Fast chat with 'The Great Buck Howard' star Colin Hanks

Newsday (MCT) - Certain online entries about actor Colin Hanks will tell you he has tried to pursue his career outside the shadow of his famous father.

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"That's a total lie," said the son of Tom Hanks. "I don't know how this stuff gets started. I knew early on it was going to be something that would follow me for all of my life, so I had to make sure that (a) I was OK with that and (b) not to run from it."

The actor, 31, made his Broadway debut Monday with Jane Fonda in "33 Variations" and stars on the big screen in "The Great Buck Howard," hitting theaters March 20.

Having played a priest on "Mad Men," John Malkovich's beleaguered assistant in "Buck Howard" (which stars the older actor as a washed-up magician-mentalist, based on the Amazing Kreskin) and the closest thing to a male lead in "The House Bunny," Hanks is establishing himself _ albeit with a persona that hews fairly close to his father's nice-guy image. He spoke recently with John Anderson.

Q. Who are you in "33 Variations"?

A. I play a nurse by the name of Mike who falls in love with Jane Fonda's daughter, who's played by Samantha Mathis. We're just part of this story about a musicologist who goes to Bonn during her final months and is writing a paper about Beethoven and this very specific piano piece, the Diabelli Variations. It's an honor to be making my Broadway debut in a show this good, and in something written by Moises Kaufman, who operates on a whole other plane.

Q. What drew you to "The Great Buck Howard"? It's quite a gentle, unusual comedy.

A. I think it's a delightful little movie, and that's pretty much the feeling I had when I first read it in 2003. It's not, obviously, curing a disease or anything like that, or making a statement, just a delightful little movie.

Q. The premise that the struggling Buck Howard had appeared on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson" 60 times _ does that mean anything to someone your age?

A. Oh, yeah, I was extremely aware of Carson. I vividly remember his last show. I even remember when my dad first did "The Tonight Show" and what a huge deal that was.

Q. You play nice guys _ but a priest?

A. I'm still sort of tickled I was able to do it. I'm a huge fan of "Mad Men." Surprisingly enough, I read a story about the show being made when they were shooting the pilot and said, "What a fascinating idea for a show!" Three or four years later, it came on and I said, "Oh, that's that show!" I fought hard for a meeting with Matt Weiner, the creator. I was thinking, "This is a show I could be on, and it wouldn't be a stretch" _ you know, I would have loved to have been on "The Sopranos," but I don't think there were a bunch of roles there I would be right for.

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But I said, "Hey, youngish-looking guys in suits? I can do that." So I met with Matt and had a lovely conversation, and he said, "We'll, keep our eye peeled for something right for you," and they came up with Father Gill. It was not my intention to play a priest on that show _ I was thinking more of a womanizing ad man who drinks a lot _ but I wanted to look good in a suit. And as the costume designer said "Well, you are wearing a suit." It was a real blessing, no pun intended.

Q. Got anything else up your sleeve, as would Buck Howard?

A. Well, the play has been everything I've been focusing on for the past month and a half. Oddly enough, the play opens one night, and the next night I have a movie premiere for "Buck Howard." It's a weird time right now. I'm very happy, and very tired.

Q. Your dad is an executive producer on "Buck Howard" _ he even appears in the film. You're obviously not running from the association.

A. When I first started out, people said, "Did you ever think of changing your name?" and I said, "Well, if I change my name, then I'm going to be asked, 'Why did you feel you had to change your name?"" It always comes up, but it wasn't until people started asking me a million questions that I had to sit and take stock of stuff. It is what it is.

Q. What's after "Buck" and the play?

A. I've been focusing on the play nonstop since we started. It's really just been the play, although I've started work on a documentary I'm directing about Tower Records _ it charts the rise and fall of Tower from its start in Sacramento, my hometown, to being the first casualty of the new era of technology and entertainment, and how you go about selling music. Oddly enough, Moises Kaufman first found out about the Diabelli Variations from a Tower clerk. When I heard that, I said, "So that's why I'm in this play!"

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© 2009, Newsday.