You know Tom Hanks as a superb actor from the likes of blockbuster hits such as Splash, Big, A League of their Own, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, the Toy Story saga, Saving Private Ryan, and many many more films that he has always enhanced as an actor.

But Tom Hanks, as a writer, also has some chops in his latest novel, “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” the fictional portrayal of a major Hollywood studio creating a new Superhero blockbuster, that he rolls back the curtain of the moviemaking process from a writer’s inspiration, to a director’s envisioning of it on the silver screen, to critical casting of the major parts and then casting fiascos, to the shoot of the movie in an obscure Northern California town, to the tedious post-production work and finally a red carpet release in Midtown Manhattan.

I really enjoyed “seeing” the full process distilled into a book the way that Hanks does it. There were some slow parts, the way making a movie can be more like a marathon rather than a sprint, but also some exciting parts in the tension between cast members and their families and the support staff with their behind-the-scenes work going on flawlessly but also being a “make or break” necessity. Lots of hard work that occurs plus some “good luck” to make something into a “masterpiece.”

Get a copy of “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece” by Tom Hanks on Amazon here.