Monday, March 7, 2011

Tom Selleck and Tom Hanks: Heroes We Love


Hi Everyone--Debra Clopton here talking about great main characters, and Tom Selleck and Tom Hanks are just a few actors who take great characters and make them come alive in our hearts. Why is this? What is it about the characters they play that draws us?
When creating my main characters I strive for strong, loyal, lovable and always honorable good guys. I often, but not always, think of movie characters as I'm doing this and often combine two heroes from different movies to create one hero.

Unforgettable roles for me are Tom Selleck in Quigley Down Under--what an awesome hero he played in this movie. What an awesome job the writer, John Hill, did creating that character for him to play. When he looked back from his horse at Crazy Cora my heart melted. He was a great combination of a hard man, a soft hearted man, funny and oh so strong of muscle and character. He stood for something.

Tom Hanks will forever fill my heart with warm fuzzies when I think of him as Joe Fox in You've Got Mail. A totally different type hero than Mathew Quigley and yet, I loved the role. I also am crazy about him as hurting dad and widower, Sam Baldwin in Sleepless in Seattle. What a hero--struggling to do his best for his son while hurting deeply as he forces himself to reach for a new future.

I absolutely love to create my heroes and watching movie heroes inspires me. What makes a main character stand out to you?

I invite you to meet my heroes from my Mule Hollow books on sale this month. Gabe McKennon in A MOM FOR MULE HOLLOW part of the Small Town Moms anthology with Janet Tronstad's A DRY CREEK FAMILY. And also Clint Matlock and Cort Wells my heroes in my first two books: THE TROUBLE WITH LACY BROWN and AND BABY MAKES FIVE, being released as a Love Inspired Classic on sale now :)

9 comments:

  1. I like both Tom's too. I'm sitting here trying to figure which one more. Can't do it.

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  2. Wow, Debbie, what a month for you!! Lots of stories releasing. :)

    I love heros that have a sense of humor and are self deprecating. I also love when they're strong and hunky. :)

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  3. I loved the hero in Speed. When Keanu Reeves tells Sandra Bullock when they are on the runaway train he wouldn't desert her, he captured my heart.

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  4. I love Hugh Grant because he still manages to look adorably handsome when his world falls apart. And then there's Daniel Craig's hard, brooding James Bond or Pierce Brosnan's dashing version of the same role. I love it when a hero's veneer cracks and we glimpse the true heart inside--that's always when I fall for a character.

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  5. Hi Allie:

    I thought Hugh Grant was wonderful in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” but I wanted him to marry Bridget. I didn’t even remember that Colin Firth was in that movie!

    As with Hugh Grant, I’m not very happy with Tom Hanks personal life – for different reasons. Isn’t it great that you don’t have to worry about what your hero/characters are doing offstage in their personal lives?

    Vince

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  6. Tom Selleck is one of my all time favorite heroes in any role he's hand. I love him in Blue Bloods.
    Quigley Down Under was a great story about a not so heroic character who turned out to be awesome.

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  7. I love Tom Selleck. Okay and Tom Hanks, too. I think one of my all time favorite hero scenes was in An Officer and a Gentleman when Richard Gere strides through the factory and goes back for Debra WInger. Sigh. I'm sure there's others, I just can't think this early in the morning.

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  8. Both Tom's are great. Other actors/heroes I like are John Corbett in 'Raising Helen' and Tom Amandes in 'Second Chances' and the wonderful Christmas movie "It You Believe'.
    A hero needs to be soft and hard at the same time and not many men can pull that off well.

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  9. Oh, I love Tom Selleck. He may always be my all-time favorite hero. As you said, funny, tender, tough, and good to look at.

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