'Big' (1988)
PG | June 3, 1988 | 104 mins
Have you ever had a really big secret?
When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big, he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight. But he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups, including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.
Cast: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins [+]
Director: Peggy Marshall
Writers: Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg
Producers: James L. Brooks, Robert Greenhut
Cinematographer: Barry Sonnenfeld
Editors: Barry Malkin
Music: Howard Shore
Production Company: Gracie Films
Personnel Director: Where did you go to school?
Josh: It was called George Washington.
Personnel Director: Oh G.W. My brother-in-law got his doctorate there. Did you pledge?
Josh: Yes. Every morning.
Scotty: See that girl over there in the red? Say “hi” to her and she’s yours. She’ll have her legs around you so tight you’ll be begging for mercy.
Josh: Well, I’ll stay away from her, then.
Josh: Will you please leave? I got a deadline to meet. Gosh.
Billy: Who the fuck do you think you are ?
Josh: Hey!
Billy: You’re Josh Baskin, remember? You broke your arm on my roof! You hid in my basement when Robert Dyson was about to rip your head off!
Josh: You don’t get it, do you? This is important!
Billy: I’m your best friend. What’s more important than that, huh? And I’m three months older than you are, asshole!
Susan: I’m not so sure we should do this.
Josh: Do what?
Susan: Well, I like you, and I want to spend the night with you.
Josh: Do you mean sleep over?
Susan: Well, yeah.
Josh: OK… but I get to be on top.
Paul: What is so special about Baskin?
Susan: He’s a grown up.
MacMillan: You can’t see this on a marketing report.
Josh: Um, what’s a marketing report?
MacMillan: Exactly.
Susan: All he said was he didn’t get it.
Paul: [mocking Josh] “I don’t get it.” “I don’t get it.” “Let’s make it a bug.”
Billy: So you got a job, where you play with all these toys.
Josh: Yup!
Billy: And they’re gonna pay you for that!
Josh: Yup!
Billy: SUCKERS!
Josh: I’ve been trying… I’ve been thinking about it, and there’s a million reasons for me to go home… but there’s only one reason for me to stay.
Susan: What… What reason is that?
Josh: Well, you.
- Tom Hanks received an Oscar nomination for his role as Josh Baskin. He lost to Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man.
- According to Robert Loggia, on the day they filmed the famous Walking Piano scene at FAO Schwarz, he and Tom Hanks noticed that doubles dressed like them were on hand just in case they could not do the dance moves correctly. It became their goal to do the entire number without the aid of the doubles. They succeeded.
- To give Tom Hanks an idea of how a 13-year-old would behave, director Penny Marshall filmed each “grown-up” scene with David Moscow (Young Josh) playing Hanks’ part, and then Hanks copied Moscow’s behavior. Hanks would go on to do something similar for Forrest Gump (1994), when he would spend time with Michael Conner Humphreys (Young Forrest) and imitate his Southern accent to prepare for the part.
- Penny Marshall became the first female director ever to direct a movie that grossed more than $100 million at the box office with this movie.
- Robert De Niro was considered for the role of Josh, but his salary demands were too high.
- Tom Hanks improvised the scene where he eats the baby corn as if it were a normal-sized corn on the cob.
- According to Monica Rushton, Jared Rushton (Billy), David Moscow (Young Josh), and Tom Hanks (Big Josh) were put in a room with a bunch of toys to play with. Having silly string, they tried to use it to gross each other out, and that is how the silly string scene between Hanks and Rushton appeared in the movie.
- John Travolta was one of director Penny Marshall’s top choices for the role of Josh Baskin, and he wanted to do it, but the studio didn’t want him, considering him “box-office poison” at the time.
- The building used as the MacMillian Toys office is now a Home Depot.
- The amusement park at the end, Playland in Rye, New York, was also used in Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” video.
- When they show Josh Baskin missing, the date is 9/12/87.
- The costume designers paid close attention to Susan’s transformation, making sure her shift from a stiff, businesslike professional at the start of the movie to a softer, almost childlike figure by the end felt natural. This change is reflected gradually in her appearance—her hair moves from being tightly pinned up to worn down with schoolgirl-style headbands, her fitted suits are replaced with looser, more youthful angora tops and skirts, and her heels give way to flats. While she ultimately turns down the chance to literally become a child again, it’s clear that her time with Josh has helped her reconnect with her inner child.
Videos
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Blu-ray: May 12, 2009
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