Empire UK

THE SUGARLAND

EXPRESS(1974)

Lou Jean Poplin

(Goldie Hawn) and

escaped-con hubby

Clovis (William Atherton) are on the lam

fromthe cops. Crossing a bridge Lou Jean

closes her eyes as a truck barrels towards

them. “Keep to the right of the truck!”

INDIANA JONES

AND THE TEMPLE

OF DOOM(1984)

With Thuggee guards

moving down the rope

bridge from both ends Indy (Harrison Ford)

does the unthinkable and starts hacking at

the supporting ropes. “He not nuts” says

Short Round (Ke Huy Quan). “He’s crazy!”

EMPIRE OF THE

SUN(1987)

As the Japanese

invade Shanghai

the Waibaidu Bridge

over Suzhou Creek is crammed with

panicking crowds. And don’t forget Jim

(Christian Bale) is writing a book called

Contract Bridge.

A. I. ARTIFICIAL

INTELLIGENCE

(2001)

Hitching a ride

to Rouge City (with a

very young Adrian Grenier) David (Haley Joel

Osment) and Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) speed

along a ridiculous bridge adorned with

female heads (designed by Chris Baker).

WAROFTHE

WORLDS(2005)

Aliens fire laser bolts

into the Bayonne

Bridge in New York

as the Ferrier family led by dad Ray (Tom

Cruise) scarper for their lives. This shot

was put early in the schedule so it could

be included in the Super Bowl ad.

TRUE GRIT(2010)

Spielberg produced

the Coen brothers’

Western which

centred on grizzly

Deputy US Marshal Rooster Cogburn

played by Jeff... (That’s enough Spielberg

bridges — Ed).

has one night in America but it is

the most wonderful night that he’s

ever spent.”

WITHOUT PHYSICAL

transformation Hanks is an underrated

chameleon of an actor. He needs to

be. Every Spielberg-Hanks outing is

completely different from the others.

Following a World War II drama

a jazzy jaunty caper and a fish-out-of-

water comedy Bridge Of Spies is firmly

character-driven thriller territory.

Spielberg cites Witness For The

Prosecution 12 Angry Men The Ipcress

File and The Spy Who Came In From

The Cold as memorable examples

of the sub-genre. Hanks opts for The

Conversation and “things with a lot

of silence”.

“I thought ‘We’ll be in fine shape

because eventually this movie comes

down to waiting for a phone to ring at

Checkpoint Charlie’” continues Hanks.

“We are all waiting for some word from

some other place and the stakes are so

high. I just thought The Boss would have

a field day with... waiting... for... the...

phone to ring.”

“I can identify with that because

as a young person trying to get hired by

Hollywood I sat around for days waiting

for the phone to ring” says Spielberg.

“I know what that suspense is like.”

The title Bridge Of Spies a reference

to the Glienicke Bridge where the

handover takes place only emerged

into the public domain relatively late

in the day. For a long time the interweb

thought the film was called St. James’s

Place. But following the tradition of

Watch The Skies (Close Encounters Of

The Third Kind) and This Boy’s Life

(E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) this was

Spielberg ’s cover title his own piece

of deception and spycraft.

“I only called it that because

when I was making movies in the UK

in the ’80s I stayed at the St. James’s

Club near Piccadilly. It was my home

for four movies. They said ‘Quick

what’s the title?’ And I said ‘Err

St. James’s Place.’”

“I wanted to call it Donovan Kicks

Some Ass” says Hanks “but that didn’t

fit on the poster.”

“Shall I say the title the Coen

brothers put on the cover page of the

script?” Spielberg asks Hanks. “Every

time the Coen brothers emailed me

the subject header was always ‘Hanks

Versus The Commies.’”

BRIDGE OF SPIES IS OUT ON NOVEMBER 27

AND WILL BE REVIEWED IN THE NEXT ISSUE.

biggest risk you can take because it

might not work.”

Such on-the-hoof ingenuity even

stretched to the action scenes.

“My Thompson submachine gun

always jammed because when you are

using half-loads the magazine spring

sticks” says Hanks. “When I knew I was

going to be seen to be firing I went and

preset two other machine guns. I would

jump into a hole with a jammed machine

gun and pick up the other one and go

DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA! in order

to keep it going.”

“If war could only be like that”

says Spielberg.

The pair next reunited for Catch Me

If You Can a caper comedy-drama about

Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio)

a teen confidence trickster who lived

the high life posing as a pilot a doctor

and a lawyer all the while pursued by

pen-pushing FBI agent Carl Hanratty

(Hanks with a thick Boston accent).

“I thought it would be such a lark to

tell this story” Spielberg says simply.

The result is as fizzy as champagne

with surprising emotional depths

(hello Christopher Walken!) and the

kind of movie you catch five minutes

of on late-night TV and wind up

watching until the wee small hours.

Next came The Terminal (2004)

a Jacques Tati-esque airport comedy

tracing the travails of Viktor Navorski

caught in limbo at New York’s JFK after

his (fictional) country of Krakozhia

falls foul of a civil war. If Carl Hanratty

is a delicious comic portrait a dogged

dork in horn-rimmed glasses hell-

bent on catching his man Navorski is

a gentler variant on the Spielberg-Hanks

hero an innocent in an increasingly

complex world the performance gaining

extra frisson by the most American of

actors playing an illegal immigrant

(Hanks wanted to pay tribute to his

Bulgarian father-in-law). The Terminal

ultimately didn’t connect with a US

audience (grossing $77.8 million

domestically) joining The Sugarland

Express 1941 and Always in the

Lesser-Seen Spielberg category.

“I was sort of sad that they kind

of missed out here” levels Spielberg.

“I think they missed out on something

great. It’s become quite a popular

movie internationally.”

“The perspective of getting to

America and getting through an airport

carries a weight [overseas] that it doesn’t

necessarily carry here” suggests Hanks.

“It seems as though it doesn’t really have

any purchase but it does. I loved it that

when he finally gets out he really only

4 Rylance Hanks
and Spielberg share a
lighter moment on set.
5 Baseball cap (or
military?) #1: Spielberg
and Hanks shooting
1998’s Saving
Private Ryan.
6 Baseball cap #2:
Leonardo DiCaprio
Spielberg and
Hanks on 2002’s
light-hearted caper
Catch Me If You Can.

Bridging Shots

SPIELBERG WH LIKES LOADS A

BRIDGE THAT ASF SCEN