Throughout his illustrious career, Tom Hanks has been part of some of the most influential films of all time, which shaped the modern film landscape. However, the actor isn’t proud of one of the biggest successes in his career, which spawned two more sequels with Hanks at its forefront.
Based on Dan Brown’s critically acclaimed novel, The Da Vinci Code made around $760M upon its release, and the sequel to the film saw a diminishing return with a collection of $485.9M. But in the case of the sequel, Hank was left a little disappointed after the intimate sequences were scrapped from the movie.
The nature of Angels & Demons‘ story prevented the inclusion of intimate sequences
Reprising the role of Robert Langdon in the sequel, Tom Hanks joined forces with Man of Steel star Ayelet Zurer for Angels & Demons. Although the sequel was too bashed by critics on its release, it did become a box-office success, thanks to the popularity of Brown’s best-selling novel. But fans did witness a lack of intimate sequences between the two leads, and reflecting on the matter, Hank revealed they initially tried to make them work in the screenplay, but it didn’t pan out. He said,
“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 the Pantheon or the Piazza Del Poppolo. It’s my loss, but I think it did make it easier for Ayelet.”
Although the nature of the story didn’t allow the inclusion of love sequences as Hanks would’ve loved, the scathing reviews for the film didn’t bother Hank much, as he was only there for the paycheck.
Tom Hanks only did The Da Vinci Code movies for the paycheck
Unlike most of the projects he is involved in, Tom Hanks wasn’t too engrossed in the material for the live-action adaptation of Dan Brown’s critically acclaimed work. Reflecting on his time working in the three films, Tom Hank explained he was only there for the paycheck, as he went on to ridicule the film’s premise, claiming “those Robert Langdon sequels are hooey”. However, the films turned out extremely profitable, as the actor made a staggering amount of $70M, but by the time the third movie arrived, the hype around the films was long gone. He explained,
“There’s nothing wrong with good commerce, provided it is good commerce … By the time we made the third [movie], we proved that it wasn’t such good commerce.”
Despite losing the opportunity to include the intimate sequences with Zurer in the sequel, Hanks does not have any major regrets about working in these films, as it added a fortune to his net worth.
Angels & Demons is available to stream on Peacock.
Source: Parade
