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In the entirety of his career, Tom Hanks has appeared in only three music videos. The first of those was actually as part of a buddy comedy film he did, titled Dragnet in 1987. The video featured him and his main co-star Dan Aykroyd in a hilarious rap act. The second and third time Hanks featured in a music video both came in 2015. One of those was for his wife Rita Wilson’s single Girls Night In.
Wilson is as prolific a musician as she is an actress, and has a total of five albums to her name. There is little chance that the legendary actor would have been paid for the brief cameo. More likely, this was just one more thing to prove the sweet relationship that the two megastars share.
Wilson’s music video for Girls Night In was released on YouTube on March 16, 2015. Exactly nine days earlier, Hanks had been the main star in another video, this time for Carly Rae Jepsen’s I Really Like You.
It was a significant coup for the Canadian musician, but how much did she part with to secure the services of such an A-lister?
How Did Tom Hanks End Up On Carly Rae Jepsen’s Music Video?
Tom Hanks has a reputation as “the nicest guy in Hollywood.” Across the industry, various actors often gush about him being one of the best colleagues ever.
Equally, he has been known to be an absolute gentleman whenever fans happen to bump into him in real life. He clearly lived up to this reputation when agreeing to feature in Carly Rae Jepsen’s music video.
Hanks was at dinner with a number of his friends who also happen to work with the singer, and they asked him if he would be willing to take part in the upcoming production. At that point, Hanks was not even aware which musician he would be appearing in a music video for. Still he was a good sport as ever, and said yes to the offer.
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“I didn’t know it was Carly Rae Jepsen,” Hanks told E! News days before the release of the music video. “They were like, ‘Would you like to do Carly’s video?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, sure!’ And then I found out later the whole name.”
How Much Was Tom Hanks Paid To Feature In The Music Video For I Really Like You?
Once again, Tom Hanks proved just how nice a guy he is: While agreeing to feature in the music video for Carly Rae Jepsen’s I Really Like You, he did so without being paid a single penny for it.
He confirmed as much in the same interview with E! News. When asked whether he took home any payment for the cameo, Hanks said: “One word: gratis. I received no remuneration for it. I got a free sandwich at lunchtime, that was about it. [But I have] no complaints.”
Hanks did not go into detail as to why he decided to take the gig pro bono, but he did offer praise for Jepsen, and what it was like to work with her. “She’s a nice girl. We had a good time,” he insisted.
As well as Tom Hanks, Jepsen also managed to nab another massive name for her music video, with fellow singer Justin Beiber also making an appearance. The video has garnered more than 4 million views on YouTube, with more than half that number of likes.
Carly Rae Jepsen Joked That She Had Bribed Tom Hanks To Feature In Her Music Video
Carly Rae Jepsen had wanted to keep Tom Hanks and Justin Beiber’s involvement in her then-upcoming music video a secret. This proved to be an impossible task, however, considering that the production literally had to shut down an entire street in New York City during filming.
“I mean, I don’t think you can close down a street in New York and not raise a little suspicion with Tom Hanks and Justin Beiber around,” she said during an interview with Billboard after the release of the video. “We were hoping to keep it on lock so it could be a big reveal and like ‘Ta-da!’ But you just… you can’t.”
In an appearance on the TODAY morning show, Jepsen joked that she had bribed the Forrest Gump star in order to convince him to star in I Really Like You. She did go on to clarify that it was in fact her manager Scooter Braun who met with Hanks and struck the deal to have him feature in the song.
