If anything can be said of beloved actor Tom Hanks, it’s that his characters hold special places in our hearts. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that when YouTube stars Wesley Chan and Philip Wang of Wong Fu Productions ran into Hanks last week, they asked him to reenact a scene from one of those iconic roles.
Chan and Wang were in Florence, Italy, for the “Inferno” premiere, and were lucky enough to meet both the film’s star, Tom Hanks, and its A-list director, Ron Howard. And in true YouTube style, the resulting interview was somewhat unconventional.
The pair started off by telling Hanks and Howard that they were more nervous to meet them than they were when they met President Obama in 2011. Chan then showed Hanks a meme with screengrabs from a number of his films, purporting to show why it’s never a good idea to travel with the star. Think: “Castaway,” “Sully” and “Apollo 13.” And finally, Wang asked Hanks if he would reenact the rap from his 1988 movie, “Big.” That’s when the amazing clip below ensued.
In “Big,” Tom Hanks’ character needs to prove to his best friend Billy Kopecki that he is in fact himself, a kid trapped in an older man’s body. He convinces him with the help of this now iconic “shimmy shimmy cocoa pop” rap.
Twenty-eight years later, to the delight of his fans, Hanks still knows the whole thing by heart, complete with complementary hand gestures.
And the timing of this infectious clip couldn’t be more perfect. Hanks has two major films in theaters right now. As if that wasn’t enough, the Oscar-winning actor also teamed up with the “Saturday Night Live” crew last week to conjure several more unforgettable characters.
Fresh off that hilarious stint on “SNL” — We’re looking at you, David S. Pumpkins — Tom Hanks has done it again… proving that there’s good reason the movie-watching community loves him so much.
Any questions?
