Tom Hanks thinks Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham hit it out of the park with their new TV adaptation of A League of Their Own.
The Pinocchio star shared his thoughts on the changes Jacobson and Graham made to the 1992 film, in which he played the no-nonsense Coach Jimmy Dugan. "I'm really glad it's here because they can touch on some of the social things that were bypassed by the original," he told The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 7. "That's where we are now. There's no reason not to get into the other aspects of who people love and why they play the game and stuff like that as well."
In the original film, director Penny Marshall merely hinted at the sexual orientation of the baseball players, as same-sex relationships were still stigmatized at the time. But now, the Prime Video series openly discusses and celebrates the queer community's impact on the sport.
And while Hanks is happy to see progress in the representation of the LGBTQ+ community, he can't help but feel old when discussing the 20-year gap between the film and series. "It's kind of odd to realize—is that how old I am now?" he joked. "They're now making better versions of things that I made back in 1990-something?"
Hanks' statements of support come weeks after Jacobson discussed the hateful rhetoric surrounding the show's diverse stories. "I have seen a lot of people angry and mad at our inclusion of more experiences (POC, QWOC, queer) and that anger (aka fear) has only made me more sure about why this reimagining needed to be made," she tweeted Aug. 16. "[It's] why representation matters so much."
And to that we say, amen!
A League of Their Own is streaming now on Prime Video.