The always chameleonic Tom Hanks becomes the leader of a ship taken hostage by Somali pirates in "Captain Phillips," the new film by Paul Greengrass that hit theaters this weekend and pulled in $26 million at the box office.
Much of the movie's positive buzz came from critics' raves about Hanks, who "delivers some of his finest work" in the film. To build his pitch-perfect performance, Hanks met with the real Captain Richard Phillips to observe the things that make him tick, but the Academy Award-winner didn't want to hear a first-hand account of the harrowing experiences Phillip faced when he was taken captive in 2009.
Phillips talked with HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri on Oct. 11 about what it was like to meet with Hanks as the actor prepared his portrayal of Phillips.
"Tom Hanks didn't want to hear the story," Phillips said. "That's one thing he said. He said, 'I read the book, I've got the script, I don't want to hear the story.'"
Since he already knew the details of what happened at sea, Hanks was more interested in specific details like "routines on the ship, nomenclature, vocabulary" -- things he could draw from as he became Phillips on screen.
"When he came and visited myself out in Vermont, which he did a few times, he just wanted to really get a sense of me, he wanted to see routines I have, the routines of going from family life to work life," Phillips said.
Catch the full conversation of Captain Richard Phillips at HuffPost Live HERE:
Related
Before You Go
