To be fair, that’s a perfectly reasonable answer. But, perhaps because of the tequila, I nevertheless wonder: with all that is happening in her career (plural) – she is starting, for example, to prepare a concert tour for next year – and with With Hanks being quite busy himself, is it hard for the couple to keep track of who’s doing what, when, and where?
“I don’t think it’s…difficult,” Wilson replies cautiously. Then she decides that “it’s definitely not difficult”. Because we understand what the other person is doing, and that’s fine. Pause. “No, we try very hard not to have any difficulties,” she says. ‘You know what I mean? Are you married?’ I am, but in case she’s wondering what her husband is going to do next, I mention the giant Pinocchio poster. “OK, now listen: if you want to interview Tom,” she says bravely, “you can call his publicist and go interview him!” »
But Wilson is still chewing on their national setup. “I’m trying to think about why it’s… We’re solving – we’re solving things, in terms of timing. Don’t forget, our children are grown. It is enormous. Much of this creativity has happened because our children have grown up living their own lives. So it’s different from having to run home every day at three o’clock to go carpooling. It’s a very different time.
The lasting effects of Covid
Even more firmly off the conversation table, perhaps because she’s tired of talking about it, is about her and Hanks contracting Covid in March 2020. They were in Australia filming the Elvis Presley biopic by Baz Luhrmann, in which Hanks played Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s shitty manager. Their diagnosis made world news.
In those feverish early days of the pandemic, the couple’s illness was a canary in the coal mine: if a superstar husband and wife can get sick, seriously, we’re all doomed. Yes, those were really strange days, weren’t they? Now I ask if I can at least ask a tangential question. “Maybe,” Wilson replies.
Has his breathing, and therefore his singing, been impacted by the coronavirus? “It was,” she said darkly. ‘Unfortunately. I still have a persistent cough from this. It’s especially worse at night. You just have to take care of it. I still feel very lucky, it could have been so much worse. Ultimately, though, “it’s not horrible.” It’s not like I cared.
I was also told that she doesn’t want to talk about another upcoming project, maybe because it brings more questions about her husband; the film A Man Called Otto, which she produced and in which Hanks is the titular lead, is an adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s 2012 New York Times bestselling book A Man Called Ove about a grumpy widower. It was previously filmed in Sweden, but for their version, the couple moved the book to Pittsburgh. But after a long day, a margarita, and lots of talking about her music, she’s quite happy to respond when I ask her about the story that spoke to them as a filmmaking couple.
“It’s visceral to me. When I read something or see something, it hits me in the stomach, like… lightning. Then the next thing that happens is, ‘Oh my God, I have to do this movie. I have to get the rights. And it gets a bit of a panic. “What if someone gets it before me? So it becomes a passion. I can’t explain it, but when it happens, it happens . It feels good.’
That personal connection is what matters, she adds, with business considerations considerably lower on the priority list. It’s a small film, very different from, say, Pinocchio. As with making music, it was a project that sparked a deeply resonant feeling in Rita Wilson.
“I was just thinking about this, as you ask that – it’s a feeling like falling in love. You just feel it strongly,” she said, her eyes widening. ‘How lucky am I to have this feeling?’
Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets is out now