When one talks of artistic collaborations in Hollywood, the duos of Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves, and Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy come to mind immediately for their extremely successful partnerships together. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are not far behind, having shared a memorable association in 5 films and being co-producers on 2 miniseries, Band of Brothers and its spin-off show, The Pacific.
While the former war drama series was expectedly budgeted on a big scale, the latter, by the two celebrities’ own admission, was a even bigger affair to visualize financially and technically. In an interview, Spielberg and Hanks spoke on the how The Pacific was envisioned, and the reasons behind it being an elaborately designed show.
This Spin-Off Miniseries Was A Tough Challenge to Conquer For Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg
In 2001, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks joined forces to become executive producers on the miniseries Band of Brothers which was based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose’s 1992 book of the same name. The war drama which won an Emmy and a Golden Globe, gave rise to a spin-off series titled The Pacific which first aired in 2010.
Band of Brothers further proved Spielberg’s technical prowess and skill for grand visualizations, and became the most expensive television series ever made at that time with its total cost of production being $125 million (via Screen Rant). But the two Oscar-winning producers beat their own record with 2010’s The Pacific which cost HBO over $200 million to make.
Speaking to EW in 2010, the Philadelphia star and the Jaws director spoke about their vision for the series and why an extensive budget was required to bring it to life. While it did not look like the production details were as elaborate as in the Band of Brothers, Spielberg revealed that one of the key factors included creating the whole jungle in the show from scratch.
When you see Band of Brothers, you say, ‘oh, I understand, that was a backlot, that was a village in Holland, grey sky and mud’. When you see all the episodes in The Pacific, you see a lot of jungle, you see a lot of palm trees, and you say, ‘Well, what did they build?’ Yeah. We had to terraform, to be able to match the historic topography of where they were fighting.
Part of the reason, according to Hanks, was due to preserving the rain forests in Port Douglas, Australia, where the filming was done, to ensure that the production did not hamper the natural surroundings. He also lauded HBO for stepping in to take on this huge monetary task to ensure that the series saw the light of day.
This Scene Directed By Steven Spielberg Made Tom Hanks See Him In A New Light
After having collaborated successfully with Steven Spielberg for many years in Hollywood, it goes without saying that Tom Hanks would know the inner workings of the director better than anyone else. But even the Forrest Gump star was taken aback on one occasion when he saw the Oscar-winning filmmaker improvise a chilling scene.
In 1998, Hanks and Spielberg joined forces for the gripping and intense World War 2 drama Saving Private Ryan. The narrative follows a group of soldiers led by Captain John Miller played by Hanks, who are appointed to find Private James Francis Ryan and bring him home to safety after his three brothers have been killed in action.
The film went on to become a big blockbuster and made a deep impact on viewers especially with regard to the theme that highlighted the horrors of the war during the Holocaust. While the movie expectedly showcased a lot of disturbing scenes that included deaths and killings, one particular scene made even Tom Hanks’ skin crawl (via The Guardian).
The Jurassic Park filmmaker instinctively created a moment on the spot in which a Jewish solider named Private Mellish is being slowly killed with a knife by a German solider who sadistically talks him through the terrifying ordeal, like an adult speaking to a child. Watching this unfold before his eyes, Hanks was stunned and terrified at the same time.
The blood drained out of my body. I could not believe what he had done.
This scene was not only significant for its context in the 2nd World War, but also for the fact that Spielberg himself is of Jewish descent. While the filmmaker stated that making a Jewish soldier the victim of that scene was not intentional, Hanks believed it was the director’s way of paying tribute to his ancestry and acknowledging the bravery of the Jewish soldiers in the face of injustice.
Deservedly, for the above mentioned sequence and many more, the film won Spielberg the Oscar for Best Director while also bagging golden statuettes for Film Editing and Cinematography.
The Pacific is streaming on Netflix.
