Double crotchet

• Published date: 21 January 2023
• Publication title: Mix, The

Truthfully, it’s initially jarring to see the universally anointed Nicest Guy In Hollywood, who won an Oscar as guileless Forrest Gump, transform into Otto the Grump

But to the grump sceptics, Hanks (66) explains he’s had years of preparation for the role just dealing with Otto-like life nuisances. Like satellite TV.

‘‘You know how DirecTV has a grid telling you where all the channels are?’’ Hanks asks moments after breezily sitting down to talk in a Beverly Wilshire hotel suite. ‘‘For some reason, they just change it. So what used to be channel 151 is now somewhere in the 500s. And you have to search for it. Or the new grid is more complicated than a legal disclaimer from a drug prescription commercial.’’

He’s just getting started, but you get the idea. Hanks can walk the tetchy walk for comedic drama Otto.

The widowed Otto Anderson, hardened by his wife’s death, leads an increasingly isolated existence. Along with the perma-scowl, Hanks developed a knuckles-first ‘‘p...ed-off angry stomp’’ for Otto’s gait that kicks into overdrive when his neighbour’s dog urinates on his Pittsburgh patch of lawn or visitors flout parking-permit regulations.

Hanks can thank his fellow Otto producer (and wife of 35 years) Rita Wilson for endorsing the role. When the couple watched the Oscar-nominated 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove, based on author Fredrik Backman’s bestselling novel, Wilson immediately thought of her spouse for an American remake of the darkly comic drama.

‘‘There’s a narrative about my husband that is he’s the nicest guy in Hollywood. That’s true,’’ says Wilson. ‘‘But that doesn’t mean he can’t access anger, loneliness and unlikability.’’

Wilson has also seen family-legendary, tech-induced crankiness from Hanks.

‘‘My God, where there’s Tom and technology, forget it. When he’s trying to get the TV to work, just walk out of the room,’’ Wilson says. ‘‘Everyone knows it.’’

Hanks reveals that failed attempts at disciplining his four children — Colin (45), Elizabeth (40), Chet (32) and Truman (27) — earned him the unfortunate dad-moniker ‘‘Angry Buddy Holly’’.

‘‘That’s because my default disciplinary questioning always started with, ‘Right, let me get this straight’,’’ Hanks says. ‘‘Whatever comes after that was...