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Tom Hanks has been a constant presence on the American movie screen for forty years. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor two years in a row. Now in his sixties, Hanks has added another line to his résumé: novelist. “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece”—an overstuffed, often funny work of fiction—touches on everything Hanks learned from forty years in the business. He describes the process of moviemaking as equal parts chaos and monotony. “If anybody who we call a noncombatant, or a civilian, wants to visit the making of a motion picture, they will be bored out of their skull,” he tells David Remnick. “You do not know if it is going to work out. You can only have faith.” Plus, the staff writer and historian Jill Lepore talks about gardening, a certain heirloom strain of apple admired by Henry David Thoreau, and how history informs her love of seed catalogues.
Behind the Scenes with Tom Hanks
Hanks’s début novel, “The Making of a Major Motion Picture,” is out now. He kicks off his book tour live onstage with David Remnick.
Jill Lepore on the Joy of Gardening
The staff writer and history professor finds time to pursue gardening passionately. She talks with David Remnick about heirloom beets, and Henry David Thoreau’s favorite apple tree.
The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.