Movie: Road to Perdition

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Paul Newman, TomHanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Jennifer JasonLeigh, Jude Law.

Distributor: DreamWorks Pictures

Can you get any more famous than Tom Hanks? Who else could turn a movie about a guy talking to a volleyball into a $200-million blockbuster? People just like the guy, whether he's goofing off in the screwball comedies of the ‘80s, making out with Zorro in Philadelphia or just sitting on a bench for two hours in Forrest Gump.

In his latest move, Road to Perdition, Hanks plays hit man Mike Sullivan, who works for Mr. Rooney (Paul Newman), the leader of an Irish Mafia branch in 1930s Chicago. When Sullivan's son witnesses dad on the job, the mob wants to shut the boy up permanently. So, father and son take a road trip where they bond over murders and armed robberies. It's like a Hallmark card, only bloodier.

When Hanks went to Chicago to premiere the film, we interviewed him the next day at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Despite playing a violent character, Hanks presented a nice guy persona to the press. When a waitress brought cream but forgot the coffee, Hanks joked, "There's nothing better than a good bottle of cream." There's always that hint of a twinge when he enunciates, so even when he's talking about something serious, you imagine him screaming, "There's no crying in baseball!"

The Wave: Was playing this violent character a way to change your nice guy image?

Tom Hanks: You can't change an image. Your image is your image. The only thing that matters is the tangible connection that the audience makes with a movie when they see it. I understand how this would seem like a Hail Mary pass to do something different, but it's not a calculated choice. If I wanted to, there's a million other movies I'd do that would've been a much more blatant attempt to change an "image," but that's not nearly as important as the connection that you're going to make with people when they see the movie. When I did The Green Mile, I said, "Look, I play an executioner. It's a different role for me." People said, "Yeah, but you're a really nice executioner." Okay, all right, I guess I was. I kill like 15 people in this movie and already people are saying, "Yeah, but you do it for really good reasons." All right, I guess I do. Somebody called me an assassin with a heart of gold or something like that.

TW: Would you ever play a total villain?

TH: I think I do in this movie. But the idea of playing a total villain just to be the antagonist to the protagonist is boring. Even Iago [in Shakespeare's Othello] has all these motivations for what he's doing. You could say, "This guy is just a family man," but look at the family. Look at the house he's protecting. He doesn't come home and play ball with the kids. That is the darkest, scariest, most dysfunctional house you've ever seen. This is what he's going off to seek retribution for?

TW: Could you relate to the darkness of this guy? Do you have to relate to a character to play him?

TH: Well, I would never see myself robbing banks per se, but I could see being very angry. They don't have to be like me but I have to understand their motivations. That's the main thing. The opportunity to play the "Villain" with a capital V, like a James Bond villain - "Before I kill you Mr. Bond, perhaps you would like a tour of my installation." The idea of world dominance or "I want to be the biggest cocaine dealer85" I don't get it. When motivation is involved, that's where I can see myself wanting to do these things.

TW: They say working with children and animals are the most dreaded difficulties of filmmaking. Did you find working with 13-year-old Tyler Hoechlin, who'd never acted before, difficult?

TH: I think he did a Hot Wheels commercial at one point. You go through a lot of trouble making those Hot Wheels commercials. I'm sorry, I'm joking. You end up treating kids with the same respect you would anybody else. You want to help him do his job and you don't want to get in his way, but also you have to keep things fresh and easy and relaxed, so things will be natural when the time comes. It's weird, though, because a part of me also has to get past the idea that I'm spending more time with my fake kid than I am with my real kids.

TW: How do you hold your own with a legend like Paul Newman?

TH: Right off the bat, I was like, "P-P-P-P-Paul N-N-N-N-Newman?" He's a very relaxed guy. He'd be pissed off if I were to wax eloquent about what an honor it was to work with him. But in our first scene together, there was a moment when I walked into the shot and we looked each other in the eyes. The first take was like, "I'm looking Paul Newman in the eyes and now I've got to go get in a car with Paul Newman." I had a little bit of an out-of-body experience there, but that was the only one.

TW: You can still get impressed
like that?

TH: Sure, yes, you bet, constantly. Anybody, if I haven't met them and I've seen their movies, whether they're young or old or what have you, I'm completely intimidated or impressed. I don't know what to say. I don't know how to say, "Boy, I really like your movie." I don't know how to do that.

TW: Was Sam Mendes different from other directors you've worked with for having only made one movie previously?

TH: With Mr. Mendes, if you make a good movie, you make a good movie. We were actually ragging on him because Paul would talk about making The Long Hot Summer or something. I'd talk about making some movie. We'd turn to Sam and say, "So Sam, based on your one film, would you say that the industry has changed since85" like that. He was very pragmatic about it. The other thing, too, is you have [cinematographer] Conrad Hall making his 97th movie or something like that. We're in relatively good shape as far as the pedigree involved.

TW: What's your most underrated movie?

TH: Oh, geez, Turner and Hooch. I don't know. Are any of them underrated? It seems every one of them is so examined. They have all these handbooks, So and So's Guide to Film and Video. Every stinking movie is critiqued and you can't escape. Nothing disappears. They're all rated and most of them are rated with two stars.