Hanks angling for inauguration spot: any spot
LOS ANGELES---- Tom Hanks wants to attend President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration even if he doesn't get a front-row seat. Or any seat at all.
ÒLook, I'll be in the back,Ó the 52-year-old Oscar winner said backstage Tuesday night at a benefit for the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. ÒI'll sit on the Lincoln steps and just watch it from the distance on a Jumbotron. I've never been to anything like that, and -- finally -- a guy I voted for won. That hasn't happened most of my life.Ó
Hanks posted a video pledging his support for Obama on MySpace last May. In the video, Hanks said he was backing Obama because of his Òcharacter and vision, and the high road he has taken during this campaign.Ó Hanks also said Obama Òhas the integrity and the inspiration to unify us, as did FDR and Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy and even Ronald Reagan when they ran for the job.Ó
Hank's wife, Rita Wilson, echoed her husband's sentiment before the pair joined a star-studded cast -- which included Annette Bening, William Shatner, Martin Short, James Cromwell and Alicia Silverstone -- for a one-time only performance of the Pulitzer-prize-winning play ÒYou Can't Take It With YouÓ at UCLA's Royce Hall.
However, Wilson had a different viewing spot in mind for Jan. 20.
ÒI think we're going to get a kayak and go into the National Mall waters,Ó she joked.