Tom Hanks has played the captain of a ship, a plane crash survivor and now he's combining both roles in Sully, Clint Eastwood's movie that tells the story of airplane pilot Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger who safely landed a commercial airliner in the Hudson River.
E! News caught up with Hanks at the Sully premiere Tuesday in New York City, and the 60-year-old actor explained what attracted him to the role. "I like a guy that wears a uniform like he does and walks onto a plane and essentially tells his crew, 'Let's do our jobs,'" he shared with us. "Then he looks at all the people that are in the plane and says, 'I'll getcha out of here.' A man with that kind of gravitas, I can't even begin to lay claim to holding a candle to him, but I like a guy that can do that and does it naturally."
As for why Eastwood wanted to direct such a film, he shared, "It was a very uplifting story in a way. It could've been a terrible tragedy, and it turned out to be uplifting."
Rita Wilson, Hanks' wife, joined the Cast Away star on the red carpet and joked that she has been forced to get used to her husband's role-required facial hair, something she doesn't particularly enjoy. "I've had 28 years of facial hair now I'm sort of used to it," she told E! News. "It's a little like a '70s porn star."
"It is the first question she asks," Hanks added. "'Man I read something great today,'" he recalled asking her.
Wilson's default response: "Is a beard involved?"
Hanks, who turned 60 over the summer, also opened up about how he and his family celebrated his milestone birthday. Watch the video to find out what the Hanks family did!
Sully opens nationwide on Sept. 9.