America’s favorite nice guy, Tom Hanks, lost his signature cool on Wednesday night when a group of fans swarmed him and his wife, Rita Wilson, in New York City.
In footage that has gone viral on social media, the pair of actors can be seen weaving quickly through a frenzied horde of people following and trying to snap selfies with the “Greyhound” star before accidentally knocking Wilson off balance. After regaining her footing, Wilson shouted “Stop it!” and Hanks went into protective-husband mode.
“Back the f— off!” he yelled at the crowd as Wilson slipped away and ducked inside a car waiting for the couple. “Knocking over my wife?”
Stunned by the outburst, the screen icon‘s admirers stopped in their tracks and stared at Hanks, who proceeded to walk away and join Wilson. One person could be heard saying, “Sorry about that, Tom,” as Hanks stepped into the vehicle.
On Twitter, commenters marveled at how quickly Hanks — a national treasure widely considered one of the most beloved stars in Hollywood — flipped the switch when Wilson got jostled.
“Imagine being the kind of person to inspire rage in TOM HANKS,” one person tweeted. “Imagine having such a negative, upsetting interaction with TOM…HANKS. Just accept that you’re scum & go into exile at that point. No other option.”
“You know how bad you have to mess up to make Tom Hanks cuss at you?” another person wrote.
Hanks also made headlines this week for candid remarks he made in a New York Times interview about starring opposite Denzel Washington in “Philadelphia.” He said that a straight actor like himself likely wouldn’t be cast as a gay man living with HIV/AIDS if the 1993 film were made today — and “rightly so.”
“One of the reasons people weren’t afraid of that movie is that I was playing a gay man,” Hanks said. “We’re beyond that now, and I don’t think people would accept the inauthenticity of a straight guy playing a gay guy.”
Hanks has been doing a lot of press recently while promoting his latest project, “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler as the the late Elvis Presley. In the Baz Luhrmann biopic, which opens in wide release June 24, Hanks plays Presley’s manager, Col. Tom Parker. (The veteran actor was in Australia filming “Elvis” when he and Wilson became the first major celebrities to test positive for COVID-19 in March 2020.)
While appearing Monday on “Good Morning America,” Hanks fondly recalled watching the film with Presley’s family at a recent screening in the music legend’s hometown of Memphis, Tenn.
“Elvis Presley is Memphis,” Hanks said.
“You do not want to disappoint these people, and I don’t think we did. I sat in [the screening] and saw the movie for the third time because I wanted to see more of what [Butler] did. It’s very, very powerful.”
