Tom Hanks is a national treasure.
He’s been one of my favourite actors ever since I was a kid. The ‘Burbs is my fave film of his. And
since 2017, with the publication of his short story collection, Uncommon Type, he’s become an author as
well. His first novel, The Making of Another
Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, is an ambitious project that was
published a few weeks ago, on May 9th. Hanks handles most of the narrating of the
audiobook, but he’s also accompanied by a cast of about a dozen other narrators.
Here
is the book’s official synopsis: “From the legendary actor and best-selling author: a novel about the
making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film...and the
humble comic books that inspired it. Funny, touching, and wonderfully
thought-provoking, while also capturing the changes in America and American
culture since World War II.
Part One of this story takes place in 1947. A
troubled soldier, returning from the war, meets his talented five-year-old
nephew, leaves an indelible impression, and then disappears for twenty-three
years.
Cut to 1970: The nephew, now
drawing underground comic books in Oakland, California, reconnects with his uncle
and, remembering the comic book he saw when he was five, draws a new version
with his uncle as a World War II fighting hero.
Cut to the present
day: A
commercially successful director discovers the 1970 comic book and decides to
turn it into a contemporary superhero movie.
Cue
the cast: We meet the film’s extremely difficult
male star, his wonderful leading lady, the eccentric writer/director, the
producer, the gofer production assistant, and everyone else on both sides of
the camera.”
The audiobook features three
downloadable PDF comic books as well as a QR code which, when scanned, gives
the listeners/readers access to the original screenplay of Knightshade: The Lathe of Firefall (the fictitious motion picture referenced
in the book title). The comics are very well done, two of them replicating
vintage 1940s war comics. I haven’t had a chance to give the screenplay a read
though, but it’s apparent that this entire project has been a labour of love
for Mr. Hanks.
This is a story that will particularly
cater to fans of filmmaking, meaning the behind the scenes of movies, from pre-
to post-production. There are a lot of characters—some might say a tad too
many—and we get a lot of backstory for each of them which helps to flesh them
out. Some characters show up in the first part of the book that I wish we’d
seen more of, only to resurface in the latter section of the story. Hanks’s
short, punchy sentences coupled with his delivery as a narrator sometimes felt
reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino’s style of writing and witty dialogue.
Running at a few minutes shy of
sixteen hours, as is the case with most books over twelve hours in length, it
does drag in a few places. Trimming the novel by about two or three hours’
worth of text could’ve improved pacing issues in my opinion. Regardless, Tom
does such a bang-up job of bringing his characters to life both on the page and
as a narrator that it goes by quickly enough. He could pretty much read a
grocery list and make it sound interesting. The rest of the cast does a
remarkable job as well but, in all fairness, I think since Hanks already reads
about 80% of the novel, he could’ve read the whole thing and it would’ve been
just as great, if not better. There wasn’t really a need for a cast of
narrators since they’re not used to voice one character specifically. At times,
Hanks will voice someone and then later on, the same character will be voiced
by a different narrator.
There is a lot to like here, and
while TMOAMMPM is flawed, it makes for a very entertaining novel. The book title
is a mouthful and really not the catchiest title for a novel such as this. I
have a feeling Tom Hanks wanted a special project to focus on during the
pandemic when movie sets shut down all over the world and decided to take a
crack at writing a love letter to the industry he’s been a part of for nearly
fifty years now. His contributions to the medium of film in a plethora of
genres will never be forgotten, and with this multimedia project of novel,
comic books, screenplay, and audiobook, he proves that he truly is a
multitalented artist. I, for one, look forward to his next foray into the world
of literature.
Rating: Four
stars out of five
Get your copy on Audible
