Bruce Springsteen and Tom Hanks remembered the late Jonathan Demme on Friday during a candid talk at the Tribeca Film Festival, in which they reflected on the Demme film that brought them together: Philadelphia.
“I think the strongest union of our two names is probably Philadelphia,” Hanks, 60, said, referring to the 1993 drama which Hanks starred in and Springsteen wrote the hit “Streets of Philadelphia.”
“God bless Jonathan Demme,” Hanks added. “We just lost him.”
Springsteen, 67, also praised the acclaimed director.
“He was such an inspirational guy,” the singer said of Demme. “No Jonathan Demme, no Philadelphia, no ‘Streets of Philadelphia.’ ”
Demme, the Oscar-winning director behind The Silence of the Lambs, died on Wednesday due to complications from esophageal cancer. He was 73 years old.
Both Hanks and Springsteen saw success as a result of Philadelphia, with Hanks winning an Academy Award for his role in the film and Springsteen snagging an Oscar for the song.
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Springsteen told the story behind the award-winning tune on Friday, revealing that he didn’t think Demme would like Streets of Philadelphia.
“I tried for a day or so to come up with something, and I didn’t come up with anything. I had some lyrics. Eventually, I just came up with that tiny little beat and the track, and I figured it wasn’t what he wanted, but I sent it to him anyway,” the star said.
“He sent me that opening piece of film where the camera moves slowly through Philly, and I said, ‘What do you think?’ And he says, ‘Great.’ And that was it. It took about two days.”