For his new Cold War-era drama "Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg wanted an actor who was as righteous as the movie's protagonist James Donovan and the director could think of no one other than his frequent collaborator, Tom Hanks for the role.
Oscar winners Spielberg and Hanks have joined forces for the fourth time as actor and director in the story about Donovan, a lawyer who suddenly finds himself in the midst of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s.
"James Donovan was what you would call a stand-up kind of guy, someone who stands up for what he believes in, which in his case, is justice for all. Tom's own morality and his own sense of equality and fairness, and the fact that he does such good things in the world by wisely using his celebrity, made him the perfect fit. He is the perfect collaborator," Spielberg said in a release.
Praising 59-year-old Hanks, Spielberg, who has directed the actor in films like "Saving Private Ryan", "The Terminal" and "Catch Me If You Can", said his creative inputs were valuable during the making of the film.
"Tom will try anything and he's got a thousand ideas and is open to a thousand ideas from other people. He's this incredibly creative vessel that just wants to figure things out in a more original way."
"Bridge of Spies" is set at the peak of Cold War animosity and paranoia, and shows how Donovan was plucked from a prosperous private firm practicing insurance law and assigned to represent accused Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance).
Donovan pays a professional and personal cost for his unpopular defense of this culpable and unapologetic agent.
"One of the things I loved about this story was that everyone you think should be wearing a black hat isn't necessarily wearing that hat, nor did they intend to. It doesn't make it easy to root for someone who is a spy against the national security of our nation.
"But in this case we do, and that was something that made me want to get involved with this project," Spielberg said.
The filmmaker said his "tremendous amount of awareness" of the Cold War, was the most important reason behind making this film, besides his love for spy movies in general.
"I grew up with it (spy stories). But I never made a movie about this until Matt Charman introduced me to the Rudolf Abel/James Donovan story. I didn't know anything about the exchange of Abel for Francis Gary Powers.
"I knew about Powers because, growing up in the '50s and '60s, everyone had heard that his U-2 spy plane had been shot down and he had been put on public display at a very public trial, but the story kind of ended with a spectacular shoot down. There was a lot to this story that really pulled me in."
"Bridge of Spies" also starring Amy Ryan, Alan Alda and Austin Stowell, released in India today.
