Aaron Marcus worked on A Man Called Otto with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who modeled kindness on set. Hanks told him that a positive atmosphere starts at the top and filters down, and that every crew member shares the same goal of creating something great.
In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you some words of wisdom and great advice that I got from the unbelievable actor Tom Hanks. So watch to the end. I know this information will be invaluable to you. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to my Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center, where I help people get started in the industry and also help people who've been working for a while to help them take their career to the next level. Hey, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button. Don't forget, and this is really important, the notification bell, so that way every time I upload a new video, you will be notified. And if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. That's helpful. So in this video, um, It was just, it was a great experience. I had an opportunity to audition, get cast, and work with Tom Hanks on a feature film recently. And, you know, sometimes it's interesting. Sometimes you, you watch people in projects and you kind of get a sense of who they are, and sometimes that's accurate, sometimes it's not. They're very different people. Uh, but I can tell you that, that From the time that I spent with Tom Hanks, I mean, this 2-time Academy Award-winning actor, he is just a wonderful, just a wonderful human being. And I had a chance in between setups and a couple different days, just had some time to sit and talk with him. And I'll tell you, his wife Rita Wilson is just also such a lovely person. And I'll give you a perfect example. So Rita Wilson, besides being a phenomenal actor, she was also one of the producers of this particular film. And I finished shooting one of the scenes and she just walks over to me at one point and says, thank you so much for being a part of this project. You're great and really, you are helping make this thing great. Great, and I really appreciate it. And I just thought, wow, I mean, how many producers just walk over to an actor and tell them how much they appreciated what they did, you know, in, in the scene? So anyhow, and, and I'll tell you, there was another thing that she did. Um, I'd go back another day and, uh, and I'm not going to give anything away, but there was something that I did. Well, I don't mind. I can tell you. I had to fall. I mean, I'm not giving anything away here. And she walked over to me and she said, hey, I was just thinking about you. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. And I said, yep, everything was great, but thank you. And it was just really very, very nice of her. And so with Tom Hanks, I got a chance to hang out with him a bit. And we were sitting around, he was drinking— it was a little bit cold outside and he was drinking some hot tea. And he said, hey, hey, would you like some something hot to drink or something? Um, and, and he was, he was just very nice. I mean, he, he was walking over to some of the extras, uh, in the scene and just talking with them and saying hello. And, and look, I get it when— if you're involved in a very emotional scene, there's a lot of dialogue. You know, that might not be a time where you want to spend time just kind of schmoozing with other people. Although at least I wouldn't be able to do that. But then on the other hand, look, I've seen some other Academy Award-winning actors who had long blocks of dialogue. They're just, you know, sitting there reading a novel in between takes. And for me, you You know, because, you know, I don't have as many days on a set as, as, you know, the stars. You know, I'm probably not going to be schmoozing with a lot of people during that time period. But anyhow, let me share with you what Tom Hanks said to me that I just found really valuable, and, and I hope you find it helpful as well. So I have always learned that the, the feeling on a set, the atmosphere on a set starts from the very top, and it's going to start typically on a movie, it's going to start with the director, and then it just filters its way down. Certainly the stars are involved as well. And so I was, when I was talking with him, One of the things that I mentioned, I said, I just want to thank you very much for creating such a warm and friendly atmosphere on the set and giving us a chance to play, to try out ideas, to ask questions. And he looked at me and he said, well, first of all, you're welcome. He said, but hey, look, we're all one team here. And our goal is to make something great. And it doesn't matter whether it's, you know, the extras, whether it's the crew, whether it's the day players, whether it doesn't make any difference. He said, look, we're all playing on the same team and we all have one goal, so let's enjoy ourselves. And, you know, and I thought about it and I thought, that makes sense. We are all on the same team, you know, we all have the same goal of doing something great together. And I realized it sounds so simple and it's so powerful. And what I did say to him was, I said, look, I agree with you 100%. As you know, that's not always the case. And so I really do appreciate it. And he said, well, thank you very much. That's kind of you. So if you're ever working on a project, just keep that in mind. We're all on the same team and we're all trying to do something great here. And enjoy yourself as much as you can. And like with any job, yeah, there might be some people who could be hard to work with, and you just have to figure out how to do it, how to make it happen so that it doesn't ruin your time. While you're at work. So anyhow, I— and certainly I'm not going to, you know, talk about the other things that we discussed. It just wouldn't— it's not, it's not what I do. I don't think it's appropriate. But anyhow, that piece of information I felt would be really good for other people to hear, and I wanted to share it with you. So all I can say is, if you ever, ever get an opportunity to work with either Rita Wilson or Tom Hanks, Jump at the opportunity. They are both such lovely people. And he was, like I was saying, he was just walking around to people and thanking them. And it was, it was a great atmosphere. And I can tell you, you know, once again, I can't really give away much information about the project, but in, in this one scene, it was physically, it was a very difficult scene for me to do, very uncomfortable. And well, I can tell you the name of the movie. It's A Man Called Otto. If you get a chance to see it, small scene, but, and hopefully it makes it, it makes it in the movie. You never know. It was very uncomfortable, but I'll tell you, just because of what he said to me, it helped encourage me and reinforced what I always thought of just do everything you possibly can. Everything. And that's exactly what I did. And like I said, sometimes there were parts of what I had to do, it was physically very uncomfortable and I didn't care. I just did it. And because I wanted this to be great, I wanted to be part of this team and hopefully everything will turn out well. Hey, listen, just as a quick reminder, if you haven't done this yet, click the subscribe button, the notification bell, And if you like the video, give it a thumbs up. And please, this is a place where I want actors to help each other, share information, ask questions, answer questions. So please share this link with all of your friends, all of your actor acquaintances, and let's build this channel up so that we have people who are truly trying to help each other and learn from each other. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
