Behind the Scenes with Tom Hanks on Steven Spielberg Movies

Tom Hanks was involved with several films I worked on doing after the filming sales and tech support to Museums or collectors. I heard so many stories about how great a guy Tom Hanks is to have on location. Tom Hank has a smile and a warmth that is very much like his public persona. He spends time when he can saying hi and talking to the people on the set. Tom Hanks knows how to make everybody feel welcome. In order to keep that unified feeling in the production of films, he likes to include families on his sets. For example, tech people were included in scenes as extras and their families were given the option of joining in on the fun of being involved with a big budget production. I know that one of the guys I worked with Pete mentioned how his daughters were in the film series Band of Brothers as extras. They were villagers and it was a huge thrill for them. As previously mentioned in other blogs, Pete supplied many of the guns you see in Band of Brothers. Simon Atherton used some of Pete's guns as the models for his stunt and prop guns .The big guns used in both Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan were owned by Pete. Simon also used some of Pete's collection in Black Hawk Down. I use to have some really cool behind the scenes photos, but I have since lost them. If I can get them out from wherever in my house they are, I will be sure to post them up. Pete is a very warm hearted guy who people want to hang around with and enjoy his happy disposition as well as his amazing stories. Pete will tell you so much in one hour of time that you walk away with more knowledge than you could have dreamed of on so many topics and I spent many hours talking to him or working on his sales.

I like this photo of Tom Hanks because he seems to be always ready to share a laugh , provide a smile and have fun.

Now back to Tom Hanks, Tom would share certain items that were created for the films with different people on the set. A great example of Tom Hanks' kindness is in the story of a muddy gun. Tom had a small handgun in a scene on Saving Private Ryan .Since he had used it and it was in a unique state by being covered in mud, that gun was a rare find. I am pretty sure it was the Luger that was found in the mud. The fact that that gun made it to the hands of a certain big gun owner that I mentioned shows you the kind of warmth and awareness Tom has to those around him. The fact that the gun is still covered in mud in the exact state it was in when Tom Hanks finished using it shows you how much respect people who work with Tom have. They all share fond memories of filming with one of the highlights being working with Tom Hanks. He seems to be a People's Legendary Celebrity. Tom Hanks reminds me of Matthew Morrison is how well he treats others and how much he cares for the people around him. Steven Spielberg's great attention to detail and the actors having gone through basic training created a bond between cast members, extras and crew.

Even though I have not met Tom myself. I have heard that Tom Hanks was very pleased with my work and he heard about the woman who sold and supported  the artifacts that came from his work with Steven Spielberg. I felt those movies were important and each person is important so I made sure each customer left with a smile.
If you want to learn more about me, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, David Spade, Peyton Manning ,Michael Buble or other celebrities check out my sites.
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A few Secrets in some of Steven Spielberg Films

Here is how I got the secrets I will share. My former partner, who lived with me in the US, and I worked on a prop and militaria business . We created the logo, the name ,the graphics design , invested into clothing for the site with design work , the website,  the details to make sure the site came up high in ranking. He was a computer programmer who spent hours updating and making the graphics perfect. We handled so much detailed work behind the scenes of the site that it was a huge investment in time and effort, but we loved it. It took me hours of work on the sales in order to satisfy the questions people had. I gained a lot of knowledge through other military sources on the tech stuff of the Museum pieces I sold. My partner at the time was once in the military so he had a great knowledge base from hands on experience. My schooling in marketing  and sales, promotions, art and technical knowledge came in handy as we built a company that had a big impact at the time. Once we met the people involved in these films, our friendship took off. We had a mutual interest in History that was the basis of many conversations on technical aspects of the equipment used on both sides of World War II.  We built the business on our own with a lot of good old fashioned elbow grease and kindness. The Museums and collectors knew my voice while they built a bond with me. It was complicated but in any good product there is always a large investment in time, creativity, tech experience and more. In the end, I could handle technical discussions on most WWII big guns and even the little guns per say like Lugers. It was exciting to learn. At some point for those Militaria buffs, I will go into some of the technical stuff that contributed to some of the results of certain events in WWII for example comparing the usage of the STG over the K98 and its impact on German infantry.  These tips apply to any business now on with the show or behind the scenes of the show.

Some of Steven Spielberg's  classic and all time favorite movies are Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers have great stories behind them. I had the opportunity to work with the technical staff from both of those films and many other big budget films. I was art of the staff that were permitted to find new housing for some of the most expensive and highly collectible pieces in those films. Some of the items I work with were the opening credit Bofors in Band of Brothers, stunt man guns, heavy artillery guns and other equipment. I got to place them in Museums and in the arms of WWII Reenactor's. I was the one who worked with these guys for hours at a time trying to find the right homes for each piece. The time spent was amazing since I enjoyed every minute of it. There was a studious side as I earned how to communicate with the collectors, Museums and the original owners of each piece. Lots of laughs went on as I discovered a lot about each person and their own story link to each set.

The Bofors Gun I was working with to find a permanent home after filming. Pete often spoke of how his family loved climbing on it as it was kept in his yard.

I learned so much from the people I worked with and they always had a generous ear to share their stories with me. One of my friends Pete , had his daughters in the film and he has a Luger that was buried in the mud during the filming. 

Things to look for in Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. For example if you watch them storming the beach in Saving Ryan, you will see the gungs kind of sway in the background. The guns the extras had in storming the beach were very lightweight. They did not have much weight in them. In Band of Brothers they added a steel rod through the center of the  plastic guns to make them more stable. The stuntman's guns that were used in both Ryan and Band of Brothers were all black , they were weighted like the real guns so that when they were used the stunts were more realistic. 

Simon Atherton used my friends guns for many of the big and little guns used. The K98 used as the sniper gun in the watchtower scene of Saving Private Ryan used by a stunt man was also the same gun used in Band of Brothers as a stunt gun but the scope was melted off. That gun was then blown off a building and that caused the tip of the gun to be damaged.Only the steel rod of the gun showed on the tip .The plastic that covered the original stunt gun was gone. The melting off of the Ryan scope caused damage in the top of the gun as well. 

The extras in both films went through basic training and it was very tough.Some of the guys quit and went home but the ones who stuck it out were really in for an amazing adventure. 

More stories from behind the scenes and more adventures to come.

If you want to learn more about me, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, David Spade, Peyton Manning ,Ricky Gervais, Michael Buble or other celebrities check out my sites.
www.zuliesfans.com
https://pro-labs.imdb.com/name/nm8203600/