Hanks Takes a Load Off

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/20/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

No more cracks about how beefy Tom Hanks has gotten. The Oscar winner is due to continue shooting his new movie in Memphis next month, and he is expected to look like a shadow of his recent self. In the movie "Cast Away," directed by Robert Zemeckis (Hanks's "Forrest Gump" collaborator), Hanks will play a harried Federal Express executive who survives a plane crash only to face the hardships of living on a deserted island. Production on the film started in Los Angeles and Moscow early last year, then the crew went on an eight-month hiatus while its star lost the more than 40 pounds required to give his character the right look. Listen, should the movie fail to click at the box office, there's always Jenny Craig commercials.