Tom Hanks has thanked Australia for taking care of him and his wife Rita Wilson when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 while residing in the country.
While speaking to the Today show on Tuesday, the 63-year-old told Allison Langdon: “Thanks to our friends Down Under who guaranteed our safety and saw us through.”
The Hollywood star joked he may just have been Australia’s most “famous COVID patient”.
In the interview, Tom also went on to describe just how much went wrong on his new WWII drama movie Greyhound, due to the pandemic.
The film, for which he also penned the screenplay, had been due for release in movie theatres in May but was pushed back due to COVID-19.
Apple conveniently went on to purchase the film for its Apple + subscribers after it was realised it would be a long while before cinemas could be opened back up.
Ally told Tom that she enjoyed watching the film from the comfort of her own home, but Tom couldn't help but admit he was disappointed that Greyhound couldn’t be shared in cinemas as intended.
“On one hand, I'm happy to hear that and on the other hand, you're breaking my heart,” he lamented.
“We shot [Greyhound] for the big screen. It was mixed, it was edited, everything about it looks fantastic,” he continued.
“I wish that there had been 160 other people in their PJs, in your room, watching it with you at the same time.”
Greyhound shows Tom as a U.S. Navy Captain who is given command of a destroyer code-named Greyhound in his first wartime assignment.
Despite his inexperience, he finds himself in charge of an allied convoy that's being stalked by Nazi U-Boats.
Tom and his wife Rita, 63, both were diagnosed COVID-19 in early March while he was filming Baz Lurhmann's Elvis Presley biopic in Australia.
The couple were hospitalised for several days and then continued their recovery in quarantine.
They were eventually given the green light to fly home before to Los Angeles where they continued to self-isolate.
This article originally appeared on Over60.