Sporting enough to slip into his Speedos on the big screen, and candid enough to admit he doesn't have the muscle to play an action hero, Tom Hanks reveals himself as the Everyman he's often played on film. Rajeev Masand met him in Rome recently to talk about his new film Angels & Demons
Sporting enough to slip into his Speedos on the big screen, and candid enough to admit he doesn't have the muscle to play an action hero, Tom Hanks reveals himself as the Everyman he's often played on film.u00a0Rajeev Masand met him in Rome recently to talk about his new film Angels & Demons
What's remarkable about Tom Hanks is how unremarkable he is. Which is not to say he isn't charming and funny and that he knows just about everything about everything. The 52-year-old star who has big box-office and two back-to-back Oscars under his belt is among the most unassuming people you're likely to meet in showbiz. Flashing his goofy grin and enthusiastically offering his hand to shake, he inquires if you've seen any sights yet while in Rome, and reveals that he can't wait to go out for a short stroll himself. 
Mind you, this is one of the world's most popular movie stars. A face that's recognised everywhere, from Jersey to Johannesburg. An actor who's believed to have been paid north of $30 million for his latest film, Angels & Demons, which you're here in Rome to talk to him about.
Adapted from Dan Brown's novel, the film is a sequel to 2006's box-office smash, The Da Vinci Code. Hanks returns as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who is reluctantly brought in when secret underground brotherhood the Illuminati resurfaces shortly after the death of the Pope and threatens to blow up the Vatican.
Directed by Ron Howard (who Hanks has worked with four times now), the film is a fast-paced thriller with an improbable plot. But it's held together by Hanks' earnest portrayal of an academician reserved in his religious beliefs, but committed nonetheless to saving the Church. Helping him on this mission is an enigmatic Italian scientist named Vittoria Vetra (played by Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer), who joins him on a breathless hunt through sealed crypts and deserted cathedrals to save the Church.
If Hanks is bothered by the controversy the film has been embroiled in recently, he doesn't show it. He anticipates the provocative questions and delivers eloquent responses to each. Settling down into a leather couch in a hotel room that overlooks the famous Spanish Steps of Rome, Tom Hanks happily tackles everything you want to know about his new film.
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Apart from the Toy Story movies, Angels & Demons is the only other sequel you've done. What's so exciting about playing Robert Langdon again?
Well, it's wonderful to play someone who's as smart as Langdon. He's the only symbologist in the world, evidently, who can figure these things out. It's all a matter of arcane knowledge. You know, if Langdon was to come into this room right now, he wouldn't be looking at you, he'd be checking out the painting behind you. He'd probably see some symbols in the curtainsu00e2u0080u00a6(laughs)u00e2u0080u00a6 It's a bit of a dream come true as an actor to play the guy who comes in, thinks he knows the right answers, then runs back out to try and stop something else happening. It's exciting and fun.
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We know The Da Vinci Code made over $750 million, but it also took such a critical bashing. What mistakes were you guys careful not to repeat on the new film?
Oh, the mullet, for sure! The critics will be glad to see that I've had my hair cut for this movie; I'd hate for anyone to be distracted again from the incredible acting going on underneath it...(smiles) My job is to create motivation for my characters, and I believe that in between the first film and the second, Robert Langdon had a girlfriend who said, "Cut it off."
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Okay, seriously now, what do you think the audience will respond to this time round?
I think the audience will respond to the horse race. Quite frankly, bad things are happening to people on the tick of a clock, and at the end of it is a very important moment in time which is the naming of a new Pope. Whether you're a Catholic or not, whether you're a believer or not, just as you are a citizen of the world, the naming of a new pontiff is an opportunity for a brave new era of human consciousness. 
I mean, that guy is a powerful guy and he's going to come in with opinions and ideas. So you want to pay attention to who is going to be named Pope. And it would be a very bad thing if it were to be possible for that election to be hijacked by somebody with an ulterior motive. That is what is hanging in the balance. So in a lot of ways, Angels & Demons is the world's most important treasure hunt and all the audience is going to be involved in trying to see Langdon solve the complex Sudoku puzzle that the fate of the world is hanging on.
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Let's talk about the controversy this film's been in. It has been accused of being anti-Catholic, and the Vatican didn't let you film within its premises.
I think our movie is actually somewhat subversive in that the man who was probably least liked by the Vatican is the guy who plays a key role in preventing the hijacking of the papal election. Like the previous film, Angels & Demons is a fictional story and whatever controversy it's in is only worthy of a dinner-table conversation.
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Controversy doesn't always hurt a film. It didn't hurt The Da Vinci Code. The marketing guys must be thrilled.
Every movie is exploited by the marketing people, but it's not like they created the controversy. The first one had an equal amount of controversy, but nothing was destroyed. The world didn't come to an end, and people still went to church on Sundays. I promise it will be the same after Angels & Demons comes out. People will still go to church and life will go on.
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One of the main themes of Angels & Demons is the age-old conflict between science and religion. The film says that centuries ago, the Catholic church did persecute scientists who were developing ideas that they thought were progressive and the church found threatening. What's your personal take on this?
Well, for centuries, scientists have been trying to understand so many aspects of our world, including the moment of creation. The nature of this conflict is discussed all the time. I mean, science is on this one track, and faith and theology is on another track. Science and religion may never see eye to eye. And yet we're all struggling to understand our universe better. These films are based on what people said happened thousands of years ago. At the end of the day, I don't think it's worth coming to blows over things that were said or might have happened way back then.u00a0
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On a lighter note, when we're introduced to your character in this film he's swimming in a pair of Speedos. That's brave, at 52...
Once I knew my character had to swim in the movie, I was determined to do it myself, so we brought a guy in who used to work on Baywatch, and he completely retrained me so I could do all those backflips and stuff. I'm very proud of my Speedo moment in the film, thank you. I've still got it, I think.
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The film does away with the romantic angle between Langdon and Vittoria, which is an important element in Dan Brown's book.
We really don't have time to make out or go to bed when Cardinals are being killed on the hour. We tried to work it into the screenplay over and over again. We were like: "Isn't there a bigger car with a bigger backseat?' But we were stuck with an Alfa Romeo so we didn't have an opportunity to grab some smooching on the way to Pantheon. It's my loss, but I think it made it easier for Ayelet...(smiles)
With The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, they've turned you into a modern-day superhero an Indiana Jones for the 21st century if you like.
It's not like I have fist-fights in this movie, it's not like I'm crawling around on the wing of a jet-plane as it flies around! I'd like to believe I'm a thinking hero, as opposed to an action hero. I'm a pro-action hero (laughs)! My character thinks about stuff so he won't have to get physical when the time comes. I pre-plan my interventions, you see.
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Is there a part of you that wishes you could be an action hero?
Is there room for a 52-year-old guy rolling around trying to beat up a bad guy? I don't think so. Believe me, it was hard enough trying to run around the paving stones of Rome!
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You do run around a lot in this film.
There's not a regular cobblestone, there's not a straight step. There's not an easy way across any street in all of the Eternal City. Essentially, death traps and twisted ankles await you anytime you try to move faster than a slow stroll. My poor co-star Ayelet had to wear her nuclear physicist stiletto heels and we were both wondering in which shot she or I would twist our ankle and not be able to work for the rest of the movie. How we did not come out with shin splints and bandages around our limbs, I will never ever know.
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So if they do make a third film, are you on board?
I just keep saying, "Please, please can it take place in the Bahamas? Can the first scene be: 'Robert Langdon relaxes on a hammock underneath the swaying palm tree?' Can that please be the first scene of the next book?"u00a0
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Rajeev Masand is Entertainment Editor and Film Critic at CNN-IBN
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