Manage PreferencesTom Hanks has said he could not take on his landmark role in Philadelphia, where he portrayed a gay man dying of AIDS, in the present day. In the 1993 film, Hanks played lawyer Andrew Beckett, a man who is fired from his job after his bosses discover his sexuality. Speaking to The New York Times Magazine, the 65-year-old star said: "Let's address, 'Could a straight man do what I did in Philadelphia now?' One of the reasons people weren't afraid of that movie is that I was playing a gay man. Hanks described both Philadelphia and 1994 comedy-drama Forrest Gump, where he played a man with disabilities, as "timely movies, at the time, that you might not be able to make now".

Source: New York Times June 17, 2022 10:20 UTC