Tom Hanks definitely loved starring in “A League of Their Own,” but that doesn’t mean the actor wanted to be in every scene. In fact, he revealed to Seth Meyers on Tuesday night that there was one scene he strategically got himself out of, simply because he knew it would take days to film.
Stopping by “Late Night” in support of his new off-Broadway show “This World of Tomorrow,” Hanks reflected a bit on moments in his career, including “Toy Story” and the beloved baseball film. Hanks called the movie “the greatest gig in the world,” before admitting there was one dugout scene he straight up avoided.
“I read the pages, and I had the very first line in the scene, and I also had the very last line in the scene,” Hanks recalled. “And I knew, if I didn’t get out of that friggin’ dugout, I was going to be shooting that scene for three and a half days, like this.”
From there, Hanks switched his head back and forth as if he were watching a tennis match, noting that he simply would’ve had to spend days just looking at the other actors in the scene, and each woman had a line. So, he came up with a move on the fly that would allow him to walk away after his first line.
“I said ‘I’m going to give the … uh, lineup to the umpire,’” Hanks recalled. “And then I waited until just before my line at the end, and I walked back into the dugout saying, ‘All right girls, come on, atta baby, atta baby!’ I can’t remember what the line is.”
“But I swear, because of where the sun was, they had to shoot that for hours, in like, three successive afternoons,” Hanks continued. “And you know what I was doing while they were shooting? I was playing Three Flies Up and eating turkey franks, baby! Because I was smart enough to walk out!”
Meyers cracked up at the story, praising Hanks for such “pro actor” thinking, which Hanks readily agreed to.
“That’s what pros do, baby!” Hanks bellowed. “They read the script and say ‘I don’t think I have to be in this scene.’”
You can watch Tom Hanks’ full appearance on “Late Night” in the video above.
