Tom Hanks Tears Up While Accepting Cecil B. DeMille Award

Tom Hanks Tears Up While Accepting Cecil B. DeMille Award

Tom Hanks teared up last night, at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille award.

First, he first thanked his family, including his children and wife, Rita Wilson, who were in attendance, before giving shout-outs to the plethora of actors he’s worked with over the years.

He continued:

“You’re a dope if you don’t steal from everybody you’ve ever worked with. And I have stolen from the likes of the people that only need one name, like Meryl, like Denzel, like Antonio, like Meg, like Julia, like Sally Field — even though that’s two names, it’s still one,” Hanks said. “But I have also been made better by watching the examples of some of the greatest actors that have ever walked the stage.

It’s those moments as an actor where everybody I’ve ever worked with has helped me get to that place — sometimes it’s three o’clock in the morning and sometimes it’s 11 at night — but you just have to somehow put it all together, have faith in what the process is, and go there.

Going there” as an actor was something Hanks kept coming back to throughout his speech. He also recalled a story from acting camp when he was younger, where theater director Dan Sullivan shared a few of the rules that actors should live by: show up on time, know the text, and have a head full of ideas.

That was the greatest lesson a young actor could possibly ever first of all, the head full of ideas. Bring anything, try anything they might not use it. If it stinks, they won’t use it,” Hanks said. “Knowing the text, and it’s not just your lines, it’s the whole thing. It’s the red dot. It’s the theme of the movie. You’ve got to know it. You might not be right in the opinion you bring to it but you’ve got to come at it with some direction.

There is a saying in motion pictures, back when it was shot on film, that you could not move on to the next scene until the gate was good … Thank you, HFPA. Thank you all here. Thank you for all your inspiration and all of your work and all the struggle that you guys go through in order to hit the marks and tell the truth. I have checked the gate. The gate is good. Thank you.”