Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks On Bridge Of Spies, Bad Sequels And James Bond
Yahoo Movies UK was delighted (and a bit scared) to sit down with Hollywood legends Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg to talk about their new film ‘Bridge Of Spies’.
Watch the full interview above.
The cold war thriller is their fourth big screen collaboration after ‘Saving Private Ryan’, ‘Catch Me If You Can’ and ‘The Terminal’, and sees Hanks play James Donovan, a real-life insurance lawyer asked to defend Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance). During the film Donovan ends up involved in nail-biting prisoner exchange negotiations with the USSR, as he tries to save the lives of a captured American U-2 pilot and an American student taken prisoner in Berlin.
The film has been getting strong Oscar buzz, and is exactly the kind of well-crafted filmmaking you’d expect from Hanks and Spielberg.
During our interview the duo, who playfully banter with each other like old friends, discussed the changes they made to the real-life story, what they think of working in Britain, why so many Hollywood sequels are rubbish and why Spielberg would now turn down a Bond movie.
What does Spielberg do that other directors don’t do?
Tom Hanks: He demands that whoever is cast come in with rock ‘em sock ‘em ideas. No-one gets to walk onto a Spielberg set and just say the words and walk off. No-one is just given this job where they just deliver the goods… But if you notice in the movie every actor gets a moment unto themselves that they get to create all by themselves. He expects that and demands it. Not every director will appreciate the ideas that you have.
On ‘American values’
Hanks: We find ourselves to be a constantly self-correcting nation that periodically has to weigh the big issues like ‘what is it meant to be an American’ and what does this concept of ‘pursuit of happiness’ actually mean? It sort of means ‘I can’t force you to be made happy only by the things that I am made happy by’. That’s the way that our nation has steadily progressed.
Steven Spielberg: Today you don’t find as many people who are willing to stand up on principle, ethically and morally, the way Donovan did all those years ago. There are people want to stand up but social media knocks you back!
The problem with sequels
Spielberg: The [sequels] that I don’t love are the films where the hand-off is forced. Where the film did so well in theatres, where they’re forcing a story that never had its place in the natural world of cinema but nonetheless for business reasons they’re going to shove down our throat. I think a lot of audiences do appreciate new contestants to the game they love something that has no precedent, they love to be the discoverer of a new country, of a whole new world. Avatar was a completely original story out of leftfield and people just bought it and kept on wanting to experience it gain and again.
What’s they like and dislike about working in Britain
Spielberg: I don’t like how every time it rains when I’m filming here, someone in the crew will say “it hasn’t rained like this in 600 years!” I’ve heard that on 7 movies.
Why Spielberg would turn down a Bond film
Spielberg: Cubby Broccoli he turned me down two or three times. If called me from beyond and asked me to do the next one I’m going to have to apologise and say ‘no’. He had his shot! With me in the 70s after ‘Jaws’ he said no! I really wanted to do a Bond film but after I saw what Sam Mendes did with it, I so admire and respect Sam, and Sam and Daniel together as a team. I mean man they should just keep making these things. I know they won’t, but it’ll be great to have bond after another every couple of years made by that team.
Hanks and Spielberg’s favourite films
Spielberg: Now I’m basically in a complete William Wyler frame of mind, I’m watching all of Wyler’s old films. I like the old black and white films from the 1930s. I just saw ‘Mrs. Miniver’ for the 8th time.
Hanks: ‘2001: A space Odyssey’ is still major go-to. 'The Best Years Of Our Lives’, huge massive go-to. 'Sherlock Jnr.’ by Buster Keaton and not just because he’s in the room but 'Third Encounters Of The Third Kind’ - you can’t go wrong!
Read more:
A Trio Of Amazing Directors Turned Down The Phantom Menace
The Brutal Way Brosnan Was Sacked As Bond
'Bridge of Spies’ is in cinemas now. Watch the trailer below…
