Tom Hanks is attending the prestigious Telluride Film Festival to promote his upcoming biopic (directed by Clint Eastwood) of hero airline pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, and while discussing “Sully” at a Q&A following the film’s festival screening the star couldn’t contain his enthusiasm — for an entirely different film.
As Deadline reports, Hanks was fielding questions about “Sully” when the conversation veered toward discussion of another festival offering, “La La Land”, about which Hanks could not say enough good things.
RELATED: Hudson River Passenger Asks Tom Hanks To Bring Her To ‘Sully’ Premiere
“I like to think we approach movies the same way we approach being members of the audience in that you just want to see something you have never seen before. It’s funny. Who saw ‘La La Land’ yesterday?” Hanks said, eliciting applause from the festival audience.
“When you see something that is brand new, that you can’t imagine, and you think, ‘Well, thank God this landed,’ because I think a movie like ‘La La Land’ would be anethema to studios. Number one, it is a musical and no one knows the songs,” he added.
RELATED: Ryan Gosling And Emma Stone Make Beautiful Music In First ‘La La Land’ Trailer
Hanks continued to gush about ‘La La Land’, an innovative musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, from “Whiplash” director Damien Chazelle.
“This is not a movie that falls into some sort of trend. I think it is going to be a test of the broader national audience, because it has none of the things that major studios want,” he added. “Pre-awareness is a big thing they want, which is why a lot of remakes are going on. [‘La La Land’] is not a sequel, nobody knows who the characters are…But if the audience doesn’t go and embrace something as wonderful as this then we are all doomed.”