Animation is very singular. Like, even the 'Toy Story' movies. People will go, 'Oh, gosh, you're so lucky, getting to play opposite Tom Hanks!' And it's, like, 'It may have appeared to be that, but we were never in the room together.'
I got a call from Tom Hanks, who directed That Thing You Do!, when he was done cutting that film. I was like, "Oh, my god. Tom Hanks is calling me. This is amazing!" And then, of course, he was calling me to tell me that I was barely in the movie. But I'll never forget it - and this is why he's Tom Hanks, because he's got such a way with words.
One of my mom's favorite movies growing up was 'Big' with Tom Hanks. I thought, 'Oh, OK, what if we do something like that but not like that. Something more modern, with a different perspective, and maybe with an all-black cast.'
The guy I've never worked with that is pissing me off is Tom Hanks. I want to work with Tom Hanks more than anyone.
I wasn’t getting obliterated, but I was getting a kick. I was very method on that. That’s why I’d have gone along with it [if Tom had hit her]. But Tom was like: ‘Oh my God – I hope you don’t murder me!’
To do a movie with someone like Tom Hanks that when you tell your dad, your dad knows who Tom Hanks is - it feels like you're finally giving back to your parents. It's like you've actually done something that they can recognize, and there's something in me that makes them super proud.
My characters in my movies are all flawed. You'll probably never see Tom Hanks in a Doug Liman film. He plays, you know, very earnest and unflawed.
In this business, you have a hierarchy of stars. Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks - you name 'em, they can play any part they want. Guys like me who are somewhere down in the middle of the pack, that's a different story. I can do things in the theater that I can't do anyplace else.
Tom Hanks is a huge superstar. And people tell me he's a very nice guy, not arrogant, not an entitlement guy. But very quietly, Mr. Hanks has become a left-wing power player in Hollywood.
Here's what I'll say: some toys should be movies, and some toys should not be toys, and I'd like to believe we know the difference between those two things. The movies that work, work when there is a story there that you can take the toy out of, but when you put the toy in, it becomes an even more amazing experience for whatever reason.
I never dreamed about being on a hit television series. I've never really related my dreams to that specific of a work goal. I was always enjoying the moment. Acting, writing, looking for roles and getting involved with people and trying to create something that would be entertaining to people. With "E.R." we were all very lucky to get this combination of people together in the right story in the right way to take it to the level it has reached.
I will tell you that the ego in me would love to play the lead. I would have loved to have been Buzz Lightyear, or Woody in "Toy Story," "Toy Story 2" but they hire celebrities for that, well-known people.
Sometimes I feel like the Tom Hanks character in Big. But my life is not a movie. I never have to go back to Coney Island to find the fortune-teller machine so I have to grow up again.
I would be like, 'Oh, my gosh, I wish I could go to prom.' But then I think, 'You know what? A lot of people can't say they've ever done what I do - they'll never have this opportunity.'
I have 236 movies on my queue and I feel like I should always be watching movies. Like if I wake up in the middle of the night and don't fall directly back to sleep, I'm like, 'I've been up for an hour and a half I could have watched 'Toy Story 3' by now.' In this economy it is a sin not to be watching movies when you have Netflix.
Some people think that confidence is something that some people just have. Even though I may look confident strutting in a two-piece on a stage, there are days when I'm so nervous, or I feel like, 'Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can do this.'
I had no idea it was going to be like this. People come up to me all the time, but it's never, 'Oh, you're Sheryl Lee.' It's, 'Oh my gosh, you're Laura Palmer.'