Tom Hanks Gets Candid About Embarrassing Fan Encounters: 'They Yell at You!'

Tom Hanks recalled some memorable fan encounters he's had during his successful film career

Published on December 3, 2019 09:48 AM

Tom Hanks has had his fair share of unforgettable fan encounters — both good and bad.

The 63-year-old actor stopped by The Kelly Clarkson Show Tuesday and recalled a time he was recognized for his Academy Award-nominated role in the 1988 film Big.

“When Big came out, my dad and my stepmom were in New York and we went to a really fancy restaurant,” said Hanks, 63. “There was a pianist, a harpist and a violinist playing a little bit of music. Suddenly a piano and a harp and a violin started playing ‘Heart and Soul.’ I said, ‘I think this is because of the movie.’ ”

When Kelly Clarkson asked the acclaimed actor if he gets embarrassed when recognized, he admitted that he’s had much worse fan encounters.

“It’s better than the other stuff they yell at you!” he said. ” ‘Wilson!’ I get a lot of that. ‘Brace for impact!’ Anything that landed in a movie.”

An amused Clarkson, 37, then admitted to Hanks that she calls the sports balls in her home Wilson, a reference to his 2000 film Cast Away.

“We’re like, ‘Grab Wilson, put it in the car,’ ” Clarkson said.

Hanks added that he gets “a little bit of everything” — including fans citing lines from his numerous films, like “Houston we have a problem!” from his award-winning 1995 movie Apollo 13.

In his latest film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Hanks portrays beloved TV icon Fred Rogers. However, the actor recently admitted that he was nervous about taking the job.

“There’s no such thing as an easy role to do,” he told CBS Morning News. “The moment I said ‘yes,’ I began to have the night sweats.”

thanks — Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic;/Sony Pictures

The Oscar winner also admitted that taking on the role was “terrifying,” and that he turned it down “a couple of times” before director Marielle Heller was able to convince him to do it.

“He came in and immediately called me ‘boss,’ ” she told PEOPLE last week. “He knows I’m setting the tone and he’s respectful of letting that be the case even though he’s Tom Hanks, which is just amazing.”

RELATED VIDEO: The Real Tom Hanks: An Inside Look at America’s Favorite Star From Those Who Know Him Best

“I’ve said in a soundbite kind of way that ‘America’s dad is playing America’s dad’ and Hanks and Rogers emanate the same feeling from people,” his costar Matthew Rhys told PEOPLE. “But they are two very different people. Tom is incredibly fast, sharp-witted, humorous in that lightning-quick way and he moves and talks very differently from Fred Rogers.”

The actor was also careful not to do an impersonation of Rogers and didn’t want to overdo it with the hair and makeup. Hanks wore a wig, eyebrows and of course, the TV host’s trademark cardigan.

“It was an embodiment and an essence,” added Rhys. “And when you see the transformation, you realize that wily old fox, Hanks, has gone and done it again.”