Tom Hanks calls Apple a ‘benevolent streaming service in every way’

Yesterday actor/director/producer/screenwriter Tom Hanks sounded as if he wasn’t too happy that his new film, “Greyhound,” ended up on Apple TV+. Today it seems he’s changed his mind.

As noted by AppleInsider, here’s what he had to say about the film, Apple, and other things on The Today Show:

I’m actually thrilled that Apple TV+ is making it possible for everybody to see it This is a magnificent gift that’s come to us because of Apple because COVID-19 did something heartbreaking to us all: it closed down the theaters. We don’t have the cinema. There isn’t anybody that doesn’t like going to see a good movie with 800 people and coming out with something in common. Barring that, Apple has saved the day for us. We had a magnificent movie that was not going to be seen. Apple is a benevolent streaming service in every way. It’s going to look fantastic but it’s going to be available.

It is going to be viewable, and otherwise we would’ve languished in a vault for a movie that is 88 minutes of a thematic story that does speak to what we’re all going through right now. We didn’t know that at the time we made the film, we were just trying to make a lean, new spare version about procedures and behaviors about how difficult it was to stay alive in the North Atlantic in 1942. It’s a magnificent deal and we are going to be able to fill up the screens in the living rooms and the bean-bag chairs of the world all in one fall shot, so we feel as though we were rescued at sea by a convoy with a big Apple logo with a bite taken out of it.

“Greyhound” is written by and stars Hanks. The film was set to launch in theaters on Father’s Day weekend, but that plans got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most folks figured it would be re-slated for a later premiere in theaters. However, the picture was quietly shopped in a bidding war between various streamings services. Apple won by forking out US$70 million in June.

The movie is set early in World War II when an inexperienced U.S. Navy captain (Hanks) must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by Nazi U-boat wolfpacks. It’s based on a novel by C.S. Forester. 

Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, Mac, select Samsung and LG smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices, as well as at tv.apple.com, for US$4.99 per month with a seven-day free trial.  

For a limited time, customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free. This special offer is good for three months after the first activation of the eligible device. For more info, visit apple.com/tvpr.