7 Tom Hanks Movies Based On True Stories
This list is originally published on True Story Movie Blog
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an American actor and film maker. He was born in Concord, California on July 9th, 1956.
He is best known for his roles in movies like Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Apollo 13, etc.
He has been nominated for many prestigious awards during his career. He was nominated 5 times for Academy awards for Best actor in a leading role and won 2 consecutive Best Actor Oscars for the movies Philadelphia (1994) and Forrest Gump (1995). Also, he was nominated 8 times for Golden Globes awards and won 4 times.
1. Saving Private Ryan ( 1998 )
Saving Private Ryan is a war drama movie set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II. The film was loosely based on the World War II life stories of Niland Brothers and the Sullivan Brothers.
The script of the film was written by Robert Rodat in 1994 and he got a chance to present it to the producer Mark Gordon. Mark liked it and in turn passed it along to the director Steven Spielberg. But the shooting was started only in 1997.
Plot : Opening with the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion under Cpt. Miller fight ashore to secure a beachhead. Amidst the fighting, two brothers are killed in action. Earlier in New Guinea, a third brother is KIA.
Their mother, Mrs. Ryan, is to receive all three of the grave telegrams on the same day. The United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, is given an opportunity to alleviate some of her grief when he learns of a fourth brother, Private James Ryan, and decides to send out 8 men (Cpt. Miller and select members from 2nd Rangers) to find him and bring him back home to his mother.
Director : Steven Spielberg
Writer : Robert Rodat
Budget : $70 million
Box office : $481.8 million
Year : 1998
2. Catch Me If You Can ( 2002 )
Catch me if you can is an American biographical crime drama movie based on the real life story of Frank Abagnale Jr., who cons millions of dollars by check fraud before his 19th birthday. He became so experienced in forging checks that the FBI eventually turned to him for help in catching other check forgers.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of Frank Abagnale Jr. and Tom Hanks plays the role of the FBI agent Carl Hanratti, who pursues Frank.
In 1980, Frank Abagnale sold the film rights of his autobiography. By December 1997, Barry Kemp acquired the film rights and brought the project to DreamWorks with Jeff Nathanson writing the script for the film. Shooting was started in 2001.
Director : Steven Spielberg
Screenplay : Jeff Nathanson
Book : Frank Abagnale Jr., Stan Redding
Budget : $52 million
Box office : $352.1 million
Year : 2002
3. Charlie Wilson’s War ( 2007 )
Charlie Wilson’s War is an American comedy drama movie based on the story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson and CIA operative Gust Avrakotos, whose efforts led to Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War.
Tom Hanks plays the role of Congressman Charlie Wilson, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the role of Gust Avrakotos and Julia Roberts plays the role of Joanne Herring.
The movie was nominated for several awards including Academy Awards for best supporting actor. The film has got a mixed reaction. Some of the Reagan-era officials have criticized some of the elements of the film. Other Reagan-era officials, however, more supportive of the film.
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay : Aaron Sorkin
Book : George Crile
Budget : $75 million
Box office : $119 million
Year : 2007
Captain Phillips is an American biographical thriller movie based on the true story of the Maersk Alabama hijacking. Merchant mariner Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage from his unarmed container ship MV Maersk Alabama by pirates in the Indian Ocean led by Abduwali Muse, who is a Somali ship hijacker.
Tom Hanks plays the role of Captain Richard Phillips and Barkhad Abdi plays the role of Abduwali Muse, the pirate leader.
The movie was directed by Paul Greengrass and the screenplay was written by Billy Ray based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea written by Captain Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty.
The cast of pirate leader Barkhad Abdi and other actors Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, and Mahat M. Ali were chosen from among more than 700 participants at a 2011 open casting call held in Minneapolis, Minnesota which has the largest population of Somalis in the US. None of the Somali actors in the film had ever acted before. The film producers have made a remarkable research to recreate the set.
Director: Paul Greengrass
Screenplay : Billy Ray
Book : Captain Richard Phillips, Stephan Talty
Budget : $55 million
Box office : $218.8 million
Year : 2013
Apollo 13 is an American historical drama movie based on the true story of aborted 13th Apollo mission bound for the moon.
Tom Hanks played the role of Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell. The film was directed by Ron Howard and the screenplay was written by William Broyles, Jr and Al Reinert.
The makers has made a great research to create a technically accurate movie. Howard asked NASA’s technical assistance in astronaut and flight controller training for his cast and even obtained permission to film scenes aboard a reduced gravity aircraft for realistic depiction of the weightlessness experienced by the astronauts in space.
The movie was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won awards for Best Film Editing and Best Sound. Music of the film was composed by James Horner.
Director: Ron Howard
Screenplay : William Broyles, Jr and Al Reinert.
Book : Astronaut Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
Budget : $52 million
Box office : $355.2 million
Year : 1995
Saving Mr. Banks is an American drama movie centered on the development of 1964 movie Mary Poppins.
Emma Thompson plays the role of Pamela “P. L.” Travers and Tom Hanks plays the role of Walt Disney.
Plot : When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins (1964), he made them a promise — one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep.
In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation.
For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp.
It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history.
Director: John Lee Hancock
Writers : Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
Budget : $35 million
Box office : $117.9 million
Year : 2013
7. A League of Their Own ( 1992 )
A league of their own is an American comedy drama film loosely based on the true story of first female professional baseball league All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).
Tom Hanks plays the role of the manager Jimmy Dugan.
Director: Penny Marshall
Screenplay : Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Budget : $40 million
Box office : $132,440,069
Year : 1992
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This list is originally published on True Story Movie Blog
