Tom Hanks has one of the most prolific careers in Hollywood. There's no male actor who has been in as many iconic and consistently great films as he has. Tom has also had a pretty incredible evolution in all of his movies since the 1980s. And yet, no matter who he plays, he always adds his trademark charm and charisma. Sure, Tom Hanks becomes other characters, but he still has that once of "Tom Hanks"... Therefore, he's the quintessential movie star.

Tom is also known for being a genuinely nice guy. In fact, so many fans have had positive encounters with him over the years. But people still care more about the movies he's made.

There are many things about Tom Hanks' career that have flown under the radar. One of them is definitely the fact that he isn't a Tom Hanks fan. That's not to say that he doesn't like himself. He just doesn't like watching himself... Except for one movie. Although it has nothing to do with him or his performance.

So, what movie in his catalog will Tom Hanks watch?

...And It's Cloud Atlas... But why?

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Why Tom Avoids His Old Movies Like The Plague

During a 2016 interview on Popcorn with Peter Travers for his movie Sully, Tom revealed that he doesn't in fact watch his old films. Given how some of Tom's movies are the most re-watchable films around, this is pretty surprising. After all, most of us have seen Big, Forest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and even his lesser-known films like Road To Perdition, more than once.

The conversation started when Peter Travers was asking Tim about the fact that he hasn't been nominated for as many Academy Awards as the public believes he should have been... Especially since Tom is actually on the governing body of the Academy. But this is something Tom really doesn't care about. After all, Cary Grant was never nominated for an Oscar... So, the fact that Tom's been nominated for six and won two is pretty amazing to him.

"Big, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, plus a million other things that have happened. Do you ever go back and look at the work that you've done?" Peter Travers asked.

"No," Tom simply replied. "No. I think that's a horrible mistake. ...Because you never learn what to do. You only sort of learn what not to do. And... You know... The thing about looking at the old movies is that they don't change."

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Clearly, he doesn't really get anything from doing that, except for what he can offer other people.

"You can put up a scene from almost anything," Tom continued, "and I can tell you about the day. I can tell you about the discussion we had before we shot that. About the problems we had. I can tell you what happened by accident. I can give you both the philosophy, the technology, and the serendipity of whatever it is that is in that shot. And you have to have faith in that going into it. You have to embrace it. Who knows what's going to happen?"

Still, Peter Travers disagreed. After all, who wouldn't want to relive some of the greatest Tom Hanks roles?

"But you're talking about the movies that worked and were embraced. I can do the same for the movies that disappeared without a trace."

This is when he spoke about the only movie of his that he's watched over and over again... Cloud Atlas.

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Why Cloud Atlas Was So Special To Tom

For those who don't know, Cloud Atlas was a 2012 film based on a novel by David Mitchell and directed by the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix films) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run).

Ultimately, the massive film is about the interconnectivity of people throughout time. Therefore, the story takes place in several different locations, completely different time periods (both far in the past and way into the future), and uses the same actors over-and-over again in different roles.

This meant someone like Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant, Donna Bae, or Halle Berry often played characters not of their race or gender and used a heavy amount of prosthetics to pull it off... It may not be PC by today's inflexible standards, but it was brilliantly crafted.

The critics thought so too, although some believed it was "too heady" for mainstream audiences (which reflected in a less than impressive box-office). At the end of the day, the film didn't quite land with anyone except for die-hard fans... like one of the film's stars, Tom Hanks.

"The only movie of mine that I've watched multiple times was Cloud Atlas. Because I just thought we broke every single rule. And working with the Wachowskis, as we did, and Tom Tykwer, it was perhaps the greatest artistic movie-making experience I've ever had, " Tom gushed. "Just because of what was demanded of us and how we all had to work and how everybody was playing six different roles."

Clearly, this film is something very special to Tom and was worthy of him breaking his rule of not watching his own movies again.

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