Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this advance readers copy. I was honestly not expecting a lot from this book. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Along the way, there are real insights to the movie-making process (which makes sense given the author). I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for an entertaining novel about making movies.

Tom Hanks, the beloved actor and filmmaker, ventures into the world of literature with The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, a captivating novel that offers readers an insider’s look at the chaotic, exhilarating, and often humorous process of creating a blockbuster film. Hanks’s debut novel is an ode to the art of filmmaking, brimming with the same warmth, wit, and humanity that have endeared him to audiences worldwide.

The novel follows the journey of an ensemble cast of characters as they navigate the complex and unpredictable world of movie-making. At its heart is a fictional film project inspired by a 1940s comic book, "The Great Buffalo Kid." The story spans multiple generations, tracing the evolution of the comic book into a contemporary superhero film. Hanks masterfully intertwines the past and present, showcasing the enduring impact of storytelling and the collaborative nature of cinema.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its richly developed characters. Hanks introduces readers to a colorful array of personalities, each bringing their own quirks, dreams, and struggles to the table. There’s Al Mac-Teer, the visionary director with a passion for bringing the comic book to life; Bill Johnson, the troubled yet talented actor cast as the lead; and Ynez Ortega, the dedicated producer juggling the logistics of the film. Hanks’s deep understanding of the film industry is evident in his nuanced portrayal of these characters, capturing the highs and lows of their creative endeavors.

Hanks’s writing is engaging and accessible, with a conversational tone that makes the behind-the-scenes details of filmmaking both entertaining and informative. He skillfully balances humor and drama, offering readers a realistic glimpse into the triumphs and tribulations of the movie-making process. The novel is filled with amusing anecdotes and witty dialogue, reflecting Hanks’s trademark charm and storytelling prowess.

In addition to its character-driven narrative, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece delves into the technical aspects of filmmaking. Hanks provides insightful commentary on everything from script development and casting to set design and special effects. His enthusiasm for the craft is palpable, and his detailed descriptions bring the film production process to life. This insider knowledge, combined with Hanks’s ability to weave a compelling story, makes the novel a must-read for film enthusiasts and casual readers alike.

The novel also explores deeper themes, such as the power of collaboration, the influence of art on culture, and the enduring appeal of superheroes. Hanks highlights the interconnectedness of creative endeavors, emphasizing how each person’s contribution, no matter how small, plays a crucial role in the final product. Through his characters’ journeys, Hanks celebrates the magic of storytelling and the impact that films can have on audiences across generations.

In conclusion, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is a delightful and insightful novel that showcases Tom Hanks’s talent as a storyteller. With its richly drawn characters, engaging narrative, and behind-the-scenes look at the film industry, the book offers a heartfelt tribute to the art of filmmaking. Whether you are a movie buff or simply enjoy a good story, Hanks’s debut novel is sure to entertain and inspire. His unique perspective and genuine love for the craft shine through on every page, making this book a memorable addition to the world of literature.

The most accurate title of a novel I've ever encountered. Recommend for the male boomer in your life.

I loved Tom Hanks previous book of shart stories and I was hoping for another good book. I think if I was involved in the industry and if there had been better editing I could have liked it.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I could hardly get through it. I tried picking it up at a couple different points, but found the writing to dense and the plot slow moving.

This book was fab! Again, another Arctober book that I wanted to read but was already published. I checked out the audio from my local library. I have the eARC and the finished hardcover. I read parts of the ebook and listened to other parts. But, IMO, the audio takes the cake since TOM HANKS READS MOST OF THE BOOK!!

I really enjoyed a book about making a movie. But, it doesn't start at making the movie. It starts wayyy back before the key characters are in their respective professions. For example, it tells stories of when the director was just a boy and how those stories shaped him as a person. I loved it! It is a well-rounded complete book!!

This is a longer book, but it's worth the read, IMO. Check it out from your local library or use an audible credit or any other audio format you have access to where you live.

Yay I finally finished this one!!!! I actually started it back around pub day (so May?? I think??) but I ended up getting busy and set this one aside. I was enjoying it when I started but I think that was a month when I was super busy (and absolutely swamped with arcs) and this one was a little longer and heavier (both literally and figuratively; this is one of the heaviest hardbacks I've ever read???) than I was expecting and it didn't ~fit in my schedule.

So. I read half of this and then set it aside. And then yesterday I finally picked it back up and just DEVOURED the last two hundred pages in a single day!! When I say the latter half of this book really grabbed me, I mean it GRABBED me!!

I love this concept so much! I've been absolutely fascinated by filmmaking and the whole process for, well, my entire life?? And who better to tell us about the process of making a film than Tom Hanks! His writing is absolutely stellar (and, honestly, I heard this whole book in his voice; I should've done audio????) and just captured this world (his world) so well!!!

But. The only drawback (and I think the reason why I didn't fly through this originally) is the ~formatting. I do like that everything is broken down into the different pieces of building a film. But. I wish there had been structured chapters within those sections. Because I am honestly a slave to chapters and for some reason, when there are short, structured chapters, I can absolutely fly through a book. This didn't have that and I think seeing a section that's 150 pages might have been one of the reasons why my brain just shut down and wouldn't let me read???

However, I did really enjoy this book. My favorite section was the actual shoot and I loved getting to know all of those characters and seeing how they interact. I was honestly sad when this was over and we can't follow their careers any longer. I would love to see where they all ended up.

So. This was a wild, wonderful ride and I'm so glad to have read it!!! What a beautiful look at a fascinating industry. I feel like I was part of this film. And that, right there, is good writing.

Oh and I did also have a netgalley of this but my wonderful friends at Knopf sent me a finished copy before I started it and I'm really glad they did!! There are a few sections in this book with excerpts from the mentioned comic books and on my regular ole kindle, that would've been a little hard to read. Plus it would've been black & white. So I'm glad I could experience them in print and full color!!! So if you do pick this up, I would recommend going with a print copy (or at least having access to one for the comics!)

Anyway. What a treat this was!!! Thank you to Knopf for the gorgeous finished copy and to NetGalley for the arc!

I must admit it took a while to get into this book, but I stuck with it and was glad I did. It is about a movie, starting with the childhood of the creator and flows through the completion of a "major motion picture"--all the people and events that are involved in the making. The story is OK, but it is the precise details--especially at the beginning of the story that makes it real. Names of typewriters, fountain drinks, etc. make the story very real. I must admit that the best part of the book is when Robby goes back to his old house and is confronted by the actor who plays the part of the hero he created in his comic book, it almost brought tears to my eyes. The book spans decades and when complete, feels like the reader was making the movie along with the production company.

It took me a little while to figure out what's going on, to kind of find my footing. Once I did, this was a really enjoyable read!

This is a frame story, with the characters from the outer frame also appearing as subjects of the ("nonfiction"? "lightly fictionalized"?) story. The story-within-the-story is also clearly in draft form, with things like [INSERT BIG NAME HERE] or "... FAMOUS ACTOR..." sprinkled in. Both of these-- the frame, and the draftiness of the inner story-- reminded me a lot of The Woman in the Library, although everything else-- the pacing, the subject, the genre-- are very different. (Also, I'm not sure if I was supposed to recognize *any* of the names. I don't watch many movies, and I don't know the names of the actors I do see when streaming TV shows, and I wasn't about to google every single name in the story. I definitely believed that these characters could be real people, but it wasn't clear to me.)

I was very curious about this. I was originally very curious about Uncommon Type, because not everyone who's talented in one area is automatically talented in other areas (Time and Time Again, for example: the pacing of good TV writing doesn't translate to novel pacing), but ended up loving it! And I'm not usually a short story reader, so I was surprised. With that, I was definitely curious and rather doubtful that the author could be good at not just one but two different types of writing.

Despite the label "a novel" across the front cover, it's more helpful to approach this as a big series of closely-linked short stories. The reader walks through the process of movie-making by focusing on different characters in turn. Each of the focus characters gets some of their backstory told, to a great or lesser extent, as the story follows them for a few days or weeks of production. Although the first three characters are older white guys, several of the important characters are Women of Color.

The book did feel long-- it neve felt boring, but towards the end I did check online to find the page count. Maybe approaching this as something to be read over the course of a month, in smaller bites, would provide a better reading experience. Suggest to readers open to a slightly unconventional reading experience.

eARC from NetGalley.

***** I have received and read an e - ARC from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

The idea and thought process behind this book are great, but the execution feels a little lacking.

As Tom Hanks is an actor and director, he knows how to get into the smallest details and motivations behind every character, no matter how minor. Unfortunately, this doesn’t translate as well to books as it does to filmmaking.

Overall, I like the book, but the longer and winding tangents the book sometimes takes make me rate this a 3.5/5, rounded up to a 4/5.

Now I know how a movie is made. A great story, even the comic book at the end in which the movie is based. It is is a good feeling story with a great cast. A young man idolizes his uncle in the late 1940's as he comes home from WWII and turns his uncle's story into a comic book and the journey it takes to becoming a movie. It's a long book, over 400 pages. It is rich in detail and really takes you behind the scenes in what it takes to make a movie. It's a very uplifting story.

Intriguing behind the scenes look at personal history, comics, and filmmaking from someone who clearly knows his way around the industry.

My library did purchase the hardcover and audiobook.

I love Tom Hanks, and I really liked his book of stories, Uncommon Type. This one was just okay for me. I liked the characters and any time there was dialogue, it was great. It was when he would go off on 5 page tangents about the backstory of the minor characters that he would start to lose me.

was looking forward to reading this book because I was curious how Tom Hanks would do as a writer, and I thought the plot about the process of making a motion picture would be fascinating coming from a brilliant actor. However, I felt the book miss the mark. Each chapter was essentially a collection of backstories about different professions in the industry (director, producer, makeup artist, etc) and these collections were strung together to make up an entire book. It was still interesting to see some behind the scenes of making a feature motion picture but I would not recommend this unless you are a big Tom Hanks fan.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Knopf Books for giving me a copy of the book.

Cut to the chase… I really liked this one! It’s very different and it won’t be the book for everyone but if you love movies and are interested in character stories, you need to read this one. Tom’s writing style is very dense and detailed so you really have to pay attention, but it’s worth it.

Basically, this is a documentary delving into the world of movie-making. Oscar-winning director Bill Johnson is making the next installment in the box office smash Agents Of Change superhero series (he’s basically making an Avengers movie). We learn the backstory of how he discovered the comic book that the movie is based on and even the artist who created the comic. The reader is right there as the movie is cast, a script is written, location is chosen (a small California town) and 53 days of shooting occurs.

I love character studies and this book has characters IN SPADES! So many characters! We learn the interesting stories of how everyday people ended up in the movie business… from the super famous female star of the movie, to the dependable side character actor who ends up getting the role of his life, to the personal assistant who knows how everyone likes their coffee and where to get it from. Knowing this book was written by a beloved expert on movie-making made it feel so completely authentic!

Have you ever been curious about the process of making a major motion picture? Why not read about, in fiction form, from a man who's been on the inside for decades. The story...

A well-recognize and lauded movie director has taken on the task of adapting a 1970's comic book into a major superhero movie. We follow the director, his producer, their new-to-the-business production assistant, a cast of seasoned pros and fresh new faces, and the whole gamut of crew and technicians as they prepare and shoot the film on a tight timeline in remote areas of New Mexico.

But before we get to the making of the movie, we spend some time with TREV-VORR/Robert Andersen - the man who created the Firefall comic book that was published by an underground publisher (back in the days when there were few small press comic publishers).

But before we get to the making of the comic book, we spend some time with Bob Falls - the distant uncle of Robert Andersen. Falls has served in the Vietnam War - used a flame-thrower - and returned home a distant and dark man. But he shared some stories with his nephew, he would go on to take those stories and create a superhero, Firefall, based on his uncle.

This book has so much Tom Hanks in it. Hanks seems like such an incredibly nice, honest, authentic man and this book is a nice, honest, authentic read

Hanks has seen a lot of characters in his time in Hollywood and he gives us some really clear characters here - almost every single one of them a person we come to like and want the best for. There is really only one exception to this and that exception is made crystal clear right from the start and that character will get their comeuppance!

I really enjoyed the read. Hanks fills the reader in on some of the standard Hollywood language through footnotes (these were fun to read) and we really do get the feeling that we're on set, along for the ride. The parallels to the Marvel Cinematic Universe are obvious, but here, it's the director of the film, Bill Johnson, who is the creative genius putting it all together.

I would label this as a 'cozy bestseller.' Clearly it will sit on the Bestseller List for a few weeks, in large part because it's Hanks. But it's a 'cozy' story ... there's no conflict, there's no drama. There are moments of conflict (the not-likeable character) and drama (the death of someone) but the only over-arching drama to the book is the challenge of filming a major motion picture in under two months. To the layman that does seem Herculean, but it happens all the time. I love Hanks' line in the book: Making movies is about solving more problems thank you cause.

My guess is that we'll see a lot of people reading this on beaches this summer.

Hanks is not the first Hollywood actor to add author to his curriculum vitae, but he may be the biggest Hollywood star as certainly has shown himself to be one of the finer writers as well.

Looking for a good book? The Making of Another Major Motion Picture by Tom Hanks is an engaging, direct read. There's no major drama here, but for a lot of readers, that will prove to be a good thing.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book is going to be very popular -- first, it's Tom Hanks, who everyone knows and loves. It's a "pull back the curtain" look at a world he knows very well, making a movie. He spotlights everyone involved, not just the big names. It is ambitious, original, and has enough narrative tension to keep readers turning the pages. Some will love the extensive footnotes, others will think they stop the flow and hinder enjoyment. I look forward to recommending this title.

They say write what you know, and [author:Tom Hanks] certainly has done that. [book:The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece] is a layered – a story within a story within a story – tale of the making of a movie from its conception to release, and the humans who pour their blood, sweat, tears and very souls into delivering it to screens.

It took me a little while to figure out what Hanks was doing. The narrator is the written voice of a professor who is invited to the set of a movie by film auteur Bill Johnson. The story he tells is of the life of Robby Anderson, who writes the comic “The Legend of Firefall,” which is the inspiration of Johnson’s movie, “Knightshade: The Lathe of Firefall,” which is itself part of the Dynamo “Ultra Heroes” cinematic franchise. We meet Bob Falls, Robby’s real uncle (a fighter fighter in World War II and the inspiration of the Firefall character), Wren and Ike, the stars of the movie, Al Mac-Teer, Bill’s ball-busting aide, and more of the characters who have a hand in making the movie at the heart of the book.

As a pure narrative tale, [book:The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece] is enjoyable enough, with plenty of narrative tension as the movie making unfolds. But the real magic here is how Hanks peels back the curtain on “the business of show,” spotlighting all the many people – dayplayers, aides to aides to aides, makeup artists, teamsters – whose names end up buried in the long credits everyone pretends to watch at the end of a movie, but really is just waiting to see if there will be a post-credits scene that teases the next movie in whichever behemoth franchise. For 47, or 62, or 73 shooting days, making a movie can be hell. Hanks lets us see why anyone would put themselves through it.

(I ended up listening to the audiobook, (mostly) narrated by Hanks himself. Was he the best narrator? Maybe not. But ya love him so much that it makes up for it completely.)

[book:The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece] by [author:Tom Hanks]
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
📃 The grubby details of set, basecamp, and other locations really bring everything to life
🧶Not mad at how much knitting shows up here
🎥🔥 The story really sings once the narrative shifts away from Robby and to Bill, Al and the rest of the movie crew
🍨Vanilla froyo and rainbow sprinkles will open doors

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This was an interesting book to read. Had a different style than most novels. I read. The different time periods made it more interesting. Also, the inside look at the movie baking industry was very interesting. I heard Tom Hanks speak on his book tour, and it seemed like he did use real people in the industry that he had to come across as models for some of the characters in the novel - that was pretty cool. Recommended for adul collections..

This is one that took a little time to review.
To start off with, it was a fascinating and granular look into the making of motion pictures. It starts off almost tangentially however and I will admit I almost shelved it in the first 15% because of this. However, I had hope. After that point, I feel like the book got nothing but better as I read.
The book follows the making of a specific (fictional) movie from the origins of those whose work inspired it to the completion of the movie itself. The most detail is paid to the inspiration (and those behind it), the writer/director, and the actors... add might be expected in a novel written by an actor.
One odd feature near the end was when the voice switched to an interview style for a film chapter without any warning or notice (it switched back the same way).
If you have any interest in the movie industry or just enjoy a good story, you will enjoy this book. Give yourself time at the beginning though.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.