Tom Hanks tested every typewriter in The Post’s newsroom

Tom Hanks tried out all the typewriters in the newsroom used as the set in his latest film The Post.

The 61-year-old actor plays executive editor of The Washington Post, Ben Bradlee, in the movie depicting the newspaper’s attempts to public the Pentagon Papers regarding the involvement of the U.S. government in the Vietnam War.

Tom has previously spoken about his affection for typewriters, and his own collection of machine’s acted as the inspiration for his book of short stories, Uncommon Type (17). And the Forrest Gump star revealed he was in his element when he saw the abundance of typewriters on the set of The Post.

“I test typed on every single machine in the newsroom,” smiled Tom when he spoke to Empire magazine. “I picked up one of the Royal Desktops and I now have that machine. It will last me a thousand years.”

The Post is nominated for Best Picture and Meryl Streep, who plays publisher Katharine Graham, is up for Best Actress at this year’s Academy Awards. The movie has a running time of 116 minutes, which is significantly shorter than many of the other films hoping to emerge victorious at the ceremony. However, Tom doesn’t believe this will affect The Post’s chances of success.

“I think the best movie is the one that goes by in 45 minutes,” he claimed. “Sometimes a three-hour movie will do that. Sometimes a three-hour movie will seem like four-and-a-half hours.”

The movie-star and his wife Rita Wilson were producers of ABBA musical Mamma Mia! (08), and the couple have gone on to produce the sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again which is due for release this summer.