Great Barrington — Actress Elizabeth Perkins will discuss the legacy of the 1988 movie “Big” at The Triplex on Saturday, August 24, at 3:30 p.m.
The movie, starring Tom Hanks, Perkins, and Robert Loggia, is about 12-year-old Josh Baskin turning into a grown man, as played by Hanks, after he makes a wish at a “Zoltar” fortune-teller machine. The grown Baskin heads to New York City and takes a job at a toy company. Throughout the movie, Hanks youthfully plays a child trapped in an adult body.
The movie, directed by the late Penny Marshall, was a hit with audiences.
Perkins told The Berkshire Edge that the movie was originally going to star Robert De Niro. “If you think about it, De Niro would have brought something totally different than what Tom Hanks brought to it,” Perkins said. “De Niro wasn’t really doing comedies at that point. At the same time ‘Big’ came out, there were many other body-swapping movies. George Burns did one, Judge Reinhold did one. Of course, without tooting my own horn, I think we did the best movie out of all of them.”
“I think Tom brought an innate sense of innocence that I’m not sure any other actor could have brought,” Perkins said. “He brought a sort of limber physicality. Even though he was in the body of a 30-something-year-old man, he still was lanky and awkward in his step, not to mention his face. The physicality that he brought to everything that he did, including the way he ate, and the way he ran. There’s a moment in the movie where he’s on the streets with his buddy, when he’s looking for that old ‘time machine,’ and he runs across the [Manhattan] street and he does this thing with his hands as he runs across the street. Penny never had to tell him to make those acting choices; they were just innate in him. Tom had this innate sense of being a child.”
Perkins explained that Hanks was not a method actor and only channeled his “inner child” when the film cameras started to roll. “He’s so grounded in everything that he does,” Perkins said. “I don’t want to say he has high self-esteem, but he doesn’t sweat the small stuff. He just likes to have a good time. He’s like, ‘Mr. Three Takes,’ and then you’ve got it. He doesn’t carry stuff around with him or overthink anything.”
Perkins said that she has fond memories of playing the love interest Susan Lawrence, but also the way Marshall directed her performance. “Penny was always like such a mensch,” Perkins said. “Penny was always focused on Susan’s reactions to him. She would tell me that, without the right reaction, everything he does is just sort of a void. She worked very hard to create a story arc for me. I started out one way and then evolved through having this resurgence of my innocence through the relationship between Susan and Josh. This all came down to the hairstyles, clothing, makeup, and raising my voice up an octave as the movie went along. Susan became a hard, stilted person in the corporate world. That’s why Susan falls in love with Josh: because he brings out a joy of childhood in her that’s been missing for a long time.”
Perkins said that she also has fond memories of Marshall, who had only previously directed the 1986 movie “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” before “Big.” “God bless her,” Perkins said. “I was so grateful to know her through her life. I considered her a very close friend, but she was always second-guessing herself. Tom was just ‘I’ll do whatever anybody tells me,’ and I was having such a good time, but she was such a perfectionist, and it shows in the movie. Penny was always very aware of every single detail. I was very lucky to work with her.”
Perkins said that the movie still endures over 36 years after its release because it appeals to the inner child of grown adults. “The theme of the movie is very timeless in that we, as adults, sort of put our innocence in the back pocket in the face of becoming an adult,” Perkins said. “I think that, sometimes, we lose that sense of innocence. We become hardened and cynical, and many factors steal from that sense of wonder. I think that the story in ‘Big’ is very timeless. I think older people can take from the movie that it’s OK to go on that roller coaster three times in a row. It’s okay to slow down and enjoy the small things in life where you don’t have to become hardened in a hard world.”
For more information, visit The Triplex’s website.
