Tom Hanks says he wouldn't accept role as gay man in Philadelphia in modern times

Tom Hanks opened up on straight performers playing LGBTQ characters, saying he would not accept a role in such circumstances in current times after winning an Oscar for his performance of a gay man living with the HIV virus in the 1993 movie Philadelphia.

The Academy Award winner, 65, speaking with The New York Times Magazine Monday, said, ‘Let’s address, “Could a straight man do what I did in Philadelphia now?” No, and rightly so.’

Hanks in the film portrayed the role of lawyer Andrew Beckett, a gay man who is fired from his law firm after his bosses discover details about his personal life.

The latest: Tom Hanks, 65, opened up on straight performers playing LGBTQ characters, saying he would not accept a role in such circumstances in current times after winning an Oscar for his performance of a gay man living with the HIV virus in the 1993 movie Philadelphia. He was snapped in Memphis earlier this month

He said that ‘the whole point of Philadelphia was don’t be afraid,’ and that ‘one of the reasons people weren’t afraid of that movie is that [he] was playing a gay man.

‘We’re beyond that now, and I don’t think people would accept the inauthenticity of a straight guy playing a gay guy.’

Hanks added, ‘It’s not a crime, it’s not boohoo that someone would say we are going to demand more of a movie in the modern realm of authenticity. Do I sound like I’m preaching? I don’t mean to.’

Hanks, who won back-to-back Oscars in 1994 and 1995 for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performances in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, said both films were ‘timely movies, at the time, that you might not be able to make now,’ as they ‘would be mocked and picked apart on social media.’

Hanks won an Oscar for his portrayal in the film of lawyer Andrew Beckett, a gay man who is fired from his law firm after his bosses discover details about his personal life

Hanks appeared alongside Denzel Washington in the 1993 Jonathan Demme film 

In accepting the Oscar for Philadelphia, Hanks opened up about the tragic death toll caused by HIV/AIDS.

‘I know that my work in this case is magnified by the fact that the streets of heaven are too crowded with angels,’ Hanks said. ‘We know their names. They number a thousand for each one of the red ribbons that we wear here tonight. They finally rest in the warm embrace of the gracious creator of us all.

‘A healing embrace that cools their fevers, clears their skin and allows their eyes to see the simple, self-evident, common-sense truth that is made manifest by the benevolent creator of us all and was written down on paper by wise men, tolerant men, in the city of Philadelphia 200 years ago.’

Hanks said that ‘the whole point of Philadelphia was don’t be afraid,’ and that ‘one of the reasons people weren’t afraid of that movie is that [he] was playing a gay man’

Hanks, who plays the role of Colonel Tom Parker in the new film Elvis, has been on the promotional trail for the film 

Hanks, who plays the role of Colonel Tom Parker in the new film Elvis, also spoke with the publication about why he hasn’t posted any tweets to his Twitter page in more than two years.

‘I stopped posting because, No. 1, I thought it was an empty exercise,’ he said. ‘I have enough attention on me. But also I’d post something goofy like, “Here’s a pair of shoes I saw in the middle of the street,” and the third comment would be, “F*** you, Hanks.” I don’t know if I want to give that guy the forum.

‘If the third comment is “F*** you, you Obama-loving communist,” it’s like, I don’t need to do that.’