Tom Hanks Wouldn't Screen 'The Post' at the White House, Decries Attacks on First Amendment

hollywoodreporter ^ | 12/20/2017 | Stephen Galloway

[MarvinStinson]

Tom Hanks plays famed newspaper editor Ben Bradlee in Steven Spielberg's upcoming drama The Post. Here, the two-time Oscar winner discusses the man he plays (and also knew); the issues the film raises; and why he would refuse to go to the White House for a screening of his movie.

You knew Ben Bradlee?

He said: "You don't get it. We're covering the stories that are changing the world... And then, of course, the Nixon administration, the Justice Department, says: "If you print these papers, you're going to be traitors," which complicated absolutely everything, because it happened in the week that the Washington Post went public. And who was going to be running it? Well, it turned out to be Katharine Graham, if she had the guts.

Did you spend time at the Post for the movie?

We went down together one day just before we started shooting. Meryl [Streep] was there and Steven and [producer] Kristie Macosko Krieger. I think Amy [Pascal, who also produced] was along as well. We went down and had a very nice tour. It's a very different building now, like walking into a high-tech demonstration. But we did meet people who had worked with Ben.

What did you find out that helped shape your performance?

That Ben loved the day. He loved the power. There's a moment where he would come by and say: "Ah, the fun." We put that into the movie. “Ah, the fun.” It was fun to put out this newspaper. It was a blast. Based on some other stuff that I saw, he [also] said, at one point: "You have to get it right. Because if you set it down in type at midnight and it goes out at 4 o'clock in the morning, you have to eat it for the next 24 hours. You can't just issue a quick walk-back. You have to explain that you got it wrong, why you got it wrong, and then you have to set it right.” And he never wanted to be in that position. He also owned the room when he walked into it. He was an extremely confident guy; he was aware of his physique. He knew how he filled out not only his wardrobe, but the room that he was in. And they all, quite frankly, loved him. Even when it came to bitter fights with him. He was supremely honest and demanding of himself, as much as anybody else.

What's the significance of this story today?

The Nixon administration tried to stop the story from being published. They took on the First Amendment by saying: "You can't tell that story, and if you do, we're going to threaten you." That is going on, of course, right now.

In what way?

There's a number of ways that you can assault the First Amendment. Back in 1971, it was done in such a boldfaced way that a newspaper, The New York Times, was stopped from publishing a story. And it was threatened; anybody who was going to try to publish that story was going to go to jail for treason. Treason, my friend. That's the stuff that goes on with tin-pot dictators and communist tyrants and third-world banana republics. [But] I'd have to say, as Steven Spielberg said: "The truth is making a comeback."

What troubles you about the way the press is treated today?

There used to be this concept, [as the later Senator] Daniel Moynihan used to say: "You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts." Facts are irrefutable. Well, it turns out people are saying: "No, facts are not irrefutable. We can decide whatever facts that we want, that we would like." Right now, without a doubt, there are people in power trying to — if not quash or stop the right to publication, [then at least] denigrate it to the point [where] they are saying there is no truth to it whatsoever. And there are stories out there that are the truth, [in] organs of the Fourth Estate like the New York Times and the Washington Post.

If Donald Trump wanted you to screen this movie at the White House, would you go?

That's an interesting question. I don't think I would. Because I think that at some point — look, I didn't think things were going to be this way last November. I would not have been able to imagine that we would be living in a country where neo-Nazis are doing torchlight parades in Charlottesville [Va.] and jokes about Pocahontas are being made in front of the Navajo code talkers. And individually we have to decide when we take to the ramparts. You don't take to the ramparts necessarily right away, but you do have to start weighing things. You may think: "You know what? I think now is the time." This is the moment where, in some ways, our personal choices are going to have to reflect our opinions. We have to start voting, actually, before the election. So, I would probably vote not to go.

[stan_sipple]

Dear Mr Hanks and POTUS Trump: Senator Warren is NOT Fauxcahontas, she is an alternative indian

[Finalapproach29er]

then at least] denigrate it to the point [where] they are saying there is no truth to it whatsoever
*********
No Tom,they denigrate themselves by their unprofessionalism. Also they laid on their back for Obama for 10 years.
Mr. Hanks,shut up.

[Finalapproach29er]

And individually we have to decide when we take to the ramparts
**********
He’s an actor! lol

[Governor Dinwiddie]

#5: "Tom vying with his co-star Streep to ruin the film’s box office potential?"

Probably not much box office potential at all. Streep is an old lady, and Hanks not far behind. No millennial or genXer is going to be interested in this snooze fest. Only Bill Ayers, Obama, Hillary and fellow travelers will buy tickets.

I can visualize those standing in line for tickets. There's the gray, balding hippy with a chrome dome and what's left of his hair pulled back into a kinky stringy ponytail or manbun.

And his female S.O. is beside him, long stringy gray hair like a witch, and about 50 pounds overweight squeezed into the tie-dyed muumuu. Of course they both wear glasses: his are beatup wire rims, and hers a pair of tinted cheap plastic Tootsie glasses.

For the record, I find Streep to be hideous in every way—the way she talks, the way she acts, and most especially the way she looks. To me she looks like some freakish stork-like bird from the aviary at the zoo.

[Altura Ct.]

Blah blah blah

F these Hollywood arseholes

[xzins]

Just another slanted political movie.

I want action adventure, not liberal navel gazing.

[MortMan]

They are not attacks on the first amendment, Tom. They are attacks against partisan political hacks lying to influence opinion.

The lies are the attack on the first amendment.

[longtermmemmory]

just from the previews it looks like a “skip it” movie.

formulaic (save the cat)

self important performers

a waste of time made only for the NYC buffoonery elites.

[Old Yeller]

I remember him as a transvestite in Bossom Buddy’s. Has he done anything since then?

[ColdOne]

I saw a ad for his movie last night on TV. The name alone I wasn’t going to watch it. Guess he does not care about people paying to watch this film or anything else he does or has ever done.

I think his wife runs the Daily Beast or some left wing website or used to..anyone know?

[Faith Presses On]

There’s a woman who has been making sexual abuse claims against Tom Hanks, Hillary Clinton and some others on Twitter for awhile now and who’s been getting some attention from people researching pedophilia by the elite class. It’s certainly a situation to keep an eye on, and as some people have said, to listen to her since she does seem to be putting herself at risk by publicly accusing powerful people of being abusers.

http://www.dannielleblumenthal.com/2017/12/examining-claims-that-are-hard-to-hear.html

https://twitter.com/SaRaAshcraft/status/931007190768504832

https://twitter.com/SaRaAshcraft/status/939624532649959424

https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/2274465

[Chode]

kinda self serving since nobody ask you to

[minnesota_bound]

Ben Bradlee helped cover up a murder.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-bizarre-tale-of-ben-bradlee-jfk-and-the-master-spy

[minnesota_bound]

#5 Both of them said they either knew nothing or said nothing about Harvey Weinstein and others. They are lying. I read about these people over years and I am working in a cubicle in sector 7g so it was an open secret. I did not go to parties with these people like these two did and hear it first hand.

[Captain Peter Blood]

If Trump wanted to see this film at the White House it would be up to Spielburg and the Producer and my bet is that they would do it.

Hanks has become an overblown, arrogant actor. His best days are way behind him and his choice of roles in the last few years have been terrible.

I have a suggestion, how about a sequel to Volunteers and the return of Lawrence Bourne III??? That I just might want to see.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Actually the only film I remember where Meryl Streep played the Femme Fatale was a film called , “The Seduction of Joe Tynan” with Alan Alda, circa 1979. As I remember it could have been about Joe Biden.

[Captain Peter Blood]

That actually was a funny show. Hanks was funny in his early stuff.

[Rastus]

This reminds me of Tony Randall telling GWB not to come to his funeral. In both cases, it was never a real strong possibility to start. Yeah, President Trump is going to host a screening of a film celebrating the damned Washington Post.

This is why campaign finance reform is such a joke. They regulate our speech, but Hollywood can produce multi-million dollar campaign-commercials-masquerading-as-film like this trash.

[HotHunt]

This is Hollywood's and the Left's attempt at redemption for the "fake news" Washington comPost.

If the news is factual and sourced upside and down, then I have no problem with it.

But nowadays, the comPost has lied and deceived its readers so much that it is impossible to trust what they write anymore.

Once a liar, always a liar.

BTW, I don't think Trump's losing any sleep over Hank's juvenile slight over previewing the movie at the WH.

[HotHunt]

This is Hollywood's and the Left's attempt at redemption for the "fake news" Washington comPost.

If the news is factual and sourced upside and down, then I have no problem with it.

But nowadays, the comPost has lied and deceived its readers so much that it is impossible to trust what they write anymore.

Once a liar, always a liar.

BTW, I don't think Trump's losing any sleep over Hank's juvenile slight over previewing the movie at the WH.