On Tom Hanks Goodness

Mark your calendars.

27 March 2007.

The That Thing You Do! Director’s Cut.

One hundred, fifty-five minutes. A full hour longer than the theatrical release.

Score!

That Thing You Do! is the story of the Erie, Pennsylvania band, the Wonders (sometimes spelled “Oneders”) and their meteoric rise and very sudden fall from the pop charts in the summer of 1964.

I love the film. I couldn’t tell you why. The performances, the music, it’s just giddy, goofy fun. I love it.

The theatrical release in 1996 ran a trim hour and forty minutes. At the time of the film’s release, rumors surfaced that director Tom Hanks’ original cut of the film clocked in at three hours. The upcoming director’s cut–a two-disc set–will restore another hour’s worth of footage to That Thing You Do!

Call me giddy. 🙂

I’ve speculated for ten years what might have been in that additional hour, hour and twenty minutes that Hanks included in his workprint. In less than two months there’ll be no more need for speculation, as we’ll have something between the theatrical cut and the workprint to answer those questions.

I can’t wait.

So, mark your calendars. One of my favorite films is about to get another look. 🙂

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over fifteen years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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