Alone on a desert island, with only a volleyball for company, Tom Hanks carries an entire film on his own — and makes survival feel profoundly human.
Released in 2000, Cast Away stars Hanks as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose plane crashes in the Pacific, leaving him stranded on an uninhabited island. For years, he must find food, shelter and a reason to keep going.
Hanks is on screen almost alone for much of the film, and he makes it work through physical performance and emotion: the weight loss, the desperation, the friendship with Wilson, the volleyball, and the hope of rescue.
It is a signature role because it strips away everything Hanks is known for — comedy, dialogue, co-stars — and leaves only the actor, and the audience’s belief in him.