He probably did a take in the accent. Photo: Kat Marcinowski/Netflix
Netflix has released the trailer for its upcoming Mindy Kaling–produced show, Running Point starring Kate Hudson, on January 30, and there are really only two possible reactions to it:
1. Is it about to be a gigantic hit? 2. Was that Chet Hanks?
The answer to the first question is yes, because a basketball show that stars Kate Hudson hits every quadrant. And the answer to the second is also yes, that isChet Hanks, and furthermore, he is talking about Hudson’s boobs. The show follows her character, Isla Gordon, who gets promoted to owner of her family’s basketball team, the Los Angeles Waves, over her brothers, The Mick’s Scott MacArthur (as sloppy brother) and The Other Two’s Drew Tarver (as gay brother). Plus, Brenda Song — currently in the midst of a small renaissance between this show, The Last Showgirl, and that Cosmopolitan cover — plays Hudson’s assistant. In the middle of the trailer, Hudson’s character gets called a “nepo baby,” followed by “nepo crone,” which is particularly funny in the context of a show featuring Hanks.
Hanks, it appears, plays a Waves player who has more than a little sass. “Respectfully,” he tells Hudson, without his Jamaican accent, “I’ve seen your titties on the internet, so I can’t really take you serious.” Despite this stellar line delivery, the nepo baby we’re most excited about watching in this show is still London Tipton.
Exciting news for fans of action-packed thrillers! Kate Hudson and Chet Hanks have been cast as the leads in the upcoming film “Running Point.” The movie follows a skilled undercover agent (Hudson) who teams up with a charming but reckless ex-con (Hanks) to take down a dangerous criminal organization.
With Hudson’s knack for intense and emotional performances, paired with Hanks’ charismatic on-screen presence, this dynamic duo is sure to bring the heat in this high-stakes adventure. Get ready for heart-pounding action, unexpected twists, and edge-of-your-seat suspense as these two stars run point in this adrenaline-fueled thriller.
Stay tuned for more updates on “Running Point” and get ready to see Kate Hudson and Chet Hanks in action like never before! #RunningPoint #KateHudson #ChetHanks #ActionThriller
And yet the studio has been unable to translate any of that reunion buzz into box-office success – or even word-of-mouth success. Released in the US back in November, Here fizzled, floundered and then flopped. Recouping just 10 per cent of its $50m (£41m) budget, it is now, months later, being released in the UK without so much as a whisper.
How things have changed. Some 20 years ago, the name Tom Hanks translated directly into dollar signs. His involvement in something would have ignited a frenzy – now, it doesn’t seem to generate so much as a jostle. Which poses the question: are audiences switching off from America’s most-loved everyman?
From the late Eighties to the Noughties, Hanks was ubiquitous. In the early days, he exuded boyish charm: he was completely delightful and believable as a 13-year-old in a grown-up body in Big, without a thimbleful of malice in his 6ft frame. He parlayed that into leading-man gravitas, genuine movie-star power in films like Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.
His IMDb page from that time reads like a cross-section of everyone’s favourite films: A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, The Green Mile, Catch Me If You Can, Toy Story 1,2 and 3. Truly, Hanks has one of the best filmographies going. He’s always had the acting chops, too, becoming the second actor ever to win consecutive Oscars, first for his lovable performance in Forrest Gump and then for his indelible, nuanced portrayal of a man with Aids in Philadelphia.
At the turn of the century, Hanks was placed third in The Hollywood Reporter’s list of most bankable stars – after Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson, but before Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, and Jim Carrey. In 2002, he rose to No 2, where he remained in 2006, second only to his action-star namesake. Here was an actor who could sell a movie – any movie! – with the sheer fact of his presence in it.
Somewhere along the way, that changed. These days, there seems to be a perception taking hold that Hanks has (gulp!) fallen off, but perhaps that’s an unfair assessment of a more complicated situation. After all, he does continue to turn in the occasional slam-dunk. There was Captain Phillips in 2013 and Sully in 2016. He was pitch-perfect as the affable Mr Rogers in 2019’s modest box-office hit A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. More shockingly, viewers also loved A Man Called Otto (an English-language remake of a much better Swedish film). But for the most part, it’s been a lukewarm last decade for the actor.
Greyhound, News of the World, Finch… do these words mean anything to you? Released during the pandemic, these Hanks movies went straight to streaming, where they enjoyed brief applause before dying a quiet death. Even Hanks’s journalism thriller The Post, well received by critics and fans, has been all but forgotten – doomed to play second fiddle to the better, more memorable Spotlight. Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City was also fantastic, and Hanks was fantastic in it, but that wasn’t a “Tom Hanks film”, really. In fact, he hasn’t had a true star vehicle since his lead role in Sully, which was almost 10 years ago now.
Tom Hanks does continue to turn in the occasional slam-dunk, but nothing that compares to the string of hits that defined his Nineties and Noughties (Rex/iStock)
Maybe Hanks isn’t falling off, but one thing is certain: he isn’t as sure a thing as he used to be. There was a time when “starring Tom Hanks” was a byword for a first-rate film, a trusted seal of approval. But his latest act is dogged by inconsistency: a hit here, a dud there, plenty of forgettable fodder in between. For someone who was once so enviably reliable, Hanks is now a little more erratic.
That said, he isn’t totally to blame – the bankable movie star, such as Hanks once was, is a dying breed that one might argue consists only of Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Hanks’s Philadelphia co-star Denzel Washington – but some quality control is definitely in order. Or at the very least, a scaling back. Eight films in the past five years is simply too many; scarcity creates demand, after all. When Washington, for example, does deign to appear on screen, it is a cinematic event.
It is perhaps also time to take a chance or two. Hanks is 68 now, and I can count his risky career moves on one hand. One finger, even. No matter how you feel about his performance as Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis, it at least got people talking. And that Dutch accent won’t be forgotten any time soon. Could a villainous Hugh Grant-style pivot help matters? Potentially. Perhaps a 180 is exactly what Hanks’s career needs in order to break this spell of middle-of-the-road roles.
The hit that wasn’t to be: Robin Wright and Tom Hanks de-aged in the box-office flop ‘Here’ (TriStar Pictures)
Take James Stewart, an actor to whom Hanks was so often compared in his early career. Both men embodied the wholesome, all-American type, with their cherubic grins and unruly hair made for mussing. In Stewart’s later life, those quintessential roles gave way to more complex characters, as in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Rear Window.
Admittedly, Hanks has once or twice tried to switch it up – as with his bizarre turn in the Coen Brothers’ flop The Ladykillers – but he will always retreat to the safety of his good-guy roots. Probably because we keep rewarding him for doing so: the last of his performances to be truly acclaimed was his portrayal of kids’ TV host Mr Rogers – a Tom Hanks role if there ever was one. But stay still too long and you become stagnant. At the end of the day, something needs to change, because at this rate, Hanks’s best films are behind him – and I say that as a Tom Hanks fan. What a shame that would be.
‘Here’ is in UK cinemas now
In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift in the way audiences perceive Hollywood icon Tom Hanks. Once considered America’s sweetheart and a box office magnet, Hanks seems to be losing his grip on the hearts of moviegoers.
Despite his reputation as a versatile and talented actor, Hanks has seen a decline in the success of his recent films. From lackluster box office numbers to tepid critical reviews, it seems that audiences are no longer as enamored with the beloved actor as they once were.
Some speculate that Hanks’ choice of roles in recent years may be to blame for this apparent decline in popularity. From biopics to historical dramas, Hanks seems to have strayed away from the light-hearted and feel-good roles that made him a household name. Perhaps audiences are craving the charming and funny performances that endeared Hanks to them in the first place.
Alternatively, it could be that Hanks’ status as a Hollywood A-lister is simply fading as a new generation of actors emerges. With the rise of younger stars like Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, Hanks may be struggling to connect with a younger demographic that is looking for something different in their entertainment.
Regardless of the reasons behind this shift in audience perception, one thing is clear: Tom Hanks is no longer the box office powerhouse he once was. Whether he can regain his footing and win back the hearts of moviegoers remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain – the love affair between Tom Hanks and his audience seems to be on the rocks.
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And yet the studio has been unable to translate any of that reunion buzz into box-office success – or even word-of-mouth success. Released in the US back in November, Here fizzled, floundered and then flopped. Recouping just 10 per cent of its $50m (£41m) budget, it is now, months later, being released in the UK without so much as a whisper.
How things have changed. Some 20 years ago, the name Tom Hanks translated directly into dollar signs. His involvement in something would have ignited a frenzy – now, it doesn’t seem to generate so much as a jostle. Which poses the question: are audiences switching off from America’s most-loved everyman?
From the late Eighties to the Noughties, Hanks was ubiquitous. In the early days, he exuded boyish charm: he was completely delightful and believable as a 13-year-old in a grown-up body in Big, without a thimbleful of malice in his 6ft frame. He parlayed that into leading-man gravitas, genuine movie-star power in films like Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.
His IMDb page from that time reads like a cross-section of everyone’s favourite films: A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, The Green Mile, Catch Me If You Can, Toy Story 1,2 and 3. Truly, Hanks has one of the best filmographies going. He’s always had the acting chops, too, becoming the second actor ever to win consecutive Oscars, first for his lovable performance in Forrest Gump and then for his indelible, nuanced portrayal of a man with Aids in Philadelphia.
At the turn of the century, Hanks was placed third in The Hollywood Reporter’s list of most bankable stars – after Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson, but before Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, and Jim Carrey. In 2002, he rose to No 2, where he remained in 2006, second only to his action-star namesake. Here was an actor who could sell a movie – any movie! – with the sheer fact of his presence in it.
Somewhere along the way, that changed. These days, there seems to be a perception taking hold that Hanks has (gulp!) fallen off, but perhaps that’s an unfair assessment of a more complicated situation. After all, he does continue to turn in the occasional slam-dunk. There was Captain Phillips in 2013 and Sully in 2016. He was pitch-perfect as the affable Mr Rogers in 2019’s modest box-office hit A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. More shockingly, viewers also loved A Man Called Otto (an English-language remake of a much better Swedish film). But for the most part, it’s been a lukewarm last decade for the actor.
Greyhound, News of the World, Finch… do these words mean anything to you? Released during the pandemic, these Hanks movies went straight to streaming, where they enjoyed brief applause before dying a quiet death. Even Hanks’s journalism thriller The Post, well received by critics and fans, has been all but forgotten – doomed to play second fiddle to the better, more memorable Spotlight. Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City was also fantastic, and Hanks was fantastic in it, but that wasn’t a “Tom Hanks film”, really. In fact, he hasn’t had a true star vehicle since his lead role in Sully, which was almost 10 years ago now.
Tom Hanks does continue to turn in the occasional slam-dunk, but nothing that compares to the string of hits that defined his Nineties and Noughties (Rex/iStock)
Maybe Hanks isn’t falling off, but one thing is certain: he isn’t as sure a thing as he used to be. There was a time when “starring Tom Hanks” was a byword for a first-rate film, a trusted seal of approval. But his latest act is dogged by inconsistency: a hit here, a dud there, plenty of forgettable fodder in between. For someone who was once so enviably reliable, Hanks is now a little more erratic.
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That said, he isn’t totally to blame – the bankable movie star, such as Hanks once was, is a dying breed that one might argue consists only of Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Hanks’s Philadelphia co-star Denzel Washington – but some quality control is definitely in order. Or at the very least, a scaling back. Eight films in the past five years is simply too many; scarcity creates demand, after all. When Washington, for example, does deign to appear on screen, it is a cinematic event.
It is perhaps also time to take a chance or two. Hanks is 68 now, and I can count his risky career moves on one hand. One finger, even. No matter how you feel about his performance as Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis, it at least got people talking. And that Dutch accent won’t be forgotten any time soon. Could a villainous Hugh Grant-style pivot help matters? Potentially. Perhaps a 180 is exactly what Hanks’s career needs in order to break this spell of middle-of-the-road roles.
The hit that wasn’t to be: Robin Wright and Tom Hanks de-aged in the box-office flop ‘Here’ (TriStar Pictures)
Take James Stewart, an actor to whom Hanks was so often compared in his early career. Both men embodied the wholesome, all-American type, with their cherubic grins and unruly hair made for mussing. In Stewart’s later life, those quintessential roles gave way to more complex characters, as in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Rear Window.
Admittedly, Hanks has once or twice tried to switch it up – as with his bizarre turn in the Coen Brothers’ flop The Ladykillers – but he will always retreat to the safety of his good-guy roots. Probably because we keep rewarding him for doing so: the last of his performances to be truly acclaimed was his portrayal of kids’ TV host Mr Rogers – a Tom Hanks role if there ever was one. But stay still too long and you become stagnant. At the end of the day, something needs to change, because at this rate, Hanks’s best films are behind him – and I say that as a Tom Hanks fan. What a shame that would be.
‘Here’ is in UK cinemas now
Tom Hanks has long been regarded as one of the most beloved and talented actors in Hollywood, but recent events have seen him hit a low point in his career. From his lackluster box office performance to his recent string of critical flops, it seems like Hanks is struggling to find his footing in the ever-changing landscape of the film industry.
So where does he go from here? Some may argue that Hanks needs to take a step back and reassess his choices when it comes to the roles he takes on. Perhaps he needs to challenge himself with more complex characters and steer away from the safe, predictable roles he has become known for.
Others believe that Hanks should focus on branching out into other avenues of entertainment, such as producing or directing. With his years of experience and industry connections, he could potentially find success behind the camera.
Ultimately, only time will tell what the future holds for Tom Hanks. But one thing is for certain – he is a talented actor with a long and successful career behind him, and there is no doubt that he has the potential to bounce back from this low point and continue to captivate audiences for years to come.
“I just want to say I am so happy to be here for this moment, so I would like to present to you the official Five Timer’s Club jacket in exactly your size — a women’s small,” said Jimmy Fallon.
Hanks noted at the outset that in December 1990, he created the SNL Five Timers Club, “an ingeniously lazy way to avoid writing a monologue. It has grown into one of the most exclusive clubs in our industry.”
The opener, in a bar lounge setting, was a bit of a roast of Short.
He said to Fey, “You are one of the rarest things in Hollywood — a writer who’s attractive enough to be on camera.”
“And you are one of the least rare things in Hollywood — a loud man,” she replied.
Short got in some roasting of Steve Martin, his Only Murders in the Building co-star, when Hanks told him that they were serving a signature cocktail, the Marty-tini.
“You know, it’s often paired with our Steve Martini, but tonight, we are serving it solo,” Hanks told him.
“And I bet it’s even better on its own,” Short replied.
There was one political reference during the skit.
At one point, Wiig revealed that she and Short “took a hot yoga class together, where we made love and got kicked out…And then we both voted for Trump.”
“Don’t tell them that,” Short shot back.
“It’s Ok. In this club you can be completely honest. Anyone else want to try?” Wiig said.
“I’ll go,” Rudd said. He then revealed: “Ant-Man’s powers aren’t good.”
“I’ll go,” Fey said. “It’s me that’s flying those drones. All of them.”
“I’ll go,” Hanks said. “I never had Covid.”
“I’ll go,” Johansson said. “I have Covid right now.”
“I’ll go,” Baldwin said. “I have way too many children.”…
This past weekend, “Saturday Night Live” pulled out all the stops to honor comedy legend Martin Short as he joined the prestigious “Five-Timers Club.” The star-studded episode featured appearances from Hollywood heavyweights Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, and more as they paid tribute to Short’s illustrious career in comedy.
Short, who first hosted SNL back in 1986, has been a beloved figure in the entertainment industry for decades, known for his impeccable comedic timing and larger-than-life characters. The Canadian-born actor and comedian has graced the SNL stage multiple times over the years, earning his spot in the exclusive “Five-Timers Club” alongside the likes of Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, and Justin Timberlake.
During the star-studded ceremony, Hanks and Fey took the stage to share heartfelt anecdotes about Short’s impact on the comedy world and his enduring legacy. The two comedy titans praised Short’s versatility as a performer and his unparalleled ability to make audiences laugh no matter the circumstances.
Other special guests, including Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, and Fred Armisen, also made appearances to celebrate Short’s milestone achievement. The evening was filled with laughter, nostalgia, and plenty of surprises as Short was showered with praise and admiration from his peers.
As the festivities came to a close, Short took the stage to deliver a heartfelt speech, expressing his gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of the SNL family once again. The iconic comedian thanked his fellow cast members, writers, and crew for their support over the years and promised to continue bringing joy and laughter to audiences for years to come.
Overall, the induction of Martin Short into the “Five-Timers Club” was a night to remember, filled with laughter, love, and plenty of unforgettable moments. Here’s to many more years of comedy gold from one of the greatest talents in the business. Cheers to Martin Short!
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