Cast Away volleyball named Wilson for Rita Wilson
The volleyball named Wilson in Cast Away was a deliberate tribute to Tom Hanks's wife Rita Wilson, written by screenwriter Bill Broyles.
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Wilson Was Named After Rita Wilson — and the Cast Away Prank Story
At 42:03 · chapter starts 41:51
Sean sets up his question with ostentatious self-deprecation, and it turns out to be the episode's most quotable revelation: the volleyball was absolutely named after Rita Wilson, and Tom and Rita are approaching 34 years of marriage. Bill Broyles wrote the name in as a tribute. The film took six years from the first conversation between Hanks and Broyles to cameras rolling. Then Sean pivots to one of the episode's funniest stories: working on Will & Grace, he and a colleague got extremely high and decided to watch the Cast Away plane crash sequence on DVD. The friend had a brand-new Sony setup and couldn't get it to work. Sean, completely stoned, told him with total authority that Sony had a new voice-activated system — you just say the name of the movie into the machine. The friend turned around and said 'Cast Away' into the DVD player. Twice. Tom Hanks notes that Bob Zemeckis never cut to an exterior shot of the plane during the crash, keeping the tension entirely from the passenger perspective.
Cast Away took 6 years from concept to shoot
Tom Hanks and screenwriter Bill Broyles began discussing Cast Away approximately six years before cameras rolled.
Wilson Was Named After Rita Wilson
Cast Away took six years from the first conversation between Hanks and screenwriter Bill Broyles to cameras rolling. Broyles came up with the volleyball and named it Wilson as a tribute to Hanks's wife Rita Wilson — a detail Hanks revealed nearly broke Sean Hayes.
Tom Hanks married to Rita Wilson for 34 years
At the time of recording in 2021, Tom Hanks noted he and Rita Wilson were approaching 34 years of marriage.
Sean Hayes Pranks a High Friend with a 'Voice-Activated' DVD Player
Completely stoned, Sean Hayes convinced a friend who had just bought a new Sony DVD player that it was voice-activated. The friend earnestly said 'Cast Away' into the machine — twice — while Hayes suffocated with laughter behind him.
Acting vs. Directing: Why Hanks Doesn't Think He's Born to It
Hanks has directed two feature films and several miniseries episodes, but concludes that true directors are born into the belief that it's the greatest job in the world. He is not. He also believes every director should be required to act, and every actor should produce — just to understand how hard the other job is.
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