>>>
two-time
oscar winner
tom hanks
has been an actor, writer, producer and director. now he is doing it all at once for his latest film which is called "
larry
crown." hanks plays the title character who heads to
community college
after losing his job. and that's when sparks start flying between
larry
and his professor played by
julia roberts
. take a look.
>>
you ready for your final?
>>
well, we'll find out.
>>
i drew the order last night.
>>
and?
>>
you're last.
>>
lucky me.
>>
thank you, by the way.
>>
what did i do?
>>
kept our secret.
>>
oh. i don't do many things well, but i can keep a secret.
>>
gentlemen do.
>>
tom, welcome back.
>>
thank you. that's the sum total of what i do well. what you just told me, matt, will never leave my lips and the headsets of the entire crew. don't you worry about that.
>>
you were one of the biggest stars in hollywood. i've told you that often. you've told me that also.
julia roberts
is one of the biggest stars in hollywood. so when you guys want to talk about a project, is there a super-secret
phone line
? is there a
phone booth
off the
ventura freeway
? what happens?
>>
there is a preamble that goes along with it, whenever i can track her down. she was either in india, indonesia or italy when i first talked to her about this. she was making the three "i" movie, "eat, pray, love." i don't know what
time zone
you're in or what the kids are doing, but look, this is official business call in which everything drops. all right.
>>
but, see, you called her -- again, you're producing directing, you called directly. there are no casting agents, agents, nothing like that.
>>
we warned her her phalanx of operatives that i would like to speak to her, and they okayed it. and then i got one of those 18-digit numbers, 051163701322.
>>
is that a 3?
>>
i'm not sure but i had to dial it, like, nine times.
>>
did she say yes immediately?
>>
no, i will send this to you. i wrote it i'd like you to be in it, i would like to be your boss, but only if you think there's something there. if you hate it, just say it ain't for me and all will be forgotten.
>>
larry
crowne goes to
community college
. you're of the same age so it isn't one of those creepy teacher/student relationships.
>>
it could be. we always started off -- the other teacher is
george takei
. we flipped a coin and said, where will the romance begin? man, luckily it came up heads because otherwise, we're talking to a whole different
mass audience
, i'm telling you right now. timely, without a doubt, but a different audience.
>>
you'd be with
kathie lee
and hoda.
>>
i think we might have been part of the
gay pride parade
which i would gladly be on the float for.
>>
chemistry. everybody talks about it when you get to big stars taking part in a movie. it didn't seem to be much of an issue.
>>
well, i don't want to blow out any secrets, but in a lot of ways chemistry can be faked in
motion pictures
.
>>
do you really think it can be totally faked?
>>
if you don't actually like each other, you have to have a huge amount of respect for each other and you've got to identify with the material. but julia and i met about 12 years ago on a
photo shoot
. and i thought she was everything she was cracked up to be. and then we would work together on "
charlie wilson
's war." thank you. thank you. thank you. yeah, yeah, yeah. it never works the way it's supposed to work. the applause is supposed to begin before i say "thank you." but we became really good pals. i mean, honestly, we laughed a lot. working together on this, i think she trusted that i would try to establish as the boss the same ease of working atmosphere as we had on that.
>>
watching you promote this movie and you've been around doing it, you seem to be having a lot of fun which is unusual because you're not usually that much fun here. so when you have been like on univision, doing the weather, this video has been making the rounds.
>>
let me tell you.
>>
what was going on here?
>>
first of all, i was told i was doing the weather with tiki delgado. who hasn't wanted to try to master the samba. there i am. and then trying to speak in spanish. not easy to do as
al roker
, but i had a feeling that if this had been me and
al roker
trying to point out the weather, not exactly the same. no offense. no offense, al. i believe -- and tiki delgado is a former
miss venezuela
. and you are a former mr. new jersey.
>>
i'm a
miss new jersey
.
>>
whatever.
>>
so when you're doing the dance, you're thinking this screen spouts off.
>>
you can't do this for any movie. you can go around the world and have a good time promoting it which, by the way, i think our press junket is getting damn good reviews which makes me feel great.
>>
but you wouldn't have done this, for example, for "
charlie wilson
's war."
>>
no, i don't think so.
>>
it didn't work the second time either.
>>
mercy applause. scattered mercy applause.
>>
real quickly, you were just with the queen.
>>
yes, i was.
>>
oprah.
>>
of the other country.
>>
how was that?
>>
that was everything it's cracked up to be. you know, 172 people in
buckingham palace
, bagpipers and a nice cut of lamb. nice chunk of lamb. you know, good piece of meat for dinner. i had no complaints.
>>
it's always fun to have you here.
>>
thank you, matt. pleasure to be here. thanks very much.
>>
"
larry
crowne" is in theaters starting friday. and tom's back