Names and faces

Tom Hanks has had enough of playing real people. In Paul Greengrass’ docudrama Captain Phillips , which premiered on Friday as the opening-night film of the New York Film Festival, he plays Richard Phillips, the captain of a cargo ship overtaken by Somali pirates in 2009. Earlier this year, Hanks made his Broadway debut playing New York journalist Mike McAlary in Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy. And later this year, he stars as Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks, about the making of Mary Poppins. “I got to get out of this racket,” Hanks said before Friday’s premiere. “It’s killing me.” Captain Phillips debuted at the film festival to enthusiastic reviews and particular acclaim for Hanks’ performance. Hanks met several times with Phillips at his Vermont home to help prepare for the role. “You don’t want to be an idiot,” said Hanks. “You don’t want to ask, ‘What were you feeling?What was it like?... Are you a hero?’ - you know, ask questions like most journalists do when the time comes.” Captain Phillips opens in theaters Oct. 11.

Reid Scott is used to being cast as an abrasive character, his latest being scheming Washington political aide Dan Egan in Veep. Scott, 34, jokes that playing jerks“just comes naturally,” but he seems to have a softer side. This spring, he flew cross-country to San Francisco to ask Elspeth Keller’s father for his permission to marry the actress. Scott and Keller are planning a wedding that pays tribute to their combined family heritage. “Her grandmother was a librarian and mine was a literature professor,” said Scott. That helped the couple pick the steps of a Los Angeles public library for their wedding next year. In addition to planning a wedding, Scott has a pretty full plate. During breaks in taping HBO’s Veep, Scott filmed a trio of independent films, including Sister with Barbara Hershey. He expects the movie to screen at festivals before it makes its way to theaters.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 09/29/2013

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