The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks

The reader should approach this tome knowing it is a work of fiction by the celebrated actor, not an auto/biography, so real is the prose. It is set in modern day USA, after Covid-19 severely impaired the filming of motion pictures and temporarily stayed the careers of all those men and women who worked before or behind the camera.

This story is a fine read, a highly amusing (and it is imagined) accurate minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow account of a legendary Hollywood writer/producer and his devoted cast and crew. The plot starts eighty years in the past, when a young boy, already a gifted artist, meets his uncle, back from WWII and unable to settle down. Subsequent chapters lay out the back stories of the uncle, the young boy growing up and becoming a comic book artist, the principal crew and cast members, right through to Pre-Production in the current time.

A fascinating fictional insight into the making of a 107 minute film, the anguish, terror, angst suffered by all as they problem-solve their way through pre-production, filming on site, post-production and finally cinema release. This reader immensely enjoyed this long novel and, by the last page, really did not want to leave the production unit. At no time did one think the author was basing his fictional characters upon real life People – that would have been too easy (and may have led to lawsuits).

A novel to be cherished for its high entertainment value.

Reviewed by Belinda Coombs
Murder and Crime Reading Group