Tom Hanks has been entertaining his heart out on his extensive Inferno press tour. The latest adaptation of Dan Brown’s adventurous history novels doesn’t look the least bit entertaining (sorry, Felicity Jones – at least you have Rogue One) but by golly if Hanks isn’t going to get tickets sold through pure charisma and enthusiasm for his latest project.
From his hosting duties on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live – long live David S. Pumpkins! – to all of the talk shows and public appearances, Tom Hanks is trying hard as hell to sell Inferno and not end up with a boring flop. Props to you, Tom. America’s Dad always knows just how to smile so that even though his new movie looks very bad, his charm is still shining through.
The latest example of such charm is his reenactment of the famous Big rapping scene with two YouTube personalities collectively called Wong Fu Productions. The duo flew to Florence to meet up with Ron Howard and Tom Hanks (an event they referred to as more nerve-wracking than meeting President Obama) and chat about the upcoming movie. During their visit, they asked Hanks to rap the famous rap from his seminal movie Big.
Unsurprisingly, Tom Hanks still knew every word (and the hand movements!) to the rap, and went at it with full enthusiasm. There’s a large chance that he was alerted to the request before this meeting and had time to refresh his memory, as is usually the case, but that doesn’t make his overwhelming awesomeness while doing the rap any less satisfying. Never leave us Tom Hanks, even if the only reason you’re entertaining the masses is in service of a possibly iffy-looking sequel.
