Tom Hanks may be one of Hollywood’s most well-respected and talented actors, but that doesn’t mean he always makes the right decisions regarding taking on certain roles.
The Apollo 13 and Toy Story talent recently shared his views regarding his turn as Robert Langdon in the DaVinci Code trilogy, revealing that he felt his choice to portray the titular character was based largely on the financial gains he would receive for doing all three and not because the part was a very engaging one.
Tom Hanks said his role in the DaVinci films was ‘hooey’
In a recent interview, Tom shared that he knew playing the part of Langdon was what he considered total ‘hooey,’ adding that he accepted the role for the hefty $18-$25 million dollar paycheck he made for each of the three movies.
He went on to divulge that he signed on to the Dan Brown book-based franchise for the “commercial enterprise” appeal instead of the character appeal.
Not holding back on expressing his true feelings, Tom continued to slam the films, saying that they were “delightful scavenger hunts that are about as accurate to history as the James Bond movies are to espionage,” as reported by the New York Times.
“God, that was a commercial enterprise. Yeah, those Robert Langdon sequels are hooey. The Da Vinci Code was hooey,” he continued, adding a jab at the author, saying, “I mean, Dan Brown, God bless him, says, ‘Here is a sculpture in a place in Paris! No, it’s way over there. See how a cross is formed on a map? Well, it’s sort of a cross.'”
While the books were best sellers, the films were largely a flop among critics
Dan Brown’s works achieved massive success in the book world, selling a record-breaking 80 million copies of the first in the series upon publication.
Despite the books’ achievements, the films largely fell flat among critics and audiences. However, they still reeled in some impressive box office numbers, striking at between $200 million to over $400 million each.
Tom admitted that some of the filmings were quite the experience, with him changing his pants right in front of the actual Mona Lisa painting and being served a birthday cake in the Grand Salon at another time.
The actor is currently promoting his new movie Elvis, which co-stars Austin Butler as the infamous crooner.