Colin Hanks decided to direct his first movie because he was an "unemployed" actor.
The ‘Fargo’ star was struggling to find acting work when he stumbled across the story of Tower Records, which filed for bankruptcy in 2007, and admitted making the docu-film about the music chain gave him "a reason to get out of bed" in the mornings.
Speaking about making his directorial debut on ‘All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records’, he exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I had reached a point in my career where, obviously I wouldn’t say I felt like the window was closing, I was unemployed and I was looking for a creative outlet. And I found this story that was really interesting, so I thought, ‘Let’s make a documentary, that’s something new.’ That was really the genesis, more of sort of a way to keep my hands busy during the downtime more than anything else. But it’s never really a conscious decision to do anything, it’s more a conscious decision to get out of bed. A reason to get out of bed!"
The 38-year-old filmmaker – the oldest son of Hollywood legend Tom Hanks and his first wife, the late actress Samantha Lewes – rose to fame in TV shows ‘Roswell’ and ‘Orange County’ before making the move into feature length films landing roles in 2005’s ‘King Kong’, 2008’s ‘Untraceable’ and 2016’s ‘Elvis & Nixon’.
He embarked on making ‘The Rise and Fall of Tower Records’ seven years ago and though the acting roles have been steady, including a major role TV drama series ‘Fargo’, he says getting work in crowded Hollywood is often a matter of luck.
He explained: "Every job that you end up booking or getting is because it’s the right time and place and hopefully the right attitude. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. It really is just trying to move at the speed of opportunity and luckily I’ve been fortunate I’ve been able to work and maintain a career."
Colin – who has two daughters, Olivia, five, and two-year-old Charlotte, with his wife Samantha Bryant – intends to stick with documentary making, for the moment.
He said: "That tends to be where I’m at, my producing partner Sean Stewart, we both grew up in the Sacramento, in the same neighbourhood and obviously we’re looking to branch out into more scripted fair, but we’re really interested in documentaries and there’s something about hearing stories from the people that lived it that I think is really interesting and it gives me a chance to scratch a bunch of different itches."
Asked if he’s working on another documentary right now, he said: "I am, for sure, but I can’t talk about them yet! The one thing I learned from this, after spending seven years talking about how I’m making this documentary, now I’m making another one and it’s really nice to not talk about it and wait until it’s finished."
‘All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records’ is out on DVD and as a digital download now.
Colin Hanks: I became a director out of necessity
