After scoring a couple of minor roles in movies, notably horror flick “Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest,” which she branded “the most exciting thing I’d ever done in my entire life,” Charlize Theron got her big break in 1996. This was all thanks to none other than America’s Dad aka Tom Hanks.
After Theron auditioned for Hanks’ directorial debut “That Thing You Do!,” both he and producer Ed Saxon were convinced that no one other than Theron could play Tina Powers. “Casting her was such a coup,” Hanks told The Ringer. As Saxon elaborated, “I remember Tom saying, ‘Gentlemen, we just met a movie star.’ She was smart, glamorous, and had a phenomenal sense of humor.” She initially auditioned for the role of Faye, but Hanks was having none of it. As he recalled to The Ringer, Theron was “too much of a supernova to play Faye.”
Despite Hanks’ faith in Theron’s talent, she struggled with self-doubt. “I was so nervous that I couldn’t say the character’s name,” Theron recalled to Backstage. Thankfully, Hanks, who, it should be noted, was Theron’s first crush, was there to reassure the budding star of her immense talent. “He just got up and was like, ‘You know what? I really need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back.’ It was his way of giving me a breather. When you have people who have that kind of kindness, you’re incredibly grateful,” she said.
