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Cast Away is even more of a showcase for the talent of Tom Hanks than Forrest Gump. And it does it almost without a sound. Hanks spends the majority of Gump speaking, whether it’s as narrator or as the central figure, running through the history of his life. Hanks spends very little time in Cast Away speaking at all, and when he does, it’s mostly in conversation with a volleyball. Hanks also does very little running. Or seeing people. Or narrating. In fact, Hanks spends the most important hour of the film on an island, alone, limited to a small section of land and sea. And he plays it brilliantly.

Tom Hanks enters isolation and brings the audience with him. We are denied a score, as well as any cuts to the real world. No, there are no search party scenes, no funerals, no sifting through the wreckage on national television. We are with Hanks, alone, isolated, and forced into part of nature. There aren’t even any fancy camera movements or cranes to give us a multitude of unusual angles. There are no noticeable lighting tricks. When it’s dark, we don’t see, but for the light of the moon, or the dying battery-powered light of a flashlight. We see what Hanks sees, we are on his level, under the spell of his acting and Zemeckis’ directing.

The single most quintessential example of Zemeckis’ placed immersion into the world of Cast Away is Wilson. Wilson is a washed up volleyball. Literally. Hanks paints a face on Wilson in his own blood (insert metaphors here), eventually covers him in grassy hair, and treats him like his only friend. Correction: Wilson is his only friend. Hanks and Wilson seem like the ultimate odd couple. Even though Hanks speaks on Wilson’s behalf, we still feel we are getting to know a good character. Wilson is Hanks’ grasp on humanity, and onto sanity. It would seem easy to scoff at the idea of a friendly volleyball as “sanity,” but Hanks and Zemeckis allow us to understand the friendship, the relationship, by ending it in front of our eyes. Never before have I nearly wept at the loss of a sporting good. Or a sporting good friend.

In addendum, the single most quintessential example of Hanks’ acting genius is his narration of the film. In Gump, he delivered narrating lines skillfully and artistically. In Cast Away, he narrates directly to the audience without a single word. To say little so as not to give away the end, look at Hanks’ face, thin, pale, and full of more expression with less effort than most Hollywood actors could manage if they spent a week in front of their mirrors fully pronouncing the vowels. That is why Hanks is becoming synonymous with Oscar. And Zemeckis, slowly and soulfully, is on his way.

Another Best Actor Nod?: Cast Away
by Christian De Matteo

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I love Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Apollo 13, Bachelor Party) and can have nothing but respect for the director responsible for the Back to the Future Trilogy, Robert Zemeckis, but for some reason, I didn’t particularly want to see Cast Away. Maybe it was because we are living in the age of the eternal preview, where, by the end of it you’ve pretty much seen the whole damn movie, or maybe it was something else. I don’t know. Regardless, everything else Mike and I wanted to see had already started, so we bought tickets for Cast Away and were blown away.

This is a quiet movie. The score is almost nil and the ambiance is provided for the most part by crashing waves and wind. This usage of music is brilliant. By not using music while he’s on the island, you really do feel the desolation and loss he’s feeling via his separation from one of the key elements of our culture, music. Early on, Hanks’ character is established as a music lover constantly playing Elvis Presley CD’s and touting the King’s greatness. (Thank you Zemeckis for making Elvis the symbol of civilization and not some crap like The Beatles.)

So how exactly, do you convince a big time movie studio to back a movie that’s two hours and twenty minutes long but only has about a half hour’s worth of dialogue, features only one actor for most of the film and bucks most Hollywood formulas? I don’t know but I would bet attaching Hanks’ name to the project gave it a major push. How many actors would you trust to pull of a movie of silence and dialogue with a volleyball as the bulk of the film? Well, a fine decision was made by all, because Hanks—a man who started out a comedian and then an actor in rather silly films—has become one of our greatest actors ever and maybe now one of our most trusted. And he’s earned it by being one of the most rigorously working actors we have. Hanks took a year off from filming to stop eating and shaving to look the part. He practically emaciated himself for this film.

Combining his brilliant acting with Zemeckis’ astounding directing, and a very well crafted script, the movie actually makes you feel strong emotion for the volleyball named Wilson that Hanks spends his time with. That’s right, you will find yourself rooting, not only for Hanks, but also for an inanimate object. To me, this is the sign of a strong, strong film.

Immediately after leaving the theater I wanted to see the movie again and this was one thing I most certainly did not expect to feel after seeing. It’s one of those rare movies that makes you think and raises normal human problems in an extreme situation and deals wonderfully with the human condition. When the credits roll, it’s clear that we could all use some of the lessons Hanks learned, because the film is much deeper than being just about simple survival.

The film is about being human, something many of us still have to learn.

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Awards & Nominations: IMdb

Full Cast & Credits: IMdb

Trivia: IMdb

Production was halted for a year so Tom Hanks could lose fifty pounds and grow out his hair for his time spent on the deserted island. During this hiatus, Robert Zemeckis used the same crew to film What Lies Beneath.

On an airplane, Tom Hanks is served a can of Dr. Pepper, the favorite drink of his character in Forrest Gump.

The license plate on Chuck's car reads: KAZ 2AY.

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Trivia: IMdb