Did Tom Hanks reject Charlize Theron? (Photo Credit – Wikipedia/Instagram)
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The movie was That Thing You Do!, a musical dramedy about a one-hit-wonder band in the 1960s. Theron wanted the lead. Hanks passed. His reason? “You’re too much of a supernova to play Faye.”
That wasn’t just a creative choice, it was instinct. Tom Hanks saw the firepower in Theron long before the Academy did. She auditioned for Faye, the soft-spoken, supportive girlfriend of the band’s frontman. Hanks liked her, but he saw something else. Something bigger.
“Charlize read on the very first day that I read actors,” Hanks told The Ringer. “She said, ‘Listen, I know I can play Tina, but I want to play Faye.’ I said, ‘I get that,’ but what I was thinking in my head was, ‘You’re too much of a supernova to play Faye.’ Casting her was such a coup.”
Instead, he handed the lead role to Liv Tyler, fresh off Empire Records. Theron took a smaller part as Tina, the flashy girlfriend of Tom Everett Scott’s character. It wasn’t a headline role, but she lit up the screen all the same.
Hanks, meanwhile, was stepping into a whole new role himself. After dominating the big screen with Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, he moved behind the camera to write and direct That Thing You Do!. He cast mostly fresh faces — Scott, Steve Zahn, Ethan Embry, and Johnathon Schaech — and gave himself a minor role as the band’s manager.
Theron didn’t have to wait long to prove Hanks right. Within a few years, she was stealing scenes and earning accolades. In 2004, she finally got her Oscar for Monster, playing real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos. It was a complete transformation — raw, intense, unforgettable. Her name was officially etched next to Hanks in Oscar history.
And she didn’t stop there. Theron slid effortlessly between dramas like North Country and Bombshell, and high-octane blockbusters like Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde. In The Old Guard, she owned every frame. In The Fate of the Furious, she added villainy to her resume with style.
So yes, Hanks said no. But he wasn’t wrong. Faye wasn’t the role for Theron — it was too small for the storm she was about to bring. She was never just the girl next to the band. She was the one headlining the show.
Looking back, Hanks’ “supernova” call was less of a rejection and more of a prophecy. He didn’t deny Theron’s talent — he predicted what was coming. And Hollywood? It watched the explosion in real time.
