tom hanks and steven spielberg were among the celebrities making surprise appearances in France on Thursday.
The Hollywood heavyweights attended the official D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations for US troops, which was held at Normandy American Cemetery.
While at the event, Hanks reflected on filming his famous war epic Saving Private Ryanwhich was directed by Spielberg.
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“We’re trying to load it up with as much authentic – and I wanted to use the word again, verisimilitude – as we can. OK, that’s our job as filmmakers,” Hanks told CNN ahead of the service.
“It’s also our job as lay historians, ’cause for good or for bad, that movie is a document that has to accurately reflect the tenor of that day.
“And I’d like to think that we did.”
The actor said while they didn’t have “the smell of cordite or burning flesh or, you know, blood on the sand” they had “some version of that” to enable them to re-create the landings in the motion picture.
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“I think we captured it and to Steven’s credit, and I will also go along with the audience’s credit as well, they were willing to suspend whatever disbelief of it,” Hanks said.
“That’s as close as somebody in Davenport, Iowa or Oakland, California or Minneapolis, Minnesota was going to get to that.”
Spielberg won an Oscar for the movie in the Best Director category and it also scooped a prize for cinematography.
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Hanks’ performance and the film also earned nominations for the prestigious awards.
The duo mingled with US dignitaries and met with veterans at the ceremony, which was also attended by US President Joe Biden and first lady Dr Jill Biden.
Earlier in the day, Lord of the Rings actor Martin Freeman was the surprise celebrity guest at the Royal British Legion’s commemorative event.
He joined King Charles, Queen Camilla as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron at the British Normandy Memorial.
The actor performed a reading during the service to remember the 22,000 British lives lost in the battle on June 6, 1944.
Freeman has met the British monarch before through The Princes Trust, most recently at a reception in Buckingham Palace last month.
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