The Tom Hanks Movie That Would Never Be Made Today According To Its Star

Dave Moscow, who played the young Josh in Big, thinks the movie couldn’t be made today because of the implied sex between Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins’ characters.

By Jessica Goudreault
| Published 5 mins ago

It’s hard to believe that it has been 35 years since Zoltar granted Josh’s childhood dream to become big, but it’s true. Tom Hank’s massive hit Big came out in 1988 and received critical acclaim along with several nominations for Academy Awards. But if the same movie were to be made in 2023, David Moscow (who played Young Josh) thinks it would get shut down, according to his interview with Yahoo Entertainment.

The supernatural comedy Big follows a 12-year-old boy named Josh who wishes to be big and winds up as a 30-year-old man played by Tom Hanks. Adult Josh has all sorts of fun when he starts living on his own, getting into a steady relationship with a beautiful woman, and even becomes Vice President of Product Development at FAO Schwartz. But eventually, the everyday struggles of adult life start to weigh down on Josh making him miss his life as a kid.

Dave Moscow (who is now 48) feels that if the movie Big were to be created nowadays, audiences would be “ripping it to shreds” before it even made it to theaters. This is mostly because of the relationship Josh has with Susan (played by Elizabeth Perkins) and the implication that the two have sex. It is a bit odd to think that she does in theory have sex with a young boy, but it is just a movie so audiences shouldn’t take it too literally.

This just goes to show how times have changed and that people have become very sensitive and judgmental of everything, even works of fiction. Dave Moscow feels that if Big were to be remade today, that it would need to alter or completely remove the adult relationship to avoid any religious fanatics who would want to destroy the movie. The premise of a new Big could be a body-swapping movie like Freaky Friday or Freaky, ideally still starting Tom Hanks.

Back in 1988, Big didn’t seem to cause a stir with audiences. In fact, at the Golden Globe Awards it was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Tom Hanks even won Best Actor for his role. Today, audiences still seem to adore the movie since it has a 98 per cent on the Tomatometer and an 82 per cent audience score.

In 2004, when 13 Going on 30 came out audiences didn’t seem to have a problem with the plot that shared a striking resemblance to Big. In the film, a 13-year-old girl wishes to become 30, flirty, and thriving, and it comes true when she wakes up as 30-year-old played by Jennifer Garner. Her adult character falls in love with her former best friend, but it’s seemingly okay since her character grew up rather than simply transformed into an adult.

If there would be any backlash against Big, it makes us wonder what would happen if other Tom Hanks films like Splash or Forrest Gump were made in 2023. Would they look the same, or would they be toned down or completely re-written to appease sensitive audiences?