Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, and Susan Sarandon, among other members of the Cloud Atlas cast and crew, answered questions — and led the room in singing “Happy Birthday” to Mr. Grant – at the film’s press conference yesterday afternoon. Here are the best of their answers.

On being sung to by the press:

Grant: “Thank you very much–it’s the first nice thing the press has ever done for me.”

On choosing to participate in the film:

Hanks: “This was a fully realized vision that was presented to us at the get-go… and I said this sounds like all of the things that acting in a movie is supposed to be. I mean, shit, that’s what I do for a living. So I jumped in.”

Grant: “I bitterly regret doing the whole film. When they offered these parts, I thought, ‘Yes! I might show people I’ve got more strings to my bow than just one.’ But a) I was wrong, and b) it’s just sitting in makeup with plastic applied to your face for hours and hours.”

On the power of being a celebrity:

Hanks: “If I truly had power, I’d be waterskiing right now. The only power we have is in making your alliances.”

On the Toronto International Film Festival:

Hanks: “I’ve got a question for the Toronto International Film Festival: Why do you run your celebrities through a pen like bulls on the way to slaughter?”

On a part of their past that made them who they are today:

Sarandon: “I’m here because all my plans failed.”

Hanks: “I’m here because I wasn’t cast in one show in college and I went and auditioned for another one.”

Berry: “I’m here because I just didn’t want to go to college.”

On crashing the set of Star Trek II:

Hanks: “The only reasons why I was able to crash the set of Star Trek II was because we had a long lunch break from the set of Bosom Buddies and wanted to get into trouble.”

On perfecting her Spanish accent:

Berry: “I worked with a dialect coach and I was very serious about that. I wanted all the Spanish-speaking people in the world to say that I did good. I wanted to do the whole character with an accent, but the bosses said no.”

On their favourite part to play in the film:

Hanks: “Don’t take this the wrong way, I liked playing [a writer who gets a bad literary review]. He got to throw a critic off a balcony– to this horrible crushing death. Oh God, how I love it. That was my favorite.”

Sarandon: “I loved being the man because when I looked in the mirror I couldn’t see myself. It was startling.”

Grant: “I most hated playing the old man… a vision of my future. I bought a juicer and signed up for yoga after that.”

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Sabrina Maddeaux is Toronto Standard’s managing editor. Follow her on Twitter at @sabrinamaddeaux.

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