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A conversation between Tom Hanks and the politician he plays By Meg Grant Click here to listen to more of our interview and and click here to take our Tom Hanks trivia quiz. Patriotism comes in many shapes. There’s the straightforward sentiment of Tom Hanks, one of the most admired celebrities in the US, the star of Saving Private Ryan and a dozen other blockbuster films. And there’s the more unconventional patriotism of retired Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson. Elected to the legislature and then to Congress for over 35 years, Wilson was a flamboyant man with an appetite for strong whisky and pretty women.
But Charlie Wilson was much more than a party animal. For most of the 1980s, he used his position to obtain billions of dollars in US military aid for the insurgent groups fighting the Soviet puppet government in Afghanistan.
At the height of the Cold War, when a military confrontation with Moscow would have been risky, Wilson found a way to challenge the communist regime. While Ronald Reagan ran the White House, this iconoclastic Democrat formed a bipartisan coalition to support the ragtag Afghan resistance fighters. In 1988 the Soviets admitted defeat and began withdrawing from Kabul—a major blow that helped lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Hanks and Wilson have teamed up to make Charlie Wilson’s War—released this month—about Wilson’s obsession with defeating tyranny. Hanks plays the politician who uses his charm to funnel money to Afghanistan when most of Congress is preoccupied with the Sandinista uprising in Nicaragua. Ironically, Wilson’s fiercest challengers are naysayers in the CIA, who resent interference from a renegade figure. Though Wilson wasn’t a formal consultant on the film, he weighed in on matters of accuracy. Retired in 1996, the former lawmaker, now 74, left his hard-living ways behind long ago, married in 1999 and last September underwent a heart transplant. Wilson, just after the operation, and Hanks spoke to Reader’s Digest about this little-known chapter of history.
RD: Before we discuss the war or the film, let’s talk about Charlie Wilson.
Hanks: Let me tell you, Charlie has told more people than me that if you could drink or smoke it, he probably did at some point.
Wilson: Absolutely. [I was] an acknowledged rogue.
Hanks: Charlie told me about one election in which his opponent was decrying his lack of morals and family values. Charlie said, “I let my opponent say what he wants, but while I’ve been in charge, we’ve done more for war veterans, pensioners, healthcare. We got the main road built. I’m an open book—read me as you want, but make sure you see the results.” Click here to read page 2 (of 3) |
