Hanks at the Starter for Ten screening.Photographs by FirstView
Tom Hanks was in town the other night for a screening of Starter for Ten, a new romantic comedy he produced. The after-party was at the Odeon, and naturally we jumped into his booth to talk about Oscars — and about condoms.
What’s your least favorite thing about the Oscars?
The getting-dressed part. It’s that horrible competitiveness of whose tux you’re gonna wear.
What’s the most you ever won or lost in an Oscar pool?
It’s always just twenty bucks a head. And I’ve never won.
Really? What categories trip you up?
When you’re not a member of the Academy, you don’t know what those animated shorts are. You might not even know them if you are a member of the Academy. But with the Oscar pool, you’ve gotta pick ‘em, man. One out of five. If you don’t nail one of those four — documentary short, animated short, best sound mixing, stuff like that — you’re sunk.
By the way, they’re coming out with an official New York City condom. How would you design one?
It should be a flash map; it unfolds and there’s Manhattan, the Empire State Building …
—Justin Ravitz
