Charlize Theron had a history with Tom Hanks. Hanks, Hollywood’s gentleman actor has accomplice a lot as an actor but he also has a few movies to his name as a director. Right now, both Theron and Hanks are among the industry’s most successful actors. 

Tom Hanks has two consecutive Oscar win while Theron won her first Oscar for her role in the 2004 film Monster. Theron has established herself as both a critically acclaimed actor and an action megastar. Her most notable work in George Miller’s 2015 dystopian classic Mad Max: Fury Road has evidently enhanced her fame to the next level. Regardless, the two actors share a history that recently came to light.

Tom Hanks Sitting on The Director’s Chair

Tom Hanks

After his remarkable performance in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump for which he received two consecutive Academy Awards, Tom Hanks wanted to write and develop his own project. Soon, the actor sat on the director’s chair directing his first movie That Thing You Do! The 1996 musical comedy stars Hanks as Mr. White, Liv Tyler as Faye Dolan, Charlize Theron as Tina, and his wife Rita Wilson as Marguerite alongside Bryan Cranston, Tom Everett Scott, and others.

“I was always fascinated by [rock group] Jan and Dean when I was growing up in high school. The concept of a band that stays together long enough to make it through their first tour and breaks up, I thought it was just so real,” Hanks said.

“I wanted to be carrying something in my head completely void of anything about the Oscar race or box office, and so, while I was flying around the world doing all that press, I began working.”
The $34.6 million movie follows a fictional pop-rock band in the 1960s where Hank himself played the group’s manager Mr. White.

Tom Hanks Refused to Give Charlize Theron the Lead Role in His Movie

Tom Hanks and Charlize Theron

Recalling the casting for the movie, Hanks recalled that Theron wanted the lead part in the movie which later went to Liv Tyler. Hanks said, Theron was into playing Faye Dolan but he had to choose Tyler over her. However, she was not out of the movie, she played the role of Tina in the film.

“Charlize read on the very first day that I read actors. She said, ‘Listen, I know I can play Tina, but I want to play Faye.’ I said, ‘I get that,’ but what I was thinking in my head was, ‘You’re too much of a supernova to play Faye.’ Casting her was such a coup,” Hank said.

“The last casting was Faye and Guy. Those two parts had to balance. We were looking for a very specific chemistry,” he added.

The Atomic Blonde star was a rising star at the time of developing the movie and Hanks wanted the lead to be someone who is rather simple and lesser known.

Hanks and Theron have one thing in common, they are both Oscar winners. After her role as Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins’ Monster, she joined the elite club of Oscar winners. But the road to success for Theron was not that simple, she had seen ups and down in the career but eventually stood out to be Hollywood’s one of the most prominent action stars.