Tom Hanks sends gift to White House press
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A few days ago Josh Hutcherson spilt the beans on one of his most embarrassing moments as an actor.
“The Hunger Games” star accidentally farted on his hero, Tom Hanks, while filming 2004’s “The Polar Express” — and Hanks felt his co-star pass wind directly on his head.
But the ever-gracious Oscar-winner and so-called “nicest guy in Hollywood” deflected any awkwardness on the matter yesterday, while promoting the upcoming drama “The Post.”
Speaking with news.com.au he said: “Well, there were a lot of farts on that movie because those suits were really constricting,” he laughs. “They kind of pressed you in. So I think they leached the gas out of you.”
Not immune from embarrassing moments himself, Hanks recalls one he’d like to forget. It was in 1995 during the shooting of “Apollo 13,” when he portrayed real-life hero Jim Lovell, one of the first astronauts to orbit Earth.
“I can’t come up with a good fart story for you, but I’ll tell you that while we were filming a pivotal scene, and I was of course playing Jim Lovell, I had to look outside the window and see that the oxygen tank was venting oxygen into space. It’s literally the moment where I say, ‘We might die.’ [He raises his voice for dramatic effect.] And this comes after the line: ‘Houston, we have a problem; Houston we are venting out into space.’”
He leans forward, smiling warmly. “So this is about as dramatic a moment as you’re going to get, right?” he laughs. “So the way it had to be shot was that the set had to be elevated by about eight feet on seesaws that simulated zero gravity, and that would place enough weight so we’d be literally buoyant. We could control ourselves when we were going up and down and it was really fun.” He laughs more.
“But it so happened to be the day that Jim Lovell came to visit on the set, and remember, we’re making his life story. It’s about one of the most important moments of his mission, a key element to everything that he’s ever gone through up ’til then. And essentially he sees us, grown men on seesaws pretending to look out windows that aren’t really there,” he laughs.
“Talk about as stupid as a human being could possibly look. And when it was done I said to him, ‘So, what do you think, Jim?’ He said, politely, ‘Looks like just how it happened.’
“It was very charitable of Jim because for us, we all felt like and looked like idiots.
“So that’s my story. But sorry. No farts involved.”
This article originally appeared on news.com.au.
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