Can bad hair sink a career? Ask Tom Hanks
By Sheerly Avni
In today's New York Times, Tom Hanks adds to weeks of pre-"Da Vinci Code" press with a sweet shout out to long suffering Makeup artist, Dan Striepeke. Hanks can't be blamed for the piece's title: "The Man Who Aged Me." That must have come from a Times assistant editor with a sick sense of humor -- because right now, the man who's really aged him is his hair stylist.
"The Da Vinci Code" is based on a sacrilegious history of Catholicism and a pagan reading of the Christ narrative, and it's been expected to generate controversy, the kind of controversy that builds buzz and sells tickets. But as Newsweek noted, the question from online readers, studio execs, preview audiences, and even Japanese prime minister Kazumi, has not been "What's up with Mary Magdalene?" but "What's up with that hair?" The 49 year old star claims that the look he was going for was professorial and scholarly, but what he ended up with, straggly and fried, just screams Late Stage Chemo.
Can hair sink a movie?
Hell yes. In a conspiracy-thriller, the suspension of disbelief should be reserved for the hokey Vatican mystery, not the romantic pairing of the luminous Audrey Tatou the doughy Hanks. Tatou's last leading man before taking this part was Chiwetel Ejiofor, the hottest unpronounceable name since that Bosnian doctor showed up on ER, and now she's supposed to be falling for a fat-faced old dude with what looks like an unraveling yamaka on his head? You don't want your audience laughing at your leading man, not in one of the biggest thrillers of the year.
So can hair sink a career?
That depends: This isn't just about a hairstyle, but about aging gracefully. Hanks built his recent resume on serving up Jimmy Stewart-lite. He abandoned his comic roots long ago, and parlayed the inoffensiveness of his persona into box office platinum. It's a shame: "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump" brought him the Oscars, "Saving Private Ryan" and "Apollo 13" made him an all-American hero, but his best performance as an artist was in the 1988 charmer "Big."
He was adorable in youth and soothing in maturity � but the actor has not gone gently unto late middle age. Without actually putting on weight, he has managed to shrink his eyes in an increasingly fleshy face, and his lips have all but disappeared.
The blue eyed boy wonder will be 50 in June, and as he outgrows his earlier persona, it's time for him to find a new one that suits him.
Look at fallen superstar Kevin Costner: Costner's career languished until last year, when he surprised critics by being the most enjoyable thing in "The Upside of Anger" (as well as the in the abysmal May-December shenanigans of "Rumor Has It"). He reinvented himself as a roguish middle aged slouch and it worked. (We'll see how his masseuse molestations play out -- but we're expecting a happy ending.)
Hanks threw a hissy fit at the last Academy Awards because he didn't want to remembered just as Forrest Gump, but he's been hit or miss in other dramatic roles. He may have triumphed in "Saving Private Ryan," but then there was also "Road to Perdition" and "The Terminal." The dark side is not his strength. And he can't try for an aging sex symbol pass, like Costner, Connery, or Newman, because he was never a sex symbol in the first place. If he's playing the long game, he should either go back to comedy or push himself as a character actor.
Big scandals - murder, abuse, drug addiction, massages - can hurt a career, but not for long. We tend to forgive them, the way we did Keifer Sutherland, Robert Downey Jr and Roman Polanski. We like a little vice in our stars as long as they still look good. Looking good is, after all, Hollywood's true religion, and looking bad, unless it's Oscar-bid weight gain, her one true sacrilege.
Related Links
The Man Who Aged Me (NYT)'Da Vinci': Tom, Hollywood Hates the Hair
Tom Hanks swaps jokes with Japan's movie buff P.M. (REU)
