That’s a streak that finally ends this week with the arrival of Paul Greengrass’ new film News Of The World, but it may surprise you to learn the simple answer as to why Hanks never ventured into the arena before: he has simply never had the opportunity.
With the exception of one segment in the underappreciated Cloud Atlas, every story he’s been a part of has been set after the year 1900, which also happens to mean that he’s never made a true western before.
Tom Hanks has time and time again proven that he is one of the most remarkable talents in Hollywood, taking on wide varieties of different projects and roles with new genres and personalities, but one thing that you may not have registered about his career is how entirely 20th/21st century-oriented it has been.