Tom Hanks suggests he has only made four “pretty good” movies

Tom Hanks has modestly suggested that he has only made four “pretty good” movies throughout his career.

The actor did not specify which films he considers to be his best, but he was drawn to make the comment while promoting his newly-announced debut novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, due for release on may 9, 2023.

“No one knows how a movie is made — though everyone thinks they do,” he told PEOPLE in a recent interview. “I’ve made a ton of movies (and four of them are pretty good, I think) and I’m still amazed at how films come together. From a flicker of an idea to the flickering image onscreen, the whole process is a miracle.”

Set over several decades, Hanks’ novel follows a five-year-old boy who observes his uncle returning from World War II, before eventually turning him into a comic book superhero in the 1970s. Those comic books are then adapted into a major blockbuster film in the present day.

“The source for a movie can go back as many years as are in history. A story turns on a single moment in the life of someone, then all the anecdotes of the current day magnify that moment,” Hanks said. “Going back to 1947 makes sense, as would have starting in, say, 1559. Human yearning has proven to be timeless.”

Earlier this month, Hanks revealed that talks for a Forrest Gump sequel “lasted all of 40 minutes”.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hanks said: “I will say that, with a long time in between, we did take a stab at talking about another Forrest Gump that lasted all of 40 minutes. And then we never, we said, ‘Guys, come on.’”