Louis Theroux has revealed why he once “turned down” the opportunity to interview Tom Hanks.
Speaking to comedian and fellow podcaster Adam Buxton on The Louis Theroux Podcast, the documentarian said he was only allocated an hour of Hanks’ time, which he felt was not long enough to conduct a satisfactory interview.
“I turned it down. I’m trying not to be mealy mouthed… I said no when I was told you only get an hour [with him],” he said. “I don’t think I can work my magic, such as it is, in an hour.”
Theroux explained that he needs more time to not feel constrained, and that it usually takes a couple of hours for his guests to follow open up.
Theroux added: “It just made me nervous. I thought that ‘Yeah, I’m being set up to fail’.”
Buxton, however, did share the same fears, and accepted an offer to interview the two-time Oscar winner for an episode of The Adam Buxton Podcast.
“I was thinking this is a massive open goal,” Buxton said. “One of the biggest movie stars of all time, and famously likeable… a funny guy [Hanks]. Lots of anecdotes. I think we’re going to get on pretty well.”
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During their chat, both Theroux and Buxton said they regularly hesitate about accepting interviews with famous stars, due to a fear of being unable to “bring your A-game”.
The opportunity to interview Hanks came while he was promoting his debut novel The Making Of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece.
Buxton, who spoke to Hanks over a Zoom call, admitted that he found the experience “frustrating”, with the Private Ryan star very much in “literary interview mode”.
The comedian joked: “I dropped a live episode you and I did a year before to try and salve the wounds from the Tom Hanks episode.”
Elsewhere, on another recent episode of The Louis Theroux podcast, Sharon Stone revealed the name of the producer who told her to have sex with a co-star in order to improve their performance.