Tom Hanks To Play Rock Star

Posted Thursday, December 13, 2001 at 10:31 AM Central

by John Couture

Tom Hanks played a slick music manager in That Thing You Do!, but apparently he didn't get all the rock and roll out of his system. Tom has agreed to appear in Dreamworks' new biopic chronicling the life of Dean Reed entitled Comrade Rockstar.

The interesting title reflects the interesting journey that Reed took to reach "Rock Star" status. Reed, who had a record contract in the United States by the age of 20, never enjoyed much success with his native U.S. audiences, so he sought out his fans in foreign countries. He eventually moved to South America and earned the nickname "The Red Elvis." His tour of the Soviet Union in 1966 brought him the megastardom that he had long hoped for. Allegedly, Reed was as popular as the Beetles in the former Soviet Union.