That Thing You Do!
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That Thing You Do! is a 1996 film, written and directed by Tom Hanks. The movie tells the story of a fictional one-hit wonder rock band from Erie, Pennsylvania. It shows their rise to near fame on the heels of the British Invasion in the early 1960s, from local clubs and dances, to a major national tour and a record contract.
The fictional band is called The Oneders (pronounced "wonders", the name combining "one" and "wonder"), but because almost everyone mistakenly pronounces it "Oh-nee-ders", they eventually change it to "The Wonders". The band members are Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott), James Mattingly III (Johnathon Schaech), Lenny Haise (Steve Zahn) and the bass player (Ethan Embry, whose actual name is never given - he is only referred to as "The Bass Player" and is credited as "T.B. Player"). The film also features Liv Tyler as Faye Dolan, Charlize Theron as Tina, Giovanni Ribisi as Chad, Hanks' wife Rita Wilson as Marguerite, musician Chris Isaak as Uncle Bob, and Hanks himself as Mr. White, the band's manager.
The movie features original music by Hanks, Adam Schlesinger, Rick Elias, Scott Rogness, Mike Piccirillo, Gary Goetzman and Howard Shore. In the film, The Wonders rise to brief stardom on the strength of "That Thing You Do!", a song that is written as a wistful ballad but becomes an uptempo rocker during the band's first performance at a talent show. Written and composed by Adam Schlesinger, bassist for Fountains of Wayne, and released on the film's soundtrack, the song became a genuine hit for The Wonders in 1996, and was nominated for the 1996 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and for the 1997 Academy Award for Best New Song.
Apart from the music being very similar to that of the Beatles, there are several references to the Beatles, such as the names that were originally thought of, the Oneders and the Heardsmen, misspelled "just like the Beatles", the drummer being replaced on the verge of the band's stardom (à la Pete Best), their hit song being a sped-up version of a slower ballad (like the Beatles' "Please Please Me"), the band frolicking on a map of the USA, Jimmy throwing up before their TV debut (like George Harrison did before The Ed Sullivan Show), the set up for The Hollywood Showcase, the caption under Jimmy reading "Careful girls he's engaged" (John Lennon on The Ed Sullivan Show had the caption "Sorry girls he's married"), referring to the Beatles in the movie A Hard Day's Night, and Tom Hanks' character saying that the Wonders would invade the UK (referring to the British invasion).
Trivia
- Alex Rocco's character Sol Siler, not Tom Hanks (as mentioned above), is the one who remarks "British invasion hell, by next year we'll be invading them".
- Hanks included several references to the space program. For instance, two of the band members are named after astronauts in the original crew of Apollo 13: Fred Haise and Ken Mattingly; astronaut Gus Grissom (played by actor Bryan Cranston of Malcolm in the Middle fame); and the marquee of the theater in Pittsburgh shows bands called The Gemini and The Saturn 5 (the latter name was used by a Tampa Bay area swing revival band in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which had originally been called The Swinging Mooks).
- The film's soundtrack was distributed by Play-Tone, a company set up by Hanks with the same name as the fictional record company in the film.
- This film would mark the on-screen debut for Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks' son. He plays a cameo role as a male page.
- The scene where the band is on The Hollywood Showcase was filmed at The Bob Barker Studio (CBS Studio 33), the same studio as the CBS game show The Price is Right. Peter Scolari, who starred opposite Hanks in the 1980s television series Bosom Buddies, plays the show's host.
- Many of the employees at local Los Angeles television affiliate KTLA had small or cameo roles in the film.
External links
- [The Wonders' Home Page] - Unofficial
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