The movie that changed Tom Hanks' life

Before he became one of the most respected actors of his generation and a two-time Oscar winner, Tom Hanks was just a boy who loved movies. His perspective on the seventh art changed after watching Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Hanks then realized that a film could be much more than entertainment and a classic story - it could raise questions, evoke emotions, and leave a deep mark without having to explain everything to the audience.

"I saw the movie '2001: A Space Odyssey' when I was in eighth or ninth grade and it really changed my life, because at the time I thought good movies were like the James Bond and John Wayne movies. And then I saw this movie that had almost no dialogue for the first 40 minutes and it completely changed my artistic horizons," Hanks told NPR.

Kubrick's film, known for its slow pace, powerful visual scenes, and open questions about man and the future, showed the young Hanks that cinematography could be much more complex than he had previously imagined.

Although many did not immediately understand Kubrick's approach, Hanks recognized something special in the film. It was this experience that helped him later look differently at roles, stories, and the possibilities of film art.