Tom Hanks would 'vote not to go' to White House screening of The Post

'I didn’t think things were going to be this way last November'

Tom Hanks has stated he wouldn't attend a White House screening of his new film The Post should he be invited by Donald Trump.

Hanks stars in the Steven Spielberg-directed drama alongside Meryl Streep as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee who found himself under threat from President Richard Nixon after publishing a series of stories about the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

When asked if he would take the film to the White House should an invitation be extended, Hanks told The Hollywood Reporter: “I don't think I would.”

“I didn’t think things were going to be this way last November. I would not have been able to imagine that we would be living in a country where neo-Nazis are doing torchlight parades in Charlottesville and jokes about Pocahontas are being made in front of the Navajo code talkers,“ he elaborated. ”And individually we have to decide when we take to the ramparts.”

Hanks pinpointed Trump's attacks on the First Amendment as a key reason as to why he wouldn't wish to attend a screening of the film.

“This is the moment where, in some ways, our personal choices are going to have to reflect our opinions. We have to start voting, actually, before the election. So, I would probably vote not to go.”

Starring alongside Hanks and Streep in the Spielberg drama is a cast comprised of some of the best actors to have worked in television over the past decade, including Carrie Coon, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Matthew Rhys, Sarah Paulson and Michael Stuhlbarg who also stars in Oscar favourites Call Me By Your name and The Shape of Water.

The Post is released in the UK on 19 January

Follow Independent Culture on Facebook