November 27, 2017 – Hollywood, California, U.S. – American Actor TOM HANKS promotes the movie ‘The Post’ in Hollywood. (Credit Image: © Armando Gallo via ZUMA Studio)
  • Music

On Music: Tom Hanks and the Soundtrack of His ‘Solitary Confinement’

Multi-talented four-time Golden Globe winner Tom Hanks – who plays the legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in Steven Spielberg’s The Post – cannot live without music while on the set.

“I cannot be in a trailer by myself on a movie…they say we don’t need you for an hour and 45 minutes, I’ve got to have music playing. I’m going to say I have 14,000 tracks on my original iPod. I don’t like Spotify, I like to own things. I have music playing all the time because otherwise I feel so alone and I feel like I’m going to go nuts. I just need it playing, and I need it to be on shuffle, that’s the other thing, shuffle mode. I need that serendipity of a song coming along that gets my attention and gets me through a few more minutes. Because when you’re making a movie you know for months in advance what you’re going to be shooting on Thursday. And if you said, ok we’re going to shoot this scene but you have an hour and 45 minutes before we’re going to start you’ve got to spin your wheels and you can’t lose the momentum or the concentration, you don’t want to expend the juju so you need this slight distraction that only music can provide. because if you’re talking to somebody you’ll start telling stories, laughing, you get out of the moment. But if you’re sitting by yourself in a room it’s like you’re in solitary confinement. So when I’m not working and I’m just blowing time by myself in a room I have music playing all the time.”