Tom Hanks' new movie, Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks has done it all and proven, time and again, that his vitality as an actor only grows from strength to strength with time.
However, in all of his versatile roles, one thing has almost always stayed consistent: his "nice guy" trope. Be it his portrayal of Woody in the Toy Story franchise, Tom Hanks has always been the face for courageous and honest movie figures. Given how life imitates art as much as art imitates life, Tom Hanks' typecast is not surprising since many actors, including Julia Roberts (via The Guardian), have acknowledged his kindness and have claimed he makes them feel at home with his warm demeanor.
What A Man Called Otto Says About Tom Hanks' Next Career Phase
Just like serious and demanding roles in movies like Million Dollar Baby and a similar hard-as-nails anti-hero in Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood, too, played a diverse set of roles before transitioning to the older sullen archetype. With A Man Called Otto, Tom Hanks seems to be treading a similar path.
How A Man Called Otto Goes Against Tom Hanks' Typecasting
Throughout the '80s, Tom Hanks primarily acted in comedies where he often played the typical goofy young guy. Although this won him an Oscar nomination for his performance in Big, Hanks dipped his feet into relatively more mature roles in the 90s and instantly won hearts with the depth and sincerity he brought to his characters. Since then, the actor has never looked back and in almost every film, has remained loyal to his lively Cast Away, a part of him seems as emotionally reserved and innocent as Forrest. Considering how, unlike Forrest, Hanks' character will be purposefully mean and judgmental in A Man Called Otto, the movie will likely break his typecasting — or at least a part of it.
With that said, instead of taking his acting career in a completely new direction, it looks like Tom Hanks is taking a U-turn towards his unique and earnest depiction of gangster Michael Sullivan in Road to Perdition. Like Otto, Sullivan is a morally ambiguous character who struggles to hold on to his sense of humanity for the sake of his loved ones. A Man Called Otto is certainly less melancholic than Road to Perdition, but Tom Hanks' character in the movie is still a far cry from most of his cloyingly good personas on the big screen.
