So what are the facts about him? He's from northern California, was a bit lonely as a child, fame crept up on him, he's widely liked, gets $20m per picture, and is number one at the box office around the world (including all those Bollywood megastars). What else? He collects typewriters, the old clackety-clack type. He was recently voted the person people would most trust to drive them home from the pub. He's distantly related to Abraham Lincoln, was a straight-B student, was once addicted to peanut M&Ms, and of the male stars, only Robin Williams is more emotional. Oh, and he's had the biggest unbroken run of hit films in contemporary cinema: "Sleepless in Seattle", "Philadelphia", "Forrest Gump", "Apollo 13", the "Toy Story" films (as the voice of Woody), "The Green Mile" (heaven help us), "You've Got Mail", "Saving Private Ryan", and "Cast Away".

When I met him he was tired, as you would be after a day full of 6-minute interviews. He didn't understand why he then had to speak to me for 105 minutes but when he saw the "Scene by Scene" set-up - all tracking cameras and the like, he said "Oh now I get it." When he heard that the final result would be 50 minutes - his longest ever interview on TV - he said "Wow, we better get talking." And we did.

Tom Hanks - Master of the Multiplex.

You can see Mark Cousins talking with Tom Hanks in "Scene by Scene" on BBC2, Sunday 21st January 2001 at 11.25pm.