Tom Hanks Calls Sandra Bullock 'A Magnificent Actress'

Actor says he is 'lucky' to work with his 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' co-star.By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Kara Warner





Tom Hanks at the HBO Emmy afterparty on Sunday

Photo: Jason LaVeris/ FilmMagic




Tom Hanks is very excited to get work started on the film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." Why? Well, aside from the story — which follows a 9-year-old boy in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — he can't wait to work with fellow Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock.

"Well, I have left a voicemail for Sandra ... Sandy. Can I call her Sandy? I can call her Sandy. I think she called the office back, but I hope to talk to her very, very, very soon," the Emmy-winning Hanks told MTV News at the HBO Emmy afterparty. "The story is magnificent. Eric Roth wrote a brilliant screenplay, which makes our lives very easy because you just read it and you say, 'I would be honored to be a part of this.' "
Although he isn't a close friend of Bullock, he does admire her work. "I am a huge Sandra Bullock fan. I've only met her a couple of times. She is a magnificent actress," he raved. "And every time we've seen her, even just as recently as 'The Proposal' and 'The Blind Side,' we've thought, 'We'd be lucky to work with her.' "
"Extremely Loud" is focused on a New York boy whose father was killed in the 9/11 attacks. The boy finds a key that belonged to his dad, but he doesn't know what it unlocks; the plot follows his attempt to answer that question. Foer's book employs an untraditional writing style that incorporates multiple interconnected story lines, photographs and the like.
The rights to the novel were first acquired several years ago. Scott Rudin is producing and Stephen Daldry ("The Hours") is attached to direct, with a script from "Forrest Gump" writer Eric Roth. Warner Bros. is the lead studio on the project.
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