The Wonders Reunited 24 Years After The Release of ‘That Thing You Do’
Ok, this is pretty awesome and even if you’re just a casual fan of the movie, it’s well worth the entire watch. I assure you.
Rolling Stone got the four members of The ONEders The Wonders back together ahead of them going live on Zoom/YouTube Live tonight (Friday, April 17th) to watch That Thing You Do together. The Wonders include…
Tom Everett Scott (Guy) – last we saw him was the end of LA LA Land, fittingly in a jazz club
Steve Zahn (Lenny) – he’s been in a bunch of things, but only thing I seem to remember is Joy Ride with Paul Walker… “Candy cane…”
Ethan Embry (the bass player) – He literally didn’t have a name in the movie. He was just credited as T.B. Player. Last we saw him is what I assume to be Can’t Hardly Wait (which makes two instantly iconic movies for him in only two years).
Jonathan Schaech (Jimmy) – Last we saw him was… ummm… the 2008 remake of Prom Night? I honestly don’t know why we haven’t seen this guy in more stuff. I thought he was great.
I think sometimes we forget about just how loaded this cast was. I mean, top bill is America’s dad, Tom Hanks, coming almost directly off the iconic cultural juggernaut that is Forest Gump. But this thing also had Liv Tyler, Bryan Cranston, Charlize Theron in her first major movie ever (unless you count Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest), Paul Feig, and Kevin Pollak! Yup, even Kevin Pollak.
I remember the first time I saw this movie, I thought it was based on a true story about The Beatles, but then I quickly remembered The Beatles were from England. So then I just assumed it was based on the origin story of The Monkees. I never bothered to look that one up, so I just went with it.
The reason they’re getting together one year before the movie’s quarter century mark is because the songwriter-producer of the movie Adam Schlesinger died of COVID-19 complications at the age of 52. You might know more as one of the members of the band, Fountains of Wayne. Say what you will about FoW, but “Stacy’s Mom” still slaps. Oh, and also, Schlesinger did some work with The Monkees. See?! I told you That Thing You Do was about The Monkees!
Think about how good this fake song is. You hear it no less than 30,000 times in the hour and a half long movie, and you never get sick of it. And if you do, then you clearly hate The Monkees. Personally, I believe it to be the second greatest song to come out of a movie ever… second only to Adam Sandler’s “Somebody Kill Me Please.”
Per Rolling Stone:
The reunion will be livestreamed from the band’s new YouTube channel at 7 p.m. ET. They’ll be joined by cast members Liv Tyler and Giovanni Ribisi, with a possible cameo by Hanks. A button to donate to MusiCares’ COVID-19 Relief Fund will also be featured, supporting musicians affected by the pandemic. Proceeds will be made in Schlesinger’s name. “We’re gonna try to bring as much attention to that as we can,” Embry says. “It’s our way to honor Adam.”
If there’s a rumored “possible cameo by Hanks” then there will be a cameo by Hanks. That’s just the kind of guy he is. Hell, the guys talked about in the interview above. Plus, he was like patient zero of COVID-19, so you know he’s locked up and got nothing better to do.
All in all, this is pretty cool of them. Doing that thing they do.
I am Spartacus.
