Taglines: In every life there comes a time when that dream you dream becomes that thing you do.
That Thing You Do! recounts a fable of a pop rock band formed a year after the Beatles took America by storm in early 1964. Jazz aficionado Guy Patterson, unhappily toiling in the family appliance store, is recruited into the band the Oneders (later renamed the Wonders) after regular drummer Chad breaks his arm.
After Guy injects a four/four rock beat into lead singer Jimmy’s ballad, the song’s undeniable pop power flings the Wonders into a brief whirlwind of success, telling the tale of many American bands who attempted to grab the brass ring of rock and roll in the wake of the British Invasion.
That Thing You Do! is a 1996 American musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Tom Hanks in his directional debut, who also co-stars in it. Set in the summer of 1964, the film tells the story of the rise and fall of a one-hit wonder pop band. The film also resulted in a musical hit with the song “That Thing You Do”.
The movie features original music by Tom Hanks, Adam Schlesinger, Rick Elias, Scott Rogness, Mike Piccirillo, Gary Goetzman and Howard Shore. In the movie, The Wonders rise to brief stardom on the strength of “That Thing You Do”, a song written as a wistful ballad but which becomes an uptempo rocker during the band’s first performance at a talent show.
Written and composed for the film by Adam Schlesinger, bassist for Fountains of Wayne and Ivy and released on the film’s soundtrack, the song became a genuine hit for The Wonders in 1996 (the song peaked at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100, #22 on the Adult Contemporary charts, #18 on the Adult Top 40, and #24 on the Top 40 Mainstream charts). The track was nominated for a 1996 Golden Globe Award as well as a 1996 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Mike Viola of The Candy Butchers provided the lead vocals for the Wonders.
In the film, the title song is referenced with “All My Only Dreams” as the B-side. The actual 45 RPM single, released to record stores in North America, features “Dance With Me Tonight” as its B-side. The song has since been recorded by The Knack and Bubblegum Lemonade. The Wonders are also seen playing the song “Little Wild One.” This was written by the band Gigolo Aunts as a “faux-Beatles”-style tune at the request of their record label to be submitted for consideration for inclusion in the film.
For the purpose of being able to convincingly perform The Wonders’ songs on-camera, Scott, Schaech, Zahn and Embry took several weeks of individual lessons, followed by daily practice as a group. Of the four, only Zahn and Embry had any prior experience of playing their assigned instruments. They eventually honed their performance to the point where extras on the set thought they were actually playing the songs, when in reality they were miming along to recordings by professional musicians.
The song that plays during the film’s opening credits, “Lovin’ You Lots and Lots,” is credited to the fictitious Norm Wooster Singers and was actually written by Hanks. This song is a parody of Ray Conniff, Mitch Miller, and other practitioners of the “beautiful music” or proto-Muzak formats that were a staple of adult radio during the early ’60s such as on KPOL (AM)1540 in Los Angeles. Hanks also composed Guy’s jazzy signature drum solo, “I Am Spartacus.”
The soundtrack album (released under the Play-Tone name in conjunction with Epic Records) was also a hit, peaking at #21 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The CD artwork is a replica of the fictional Play-Tone label used in the movie, and the liner notes are done in a mockumentary style, as if the Wonders had been a real group and the events of the film had actually happened.
Hanks later used the success of That Thing You Do! as a spring-board to launch the actual Playtone Records label, through which the soundtracks of all his subsequent films, and other films like Bring It On and television programs like The Sopranos were released as albums.
vThat Thing You Do! (1996)
Directed by: Tom Hanks
Starring: Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, Charlize Theron, Ethan Embry, Tom Hanks, Obba Babatundé, Giovanni Ribisi, Chris Ellis, Rita Wilson
Screenplay by: Tom Hanks
Production Design by: Victor Kempster
Cinematography by: Tak Fujimoto
Film Editing by: Richard Chew
Costume Design by: Colleen Atwood
Set Decoration by: Merideth Boswell
Art Direction by: Dan Webster
Music by: Howard Shore
MPAA Rating: PG for some language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: October 4, 1996
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