MovieChat Forums > Elvis Has Left the Building (2004) Discussion > what's up with tom hanks being the mailb...

what's up with tom hanks being the mailbox-elvis??


Why was he in the movie?
You only saw him for a second being dead?!?
Not that I didn't like it but it was soooo unnecessary!!

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I was wondering the same thing. On the commentary for the DVD, the director said Tom Hanks did it as a favor for him. They also said it was done on a set in L.A. and not it New Mexico where it was filmed, so he couldn't have had a part outside the mailbox. Still, they could have put anyone's head in there, LOL.

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Rita Wilson, Hank's wife, was a producer on "Greek Weeding" so there is a connection. It was definately a high point of an OK movie. I'm not a huge Hank's fan, but it was a funny cameo and seeing him at the end was hoot.

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Hanks was one of the producers of director Joel Zwick's previous film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Zwick also directed Hanks in several episodes of the TV series "Bosom Buddies".

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Zwick is famous for his TV directing. One of his shows was "Bosom Buddies", one of Hank's first breaks. Guess it was a fovor.

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What does it matter why he was in it? He was probably just having a lot of fun doing it. Just because he's a-list doesn't mean he has to be stuck up about roles he chooses.

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He had the funniest looking expression on his face!!

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I knew it was him!!
I watched it the other day and was like to my friend "Was that Tom Hanks!?"
He said it wasn't, but I was pretty sure, and then I go to imdb and ta-da!
Very short cameo, but a funny one. Just his expression.

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Exactly..... This is not a new concept. It only really works with someone very recognizable because it an out of the blue, very quick shot that comes out of nowhere but allows you enough time to go "Hey! that was so and so. Cameo's like this are pretty much unique to comedies and if there is one, there are usually more as there were here. They are rarely credited and never really paid except that it's a Hollywood friend thing.. It's just something fun for the actor, throws a little spice into a (usually quirky) film and it's been happening since pretty much the beginning of film.

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Why NOT? That's what a cameo role is all about. You could say the same thing about Alfred Hitchcock and all the cameos he did in his films. His cameos became so popular they had to make sure and put them in the very first part of the movie because they found people were concentrating so hard on looking for the Hitchcock cameo they weren't paying full attention to the movie and were missing the story line.

Doing a cameo is one of the perks of becoming enough of a star to be recognizable and I would imagine a whole lot of fun.

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