Prepping for roles, on and off set, is no easy task and at times, can be very dangerous. Take Emma Watson during her prep for the film Noah. On the set, water bottles weren't allowed, while filming took place at 4 AM. The result, a tired actress who drank a glass of water that was three months old... causing major complications.That was far from the only instance as Brie Larson completely forgot shooting an entire scene given how traumatic it was, on the road to her Oscar for the film, Room.Things can also get physically demanding. Charlize Theron knows all about that, after a failed stunt in Aeon Flux. As we'll see in the following, it was a cut for Tom Hanks during Cast Away that almost took his life.We're going to take a look back at the moment, along with the grind that took place behind the scenes for the entire shoot.
Prepping For Cast Away Was Mentally And Physically Draining For Tom Hanks
Prepping for such a role turned out to be a draining experience for Hanks. During the pre-production phase, the actor put on 50-pounds, also avoiding exercise at the time.
The opposite ended up taking place when Hanks was shooting on the island, due to his low calories, the actor was able to re-drop the 50-pounds, while exercising in-between six days a week for the role.
As if that wasn't hard enough, Hanks revealed with ABC News he would read several logs of people that were involved in similar ordeals, compared to his character in Cast Away.
“It was despair,” Hanks says.
“There are a lot of, like, logs and diaries that have been found of people who were shipwrecked or cast away on islands,and they can actually battle the elements for a while. They could figure how to make fire and find water and eat food."
The actor continues, “But there is a spirit of hopelessness that seems to overtake them, and when they go, they go mad — they go nuts … and of course it’s because their health is failing them, but I also think that the connections we have to the world are very tenuous, and always built on our connections with other people."
Hanks put on quite the performance, however, things almost took a turn for the worst behind the scenes.
A Staph Infection During Cast Away Almost Took Tom Hanks' Life
During the shoot, Hanks went to the hospital for three days, due to a terrible cut that got infected. The actor recalls, "[Cast Away] put me in the hospital. I was there for three days with something that, believe it or not, almost killed me."
"I got an infection from a cut and it was eating its way through my leg. I didn't know it, I just thought I had a sore."
According to his words with Radio 1, Hanks revealed that he needed to be rushed to hospital, before the cut got worse and possibly life-threatening.
"I went to the doctor who took one look and said, 'I have to put you in the hospital because we have to get this infection out of you before it poisons your blood, and you die.'"
Thankfully, Hanks was okay, and the film enjoyed huge success.
Despite The Struggle, Cast Away Was A Major Success Both Critically And At The Box Office
It was an Oscar-worthy performance for Tom Hanks, and one he arguably should have won, given his role and everything the actor went through in-between.
Nonetheless, despite not getting an Oscar, the film enjoyed huge success, bringing in $429 million at the box office. The reviews were just as kind, Rotten Tomatoes rated the film with an 89% approval rating.
It was an impactful film and according to IMDb trivia, it also changed lives as job applications for FedEx went up 30% following the film's release.
As for Hanks, he also got the inspiration to work the film thanks to FedEx.
"I realized that Boeing 747s filled with packages fly across the Pacific three times a day. What happens if one of those goes down," Hanks stated.
Quite the experience for the actor and a role fans are still talking about to this very day.