Over the weekend at the Telluride Film Festival, Tom Hanks was on hand to support Sully (which was received positively). At a screening Q&A he got off topic to get effusive about our most anticipated festival player La La Land. The diversion began from discussing the difficulty to in getting an adult drama with no franchise potential like Sully made and how audiences are only craving new experiences at the movies. He went on to praise the boldness of its original songs and unfamiliar characters even though he's completely unassocatied with the film. (We just knew he was a musical man at heart!)
Hanks said:
When you see something that is brand new that you can’t imagine, and you think "Well thank God this landed"... This is not a movie that falls into some sort of trend.
We all understand the business aspects of it. It’s cruel and it’s backbreaking and take-no-prisoners. But there’s always that chance where the audience sees something that is brand new that they never expected, and embraces it and celebrates it... I don’t take anything away from [the studios] and there are some good movies that come out of that. But we all go to the cinema for the same thing, that is to be transported to someplace we have never been before.
Movies stars, they're just like us sometimes. Indeed, this is high praise for the film and its potential to provide a much needed unique cinematic experience to the masses. Aside from the commentary Hanks makes here, it's a reminder that one of the tinier treasures of Oscar season is hearing what movies filmmakers are taken with (apart from their own) - whether it's the commonplace 'actors on actors' pieces or the like.
Aren't you just dying to hear Emma Stone's thoughts on Sully now?