Hollywood actor Tom Hanks is assured that fellow actor Idris Elba is the right man to portray the popular spy character James Bond, in its next instalment.
In an interview with BBC News, the Forrest Gump actor said, “Understand this, James Bond has a licence to kill. I would issue that licence to Idris Elba just based on the work that I’ve seen him do.”
Tom Hanks was promoting his first novel, “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” on BBC News. The novel showcases the making of a big-budget Hollywood superhero movie, across 80 years of America’s transition and showing characters including a troubled soldier returning from war, a young boy with an artistic gift, an inspired and eccentric director, a pompous film star on the rise, a tireless production assistant and film crew members.
Hanks has taken note of the trend of publishing houses which edit novels according to what readers want in contemporary times, including Ian Fleming’s Bond series and the books of Roald Dahl.
Hanks said, “I’m of the opinion that we’re all grown-ups here. Let’s have faith in our own sensibilities as opposed to having somebody decide what we may or may not be offended by. Let me decide what I am offended by and what I’m not offended by. I would be against reading any book from any era that says ‘abridged due to modern sensitivities.’”
Defining a major character, an unconventional director, self-important and a highly obstructive male actor in his novel, Hanks said: “I have pulled every single one of those moments of behavior myself on a set. Not everybody is at their best every single day on a motion picture set. I’ve had tough days trying to be a professional when my life has been falling apart in more ways than one and the requirement for me that day is to be funny, charming and loving – and it’s the last way I feel.”
His novel centres on the movie industry and his first-hand experience of this industry. “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece” novel releases on May 9.
