Tom Hanks: I’ve made four pretty good films

Tom Hanks has joked that he has made “tons” of films and “four of them are pretty good”.

The Hollywood legend did not reveal which ones he was referring to – but he has actor credits on 94 pictures.

He won his two Oscars for starring as a gay lawyer suffering from AIDS in the 1993 film Philadelphia and as the title character in 1994’s Forrest Gump.

Hanks also appeared in the classic films Apollo 13, Toy Story and Saving Private Ryan.

The 66-year-old more recently played Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker in a 2022 biopic about the music icon.

Hanks suggested only four of his films were worth watching during an interview with celebrity news website People ahead of the release of his first novel in May 2023.

The Making Of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is about the production of a “colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film and the humble comic book that inspired it”.

‘I’m still amazed how films come together’

Hanks told People the plot draws from his personal experiences of Hollywood.

He said: “Every character in the book does something I’ve experienced while making a movie, as well as discovered a philosophy or learned an important lesson.

“Even the foolish moments are some kind of stunt I’ve pulled or mistake I’ve survived.”

Speaking about his idea for the novel, Hanks said: “No one knows how a movie is made – though everyone thinks they do.

“I’ve made a ton of movies (and four of them are pretty good, I think) and I’m still amazed at how films come together. From a flicker of an idea to the flickering image onscreen, the whole process is a miracle.”

The book will be released six years after Hanks’s bestselling 2017 collection of short stories, Uncommon Type.