters.
