Tom and Julia are together at last!
In what seems like an overdue on-screen union, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts will be co-stars for the first time in the upcoming comedy-drama Larry Crowne. The plotline centers on the title character (Hanks), a Navy veteran who enrolls in a community college after losing his job at a superstore. Crowne finds friendship with a group of social outcasts and also falls in love with his speech professor, Mercedes Tainot (Roberts).
Not only will Hanks, 54, play a lead role in the film, but he also wrote and directed it. Not that he’s new to screenwriting and directing—in 1996, Hanks made his writing/directing debut with the comedy That Thing You Do! (He also appeared in that.) Over the years, Hanks has starred in his fair share of blockbusters including Sleepless In Seattle (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), You’ve Got Mail (1998), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Most recently, Hanks portrayed Professor Robert Langdon in the 2009 mystery-thriller Angels & Demons. In 2010, he reprised his role as the voice of the beloved character Woody in Toy Story 3. Hanks is currently in the midst of filming his next movie Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which is due to next year.
Roberts, who hit it big starring in films like Pretty Woman (1991), Erin Brockovich (2000) and Mona Lisa Smile (2003) has been equally as busy as of late. In 2010, Roberts, 43, starred in two films—Valentine’s Day and Eat Pray Love. What’s up next for Julia? She has two more movies set for a 2012 release, including Snow White where she’ll portray the Wicked Queen, and a dark comedy titled August, Osage County.
Larry Crowne is due out in theaters this coming Friday, July 1st. While the film has received its fair share of publicity in the UK, we haven’t heard much about it over here.
Hanks, who customarily plays clean-cut, good guy characters, has said that the movie is about optimism, the ability of someone to start over despite difficult circumstances. It’s the exact opposite, he’s said, of a cynical movie that sees no hope anywhere in the world. “This is a movie that is about the battle against cynicism, of not giving in to that form of cynicism,” Hanks says. “I think that if I wasn't in show business I would still be a guy who has little cynicism.”
We love Tom and Julia and look forward to seeing their relationship unfold on-screen, but we’d like to have a word with whoever chose the long July 4th weekend as this film’s premiere date. Maybe for a more kid-friendly movie like Transformers: Dark of the Moon, that makes a bit more sense. But unless it rains all weekend, we’re not so sure Tom and Julia’s first movie together is going to get much of an opening week.
