Photo: Karon Liu/The Grid
Festival Express: Tom Hanks takes TIFF to task
Cloud Atlas star asks, "Why do you run your celebrities like we're bulls on the way to the slaughter?"
Number of panelists: 16
In attendance (left to right): Susan Sarandon, director Tom Tykwer, Keith David, Lana Wachowski, Jim Broadbent, Andy Wachowski, Hugo Weaving, Tom Hanks, James D’Arcy, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Zhou Xun, David Gyasi, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Grant
Number of times “Happy Birthday” was sung to Hugh Grant: 1
His reaction: ”That’s the first nice thing the press have ever done for me.”
Lana Wachowski, on how the Wachowskis’ movies have been described: ”[Taking] highbrow ideas and lowbrow narratives and [combining] them into a one-brow experience. We try to make monobrow movies.”
Tom Hanks, on why he signed on to the film: ”When I heard they were gonna make a German blockbuster [written] in Costa Rica I said, “I’m in.” Shit, it’s what I do for a living. So I jumped in.”
Number of times Zhou Xun was asked to answer in Mandarin: 3
Number of times Tom Tykwer was asked to answer in German: 1
Hugh Grant’s cheeky reaction to being asked about the vibe on set: ”I bitterly regret doing the whole film. I thought when they offered me these parts I’ll show people I’ve got more strings to my bow than just one. A, I was wrong, and B, it’s just sitting in make-up having plastic applied to your face. I was very bad tempered. I tried to make [the set] nastier. I kept telling the American set that the German set was more interesting and vice versa.”
Tom Hanks, on whether celebrity gives him power: “If I truly had power, I’d be waterskiing right now.”
Tom Hanks on TIFF: “I got a question about the Toronto International Film Festival: Why do you run your celebrities like we’re bulls on the way to the slaughter? It’s a very very scary enterprise.”
Halle Berry, on why she’s an actress: ”I’m here because I just didn’t want to go to college.”
Andy Wachowski, on life before becoming a film director: ”We started a construction company, and the last job we did was our parents’ house. And it’s still standing!”
Lana Wachowski, on why she felt compelled to go public with her gender transition: ”I did feel some responsibility to LGBT people. A lot of people had been asking me to be more public. We love anonymity. We love our privacy. But [my brother and I] have this new sibling [Tykwer] who loves to do press: Our media whore brother over there.”
Tom Hanks, on whether making the movie was worthwhile: ”It was worth it, if only to see Hugh Grant as a cannibal.”
