The Big Picture
- Connor Ratliff, a comedian and improviser, was fired by Tom Hanks from a minor role in Band of Brothers because Hanks thought he had "dead eyes."
- Ratliff's rejection from the show led him to give up acting for a while, but he later found success in improv comedy and launched the podcast Dead Eyes.
- Dead Eyes explores Ratliff's experience and delves into the broader themes of failure and rejection in the entertainment industry, resonating with a universal audience.
In the early 2000s, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks returned to World War II with the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Among many notable things about the series, the cast was stacked with names that were relatively big then and would become even more prominent in the future, including Ron Livingston, Damien Lewis, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Andrew Scott, Tom Hardy, and David Schwimmer. However, despite such a wide-spanning cast, one of the most interesting stories comes from an actor that was not cast in the show. The aforementioned actor was cast in a minor part, but was fired for a loosely defined reason by the episode's director: Tom Hanks. The actor was told Hanks thought he had "dead eyes," and recast him days before filming, but little did Hanks know how this decision would unfold.
Band of Brothers
ActionDramaThe story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.
Release Date September 9, 2001 Cast Damian Lewis , Donnie Wahlberg , Eion Bailey , Ron Livingston , Matthew Settle , Michael Cudlitz , Neal McDonough , Scott Grimes Main Genre Action Seasons 1Who Got Fired From 'Band of Brothers'?
The actor in question is comedian and improviser Connor Ratliff. Ratliff is now known for his appearances on Search Party, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and now as host of The George Lucas Talk Show where he portrays "Retired Filmmaker George Lucas." Before any of that, though, he was just a young actor fresh out of theater school hoping to make it in the industry. He thought his big break was about to happen when he was cast in a one-scene role in the prestigious project Band of Brothers, already famous for the involvement of Spielberg, Hanks, and HBO.
While he knew the role was minor, Ratliff could not help but be excited about the chance to be in such a major TV project, exchanging dialogue with the show's lead, and in an episode directed by an actor he greatly admired. He auditioned and after a few callbacks with casting directors and assistants (crucially never Hanks himself), Ratliff got the part of Private Zielinski, an orderly to Major Winters (Lewis) who is sent to get food for Winters and Captain Nixon (Livingston) in Episode 5, "Crossroads." But his hopes were derailed at the last minute.
Tom Hanks Fired Connor Ratliff for His "Dead Eyes"
The day before filming, Ratliff received a call from his agent as per The Telegraph, "You have to get on a train to London right away! Tom Hanks has seen your audition tape and he's having second thoughts. He thinks you have dead eyes." Ratliff rushed to London in order to re-audition, and, if the pressure wasn't already high enough, this time Hanks was in the room. Ratliff read his scene with an assistant (who performed poorly in Ratliff's opinion) and was thanked by Hanks for coming in. After a "long few minutes" waiting outside, the casting director informed him they decided to go another way. Ratliff was heartbroken, and the rejection was not quick to fade.
Ratliff would go on to describe this as one of the worst days of his life, and it steered him away from acting for some time. Throughout his late twenties and early thirties, Ratliff struggled with acting to the point of giving up any acting ambitions. After some time, he discovered improv comedy at New York's Upright Citizen's Brigade, where he quickly ascended, though he remained weary of making a career out of acting, telling other performers he wasn't interested in auditioning for commercials or any other acting parts. But his interest soon grew, and he became heavily involved as a performer on The Chris Gethard Show, where at one point he revealed the story of his failure and rejection at the hands of Hanks. This had already become a somewhat recurring joke in his life, (he even made a comic about it), but the catharsis was still yet to come.
Connor Ratliff Interviewed 'Band of Brothers' Castmembers
In January 2020, Connor Ratliff launched the podcast Dead Eyes, which set out to be an investigative look into the very situation that affected him so greatly nearly 20 years prior. Right away, Ratliff admits the absurdity of what he is attempting to do, saying, "I'm looking for some answers for some very stupid questions," and "This is not an important story, in fact, I can't think of a story less important." But Dead Eyes very quickly becomes more than just Ratliff reliving a dark day in his life.
RelatedThis HBO Miniseries Is More Brutal Than 'Band of Brothers'
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Over the course of its 30-episode run, Ratliff uses his podcast to explore different facets of the profession of acting, connections to Tom Hanks, backstories around Band of Brothers, and much more. Episodes include, but are not limited to, Jon Hamm talking about his long road of failure before Mad Men, three actors who played "young Tom Hanks" in different movies, and recreating the scene Ratliff was supposed to be in with one of the actors cast in the part (Livingston). It becomes a fascinating journey that develops into less of processing this particular moment, but more so how people handle failure and rejection in general. The podcast gets into how memories can be affected over time and how most of these decisions are not made with the same amount of thought the person affected puts into them. If this sounds too heavy, Ratliff never forgets to be funny, nor do guests like Seth Rogen, Bobby Moynihan, or Aparna Nancherla.
The show caught on with audiences and soon received widespread critical acclaim. In 2020, the show made TIME magazine's "Best Podcasts of 2020" list and said the show was adept at "offering rare insight into the arbitrary and often brutal world of Hollywood ladder-climbing." A year later, Esquire included it on their "Best Podcasts of 2021" list and went on to say, "In the year since he launched this podcast, it has turned into a much more human and universal story. Through interviews with actors in his and Hanks’s orbit, Ratliff explores not just the ups and downs of show business, but the more deeply human experience of dealing with personal and professional failure. And more importantly, how we move on, learn, and grow from it." With so much acclaim, it only seemed inevitable the "villain" of the story would soon become aware of it.
Did Tom Hanks Ever Respond?
When Tom Hank's son Colin Hanks appeared on the sixth episode of Season 3, Tom had to be coming on soon, right? But it wasn't until March 10, 2022, that Dead Eyes released the almost 90-minute-long episode with the director that fired Ratliff so many years ago. The interview is an incredible culmination of the podcast. Without spoiling too much, Hanks gives honest and relatable responses to all of Ratliff's questions, while also feeling panicked and worried about any harm he caused. The most remarkable part of the interview, though, is how much Hanks relates to Ratliff's story starting out as an actor. Hanks talks about being in the same rooms as people who looked just like him, knowing they were going for the same part.
When asked about whether he actually said Ratliff had "dead eyes" on that day, Tom Hanks admitted he probably did, but because "it's been said about me." This interview is not a bitter struggling actor getting out a vendetta against one of the biggest movie stars of the past 40 years, but two people in the same business that have both experienced ups and downs and connected over the one moment their paths crossed before. "Everyone has a dead eyes story," says Ratliff in the first episode, and he proves this to be true throughout the podcast. While the podcast primarily focuses on actors and people in show business, the themes it gets at can be understood by all.
Who hasn't looked back at a moment in their life and tried to replay it, so it turns out better? Who doesn't wonder what might have been had fortune granted them the opportunity at the right moment? Who hasn't doubted whether it was worth trying again after a massive failure? Dead Eyes is a show for anyone that has ever felt it all came together only for things to fall apart at the last moment. At the beginning of the podcast, Ratliff says "As far as I know I'm the only person involved who even remembers that it happened," but now no one could possibly forget.
Band of Brothers is available to watch on Max in the U.S.
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