As an actor, he is considered one of the greats still heavily involved in his craft. He has received ample awards within Hollywood as well as some of the most prestigious national awards in existence ranging from the French Legion of Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and The Kennedy Center Honors Medallion.
His name is Tom Hanks.
Tom Hanks is an exceptional actor taking on comedy roles to some of the most dramatic war dramas. He became legendary due to his work in the hit movie Saving Private Ryan where he played the role of a US Army Captain who happened to be an Army Ranger involved in a search and recover operation of no other than Private Ryan.
It was this role where Tom Hanks, in 2006, was to be inducted into the US Army Ranger Hall of Fame as an honorary member. As to US Military prestige, this was a major accomplishment considering Hanks was never a US Army Ranger in real life.
Unfortunately, according to numerous US Army Rangers present at that ceremony, Tom Hanks never showed up even though it was, in part, in his honor.
On the surface, Hanks appears to love our US Service members.
Taken directly out of his Wikipedia page, “Hanks served as the national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial Campaign, for being the honorary chairperson of the D-Day Museum Capital Campaign, and for his role in writing and helping to produce the Emmy Award–winning miniseries, Band of Brothers.”
Today, Hanks continues his alleged love and support of the US military veteran community as he searches for military veterans to be a part of his upcoming film called Greyhound.
Here is the catch.
Hanks is not looking for real military veterans to star or even obtain principle roles in his upcoming movie. In fact, he is simply looking for background actors who happen to be military veterans.
Lets put that into perspective for a moment.
A SAG-AFTRA background actor makes on average approximately $165 a day.
That in and of itself isn’t too shabby.
HOWEVER, when we compare and contrast the background performer to that of a principle performer, there is a major difference in pay considering the day rate for a theatrical performer receives approximately $980 a day.
Some would assume that individuals seeking to enter the entertainment world need to start somewhere and I agree.
However, Hollywood and the Veteran community have a relatively decent position considering more and more veterans have entered that industry and already proved themselves.
According to Veterans in Film and Television, that organization alone has well over 3,000 members.
This means, that just through VFT, Hanks has an opportunity to seek out thousands of principle performers whom happen to be seasoned veterans with proven film and television experience.
Of course, not all veterans whom work in Hollywood are a part of the VFT.
So, the question needing to be asked is this…
Does Tom Hanks really want veterans to perform in his new movie or is he looking for publicity to get the veteran community to stand by his side in supporting another one of his World War II adventures?
Unlike Clint Eastwood who used all three of the US Military Veterans who thwarted a major terrorist attack in his latest film called “the 15:17 To Paris” to play themselves as the lead principles in the movie, Hanks is doing something very different.
Both, Eastwood and Hanks may have used Veterans for their own PR stunt and that is something none of us will ever know to be true or not. PR stunts saturate Hollywood as that is part of the game in Hollywood. But, how Hollywood goes about their PR stunts can make a world a difference in overall outcomes.
So, is Tom Hanks actually using Veterans to help bridge the Military/Hollywood relationship meant to help build careers of Veterans seeking future opportunities inside the industry or is he doing something very different?
That is for you to decide.