My Lunch With Tom
Posted on August 26, 2015 Posted by John Scalzi 59 Comments
If you follow me on Twitter at all then you’ll know that yesterday I had lunch with this fellow, who you humans know as “Tom Hanks.” Naturally, many people wanted to know how and why this meal appointment came about. The answer I can tell you about is that Mr. Hanks is a fan (and as it happens, I am a fan of his), so when he learned that I was to be in town, he asked if I would like to have lunch. And yes, yes I would.
I won’t go into the details of what we chatted about, but I will say that every single thing you’ve ever heard about Tom Hanks being a genuinely nice person appears to be 100% true, and I was not in the least surprised, but nevertheless still very happy, to discover that was the case. Genuinely nice people are rare in the world and should be appreciated as such.
So, anyway: Hi! My life is pretty neat sometimes.
You left out all the good bits – what did you order? The fish or the meat?
what did you eat and where?
But were there churros involved??
Neat.
Congrats! That had to be a great experience.
I’m just sitting here squeeing, and I don’t even know what I’m squeeing about. It’s weird really. Suffice it to say I expect to be excited for summer 2018 or maybe 2020.
Weirdly, a woman told me I look like Tom Hanks today. Bizarre to have his name come up twice in one day like that.
This proves that you’ve sold at least one book then. Unless he got an ARC of that book he tweeted about earlier this summer.
Did you tell him about your idea for a new Turner and Hooch novel?
very neat, and very glad to hear he seems to be the person i’ve expected him to be, nice! :-)
Lucky you!
Like several other commenters, I’m curious: when Tom Hanks invites you out for lunch, where do you go / what sort of food?
We dined at the Chateau Marmont. I had the pork belly Banh Mi. Mr Hanks had the lobster Cobb salad.
Did you bring him a typewriter?
I loved him in Apollo 13 THIS MUCH.
Lucky you!!!
I am not sure I could hate you more than I do right now! YOU LUCKY BUSTERT! The only thing that makes it tolerable is you appear to know how lucky you are.
Crud, just read where & what you ate, I was wrong – I could hate you more! :)
I don’t suppose he mentioned anything about a possible “Bachelor Party” sequel? I’ve been waiting patiently for 30 years. And Adrian Zmed could use the work. Which reminds me, we also need a sequel to Grease 2.
In related news, Michael Dudikoff was in Bachelor Party! I think he was the surfer-dude friend. How did I never realize that?
Oh come on now: genuinely nice people are more common than not, and I’m pretty sure you agree. Though it’s quite pleasant to hear that Mr Hanks is one of them and yes you are right they should be appreciated.
I hope (and fully expect) that any non-purely-social subjects you discussed turn into something awesome.
I just told this to my wife, who blurted out “He’s gonna play John Perry!!!” You heard it here first… :^)
I don’t think we should get a “name” actor to play John Perry. You want a fresh face, someone who’s still a little green.
Holy shit! I’m officially jealous now. And glad to hear that he’s really a good guy.
Well, my three degrees has been met, having met you (you signed a book for me) and now Tom Hanks.
I’m two degrees away from Tom Hanks and everyone he’s ever met, too. Yay!
Amazing!!
Was Wilson not invited, or did he have a prior commitment?
A real fan would want to be redshirted. He could play that business guy who gets eaten by aliens in Old Mans War. I wouldnt ask him to read for it.
You shaved your beard and mustache off not be out-mastered by a level 20 beard wizard.
An astute move in the GoB.
And yet you showed some chest hair?
YOU ARE BRAVE, MORTAL ONE, EVEN I FEAR WILSON.
Thats pretty awesome.
O.M.W. Please?
Like so many others I am about to pop with jealous apoplexy.
OMG! Tom Hanks is SOOOOOOOO LUCKY!! He got to have lunch with JOHN SCALZI!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Thanks for telling my daughter all about Daisy last night. :)
If you could get both Tom and Colin Hanks cast for Old Man’s War, that might be interesting.
Not bad. I’ve been a fan of his since his Bosom Buddies days. And that was before I knew he was a local boy. From his NYT article growing up poor(ish?) and going Cal State Hayward you must have a few things in common.
Not so impressed. Had I known John Scalzi was in town I would have invited him over for barbecue and wine tasting.
Neato burrito!
Next time you get in touch with him, please ask if he can get the dropped 13th script of From The Earth To The Moon that focused on the Soviet space program filmed.
Surely the two of you were conspiring on a Bosom Buddies feature film. Ideally, a musical. In space. With a bulldog and a volleyball.
Where can I get an awesome life like that?
if you keep on doing that thing with the eyebrows someday your face will stick that way.
At first glance, I thought he was Michael Swanwick. Go me, confusing world famous faces with authors!
I always figured he was nice because his name is literally T. Hanks. Even his name is polite.
Admit it, Scalzi. You squeed when that call came in.
Very funny Andrew Hackard.
My father took me to his interview with Tom Hanks back in the mid 80’s. Very nice guy, unassuming and funny.
Merus: I never noticed that. Well done, you. As Chris Titus says, “Tom Hanks has ALL the douchebag credits.”
@Andrew Hackard- Okay, you win the comment thread for this post. Well played. :-)
Well, you’d need 2 actors to play John Perry, right? The old guy version and the supersoldier in a brand new mostly human body version. Hanks is not 75, but hey, that’s what makeup is for…
Pork belly Bahn Mi…mmmmmm
Oh, man, “Scalzi: The Biopic” is definitely gonna happen now!
Sometimes?
WILSON!!!
Wow — that’s awesome!
That’s really cool.
Have you ever heard Mel Brooks talk about when he and Cary Grant were working on the same lot and found out they were mutual fans?
i would give my left arm to meet Tom Hanks .. oh, wait – I already gave up my left arm to be a two-fisted drinker.
Dang. Hate that when it happens. Shucks. Lucky you. Ummm.. who picked up the tab?
Way cool!
“We dined at the Chateau Marmont. I had the pork belly Banh Mi. Mr Hanks had the lobster Cobb salad.”
Two of the most Hollywood-y sentences it is possible to construct. Only loses points for neither of you being vegetarian.
Lurkertype, indeed! When I first read those sentences, I immediately suspected parody. I eventually concluded that they were most likely straight-up reportage. I still can’t decide whether parody or straight-up reportage is better in this case.
Eh, it’s an obvious Photoshop. You can see the blurry merge lines and everything. No one knows who Scalzi is, and he doesn’t have fans, so this can’t be real. I’ve heard that the evidence for all of this will be further discussed in Chapter Five; the truth can’t come out too soon.
Hmm, backing for film projects didn’t come up ,I suppose…
He would make a great Carl from ‘Agent’. Wink wink, nod nod