Colin Hanks (Alex Whitman) News

[Bloody Crow]

Yes, Colin in Untraceable is literally the future Alex we have dreamed of. However, I have a hard time imagining Alex joining the F.B.I because the Special Unit would know about him. You know what? I once imagined a crossover in which Alex joins The Stargate Command as a computer technology expert and later becomes the head of Stargate Command's technology team.

Personally, I think the only reason I'm going to watch Untraceable is to see Colin acting as a possible future version of Alex. I have nothing against the movie, but that's how I feel.

I always feel sad to think that Alex was mindwarped by Tess and used like a machine by her becasue of his exceptional intelligence and talents. It's heartbreaking to know that he could have achieved so much with his gift if he had lived.

By the way, Do any of you think that Hiro Nakamura of Heroes will be a good friend to our Alex.

I think that such an encounter, if written by a good author, would be so interesting.

[SarahWhitman]

Precisely why I refuse to believe that Alex died! And yes, I think they would've gotten along well. I haven't seen many episodes of "Heroes" yet, but from what I know...yes, I do. And as for Alex joining the F.B.I. well...wouldn't it be advantageous to have someone on the inside once they dismantled the Special Unit?

[Midwest Max]

I found this short review of The Great Buck Howard at aintitcoolnews.com. Thought I'd share

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/node/35331

[SarahWhitman]

Thanks for sharing!!

[Sternbetrachter]

Alex from Roswell and Colin's character from Untraceable have more in common than I'd appreciate

here's an interview from Aint It Cool News: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35397

[Aurorabee]

The Washington Post review of Untraceable is mixed, but critic Ann Hornaday says this about our Colin:

Director Gregory Hoblit populates "Untraceable" with a terrifc supporting cast of fresh faces, including the hugely appealing Colin Hanks as Jennifer's best friend and sidekick, Griffin . . .

I agree Ann! He is "hugely appealing!"

[SarahWhitman]

I saw that the new issue of "People" has a great pic of Colin and Tom AND a pic from the movie poster of "The Great Buck Howard"! I dunno if this'll work, but if you go here: http://perezhilton.com/2008-01-19-awwww ... nt-1361235 you should be able to see the pic that I saw in "People" magazine! What a pair these two make, huh?
And as for "hugely appealing"....well that's an understatement, don't you think?

[Aurorabee]

Hee! Totally, Sarah!

Great piece in today's Toronto Star:
Colin Hanks rises in 'Untraceable'
Jan 26, 2008 04:30 AM
John Hiscock
Special to the Star

SANTA MONICA–For Colin Hanks, being the son of one of the most famous actors in the world is something of a double-edged sword.

Yes, it helps to have a father who can give you roles in his films and make appearances in yours. But it is a disadvantage when it comes to your love life because girls tend to want to know you because of your famous dad.

At the age of 30, Colin Hanks has developed a finely tuned radar that allows him to immediately distinguish between those who want to know him for himself and those who are drawn to his household name.

"It's pretty obvious what their intentions are," he says. "I'm able to pick them out very quickly. It's an intuitive thing. I'm very careful who I let into my private life and, needless to say, I never brought a lot of people home to meet mom and dad. I can count on one hand the number of people I've introduced to my parents."

His famous name and close resemblance to his dad are partly the reason Hanks has never gone in for blind dates or Internet dating.

"It's unfair because people know who I am. I went on a blind date once and I realized she knew who I was and I was the one who didn't know anything about her. It's so unfair," he says, laughing.

Colin, who now lives with his girlfriend of three years, was talking about dating because in his new thriller Untraceable, he plays an FBI agent who is an avid Internet dater. He and his co-star Diane Lane portray partners on the trail of a tech-savvy Internet predator who displays his graphic murders on his own website. The fate of each of his tormented captives is left in the hands of the public – the more hits his site gets, the faster his victims die.

"My character has a doubly weird sense of humour, considering he patrols the Internet for bad guys and it's also his main source for meeting people of the opposite sex," Hanks says.

Hanks is speaking at a beachfront hotel in Santa Monica during his recent visit from New York, where he currently lives. Tall and lanky, with friendly boy-next-door good looks, Hanks is affable and relaxed.

Although his career got a kick start when his father cast him in That Thing You Do! – a 1960s-set look at a one-hit wonder rock band that marked Hanks Sr.'s directing debut – Hanks has since established himself as a talented actor in his own right. He had a regular role in the sci-fi TV series Roswell and appeared in several teen comedy films, including Whatever It Takes and Get Over It, before landing his first leading role in Orange County in 2002. He also appeared in the TV miniseries Band of Brothers and had a major role in Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of the classic King Kong.

Hanks was born in Sacramento, Calif., and was brought up by his mother, Samantha Lewes, who got divorced from Tom Hanks when Colin was 10 years old.

"Like a lot of kids in this day and age, I'm a product of a divorced household. But I saw my dad more than some kids do," he says. "He made every effort to be important in our lives and I'm really grateful for that. He taught me so much, from how to drive a car to how to pay my taxes to how to talk to the press – it's all-encompassing. The little bit of acting advice he gave me was to tell me to show up on time, have my lines memorized and hit my marks. He said if I did that, I'd be all right and maybe I wouldn't get fired."

When he was 17, Colin moved to Los Angeles and began acting. But three years ago he decided to pack up and move to New York. "I needed a change of pace," he explains. "I sort of got burned out on Los Angeles, although I'm very lucky to have worked on projects that have taken me on location to London and New Zealand and different places.

"I wanted to live in more of an urban environment in which I could walk around and have the world at my disposal whenever I wanted to, rather than sitting in a pod and driving somewhere. The life of an actor in Los Angeles can be pretty lonely because the majority of your time is spent in a car driving an hour-and-a-half to an audition that lasts 15 minutes and then you have maybe a two-hour drive back, depending on the traffic, to think about the 15 minutes you wish you could have done a little bit differently."

After this interview, Colin's next stop was the Sundance Film Festival where The Great Buck Howard is one of the entries. Hanks stars in the film, while his father has a cameo role and also handled producing duties.

"I play a young man who leaves law school and starts working as an assistant to a B-level magician. It's a very sweet movie and I've been trying to get it made for four years now. It's very close to my heart," the younger Hanks says.

"I've never been to Sundance so I don't know what it's going to be like. I've made a lot of movies that I thought would get into Sundance and they never did, so I'm very excited to go there at last. Hopefully, it will be a lot of fun."

Hanks sees himself as someone who, like his father, can tackle anything that comes along.

"I'll do whatever's asked of me, it doesn't matter," he says. "I don't like to label myself. I just like to do good work. I want to be in movies that I, personally, would want to see, and my tastes are pretty far and wide. I like comedies as much as I like serious movies and I've done both.

"For me, it's about the work and trying to do the best job I can."

Getting Personal with Colin Hanks

1. What was your first job?

I had just moved to Los Angeles when I got a job as a production assistant on the set of Apollo 13, which my father appeared in.

2. If you weren't an actor, what would you be doing?

I'd probably be a musician. I played bass with a band while I was in college and I still play the guitar. When I was working on King Kong in New Zealand, a bunch of the cast members chipped in and bought me a guitar for my birthday. I call it "Bloody Norah" after a line in the movie.

3. What's the last good movie you saw?

Untraceable, of course

4. What's on your iPod?

There's a new thing every week. Right now it's the new Radiohead record (In Rainbows) which is a great, fantastic album that I paid full price for when I downloaded it from the Internet.

5. What TV show do you watch every week?

Usually, programs with the sports scores, but I also really enjoy the series Mad Men. I think it's an absolutely brilliant show and I'm telling everybody I want to be on it. That would be great.

- John Hiscock

I pretty much :: him all over the place.

[SarahWhitman]

What a fantastic post! ^ Man, I just love that guy! And it's almost cruel how he's closer to me than before and yet still so far away! I'm in Ohio so NYC isn't THAT far a drive---MUCH better than a flight to LA---but still...man....and living with the gf...what an obstacle! All you NYC people better be keeping a look out for him so we can get some informal pics!!

[Aurorabee]

He's doing so much press between "Untraceable" and "The Great Buck Howard"! Here's another one, this time from the Chicago Sun-Times, but WARNING: "UNTRACEABLE" SPOILER BELOW!

Tank scene wasn't fun, says Colin Hanks
FIVE QUESTIONS | Then they had to re-shoot it in 'Untraceable'
January 27, 2008
BY CINDY PEARLMAN

LOS ANGELES -- Colin Hanks just did a film with his father called "The Great Buck Howard." Ask him if Tom Hanks did a half-decent job and his look-a-like son (circa the "Bachelor Party" days) just shakes his head.

"Well, my dad did okay," he jokes. "But he's also the producer of this film, so I didn't criticize. He could have fired me."

That's unlikely because the younger Hanks' career is on the rise, with "Buck Howard" premiering at Sundance and the new thriller "Untraceable," in which he plays an FBI agent trapped by a serial killer, in its opening weekend.

1. You have a scene in "Untraceable" where you're naked, in a tank, tied up, with water and battery acid flowing in rapidly, courtesy of a psychopath trying to kill you. Was it just another fun day at work?

It was definitely not fun. It was quite uncomfortable, and we did this during the first day of shooting.

When the film wrapped, the producer came up to me and said, "Colin, we need one more shot. How do you feel about getting back into the tank?" First I laughed and then I cried. The water was extremely cold and I was shivering and turning blue. So then they heated the water and it was so hot I almost passed out. I did say, "We have to re-shoot because in the hot water my nipples won't match me in the cold water." I don't mean to involve nipples in this story, but still ...

2. You have to face your greatest fear in the film. In real life, what would that be for you? A Pauly Shore comedy?

I'm extremely afraid of spiders. In fact, I wanted out of the spider sequence in "King Kong" for obvious reasons.

3. Moving along, you just starred with Chicago's John Malkovich in "The Great Buck Howard." What was it like to work with him?

He was such a joy, so much fun, plus interesting. We would sit there and all of a sudden I'd hear John Malkovich say, "I truly believe I prefer the White Castle sliders they sell in Chicago to anything at an L.A. In and Out Burger, although both burgers are so easy to eat." John can talk about anything. In the film, he plays a B-level magician who refuses to be called a magician. He thinks he's a "mentalist" and wants to be known as a little larger than life.

4. Who do you play in "I Know What Boys Like," which debuts later this year?

"It's a comedy I did with Anna Farris. She plays a Playboy bunny who is kicked out of the mansion because she's too old, which is the joke because she's so young and beautiful. So she gets a job as a sorority house mother. Katherine McPhee is in the film too as one of the sorority sisters. Yes, I caught the McPhever. I did ask her what it was like to know more people voted for you [on "American Idol"] than voted for George Bush in the last election.

5. And what was her answer to that question?

She didn't have an answer to that question.

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