Two-time Academy Award winner and one of Hollywood’s best, Tom Hanks has attained the highest recognition in the industry with his works. The actor is keen on pushing his boundaries, as much as single-handedly playing multiple characters, if not all, in a movie. With the holiday season on the doorstep, Christmas movies are making their way into people’s homes again and this Tom Hanks film is a true wonder.
Tom Hanks’s most popular Christmas movie, The Polar Express remains a testament to his professionalism. The actor was asked to portray more than one character in the film by the filmmaker Robert Zemeckis. Even though taken aback by the revelation, Hanks anyhow brought the characters to fruition, etching in the halls of eternal holiday movies.
Tom Hanks played a quintuple role in 2004
While a double role is often a norm in films, a quintuple role is certainly not. Surprisingly, the 67-year-old star was burdened with the responsibility of leading 2004’s The Polar Express with five of its characters, from the Hero Boy to The Hobo. The Zemeckis-led movie was one of the first projects to incorporate motion-capture visual effects. Therefore, Tom Hanks assisted in capturing the elements of characters in addition to voicing them, except the Hero Boy.
Recalling his dilemma in an interview with IGN, the Forrest Gump actor claimed that the director suggested he play each and every role in the film. With a subtle retaliation, Hanks questioned if he were to portray the girl characters and every elf in the movie as well. Eventually, the makers realized that it was impossible to cast one actor in so many characters.
Moreover, even Hanks expressed his disinterest in playing all the roles. He disclosed in the interview,
“There’s only so much that I can internally grasp as an actor and on the day of tests that we did I played five or six or seven roles in the course of that day, and I said: ‘Bob, I’m exhausted here.’”
An adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book in 1985, The Polar Express unfolds around a young boy who embarks on a journey to look for Santa Claus and meets unique people on the way. Therefore, minimizing the number from all to only five characters, Hanks portrayed The Hero Boy, but was voiced by Daryl Sabara, The Hobo, The Conductor, St. Nick, Hero Boy’s Father.
Tom Hanks’ passion for The Polar Express
Even though a holiday movie, The Polar Express is not the usual fun and cheery type. The animated movie flaunted poor motion-capture effects, if compared to today’s technology, which significantly added to the eerieness of the film. Furthermore, before Hanks started filming he had no idea about being the common link to many of its characters. Nevertheless, the actor revealed that the book is what inspired him to join the cast.
A Christmas classic, Allsburg’s book was a usual holiday read for Hank’s children. Moreover, every year Christmas called for a re-read of the book. Hanks also noted that every page of the book captured the essence, and one can’t help but be hooked on the narrative.
Even though the movie was panned by critics, mostly because of its underworked visual effects, the storyline was rather thrilling. Also, since the movie effectively pioneered the potential of motion-capture effects in films, it remains a true work of passion meets technology from the early 2000s.
