Rising to the top of your profession sometimes means knowing how to spin gold from absolute tedium. Even watching Tom Hanks demonstrate how to grunt while his animated alter ego climbs up boxes is somehow more compelling than some of the major films we saw this year (though we also managed to catch some really great ones, but that’s neither here nor there). We can only hope that the burgeoning crop of Hollywood stars take as much time and care to sharpen their craft as major figures like Hanks have. While visiting The Graham Norton Show, Hanks took a moment to explain how acting is made harder by the obsession over the smallest of details, unparalleled glamour aside.
“I think [directors] are gleeful in making you wring every possible meaning from a line,” Hanks theorizes before mentioning an acting warm up game called “Repetitions,” where a simple line is repeated to convey an array of different tones and emotions. He took the opportunity to simultaneously demonstrate the exercise for the audience and give the wide-eyed young upstart and fellow Tom, Tom Holland, a quick lesson in turning an annoying task into fine art.
Watch Tom Holland say, “Coffee, coffee! Boy, do I need more coffee,” until he nearly cracks.