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Big star Elizabeth Perkins says implied sex scene in Tom Hanks film wouldn’t be made today: ‘We’re in a different time’

1988 film follows a 13-year-old boy living in the body of an adult man

Isobel Lewis
Friday 02 April 2021 15:41 BST
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Hanks and Perkins in Big
Hanks and Perkins in Big (Moviestore/Shutterstock)

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Actor Elizabeth Perkins has revealed which scene in the Tom Hanks film Big wouldn’t be considered “appropriate” today.

Released in 1988, the family comedy stars Hanks as Josh Baskin, a 13-year-old boy who makes a wish and finds himself transformed overnight into an adult man.

In the film, Josh ends up dating Susan Lawrence (Perkins), with one scene implying that the couple have been intimate.

However, speaking to Page Six, Perkins said that, should the film be given the reboot treatment, she didn’t think this moment would make the cut.

“We don’t see them having sex but he does take my shirt off,” Perkins said. “Actually, I take my shirt off and he touches my breast, then we cut to the elevator door opening and he’s got a big smile on his face.

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“We never say, ‘Oh they slept together,’ but they definitely fooled around.”

Perkins said that as we are now “in a different time”, the scene wouldn’t slide anymore, which she is “totally on board with”.

She also added that whether the scene was appropriate was “not even a consideration of [the cast] at the time”.

“It was not even something we broached or discussed on any level,” she said. “Different times.”

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