HollywoodOn Productions: Janet Donovan & Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
“As an actor, director, and producer, Tom Hanks continues to bring to life the American narrative through stories that might otherwise fade from our collective memory,” said Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. “He has shown a longstanding commitment to spreading the lessons of American history.”
Tom Hanks was honored with the Records of Achievement Award at The National Archives Foundation in Washington, DC. For the past four decades, he has helped make films and television programs that touched on some of the most pivotal events and compelling people in our nation’s history. The award recognizes people “whose work has cultivated a broader national awareness of the history and identity of the United States through the use of original records,” according to the foundation’s website. The foundation is the National Archives’ nonprofit partner, generating financial and creative support for National Archives exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives, introducing America’s records to people around the U.S. and the world.
Tom Hanks
Hanks continues to bring us America’s stories: Think Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Apollo 13, Charlie Wilson’s War. With those stories comes the responsibility of accuracy. We wanted to gain insight into his thought processes when portraying such historical events so we asked him to take us inside his head while doing a role like Saving Private Ryan. “Well, you start off literally like an archivist to tell you the truth,” Hanks told Hollywood on the Potomac. “The thing that happens is you realize very, very quickly that for good or for bad you are creating a document that’s going to be put on a shelf and viewed as worthy of historical study. You do get into the head of all these people and they never leave you.”
Ken Burns and Tom Hanks
Hanks was joined by fellow archive enthusiasts. Cokie Roberts: “We are not founded on some common ethnicity or common geography or common religion or even language. We are a country that exists because of a set of ideas and those ideas are embodied in these documents, which we have in the closest thing to our national chapel in the rotunda of the Archives.” Governor Jim Blanchard of Michigan: “There is a huge need for public understanding of our history which is a way to help guide our future; and Tom Hanks, whether it’s Apollo 13 or Saving Private Ryan, he’s contributed a great deal to understanding of American life and American thought.” Ken Burns: “I don’t ever make a film about stuff I know. I make a film about things I want to know about. I don’t really like to put my head on the pillow unless I’ve made one of the films I’m working on better.”
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