Story highlights The actor is co-starring in the upcoming film "The Post"

It's the tale of The Washington Post printing stories on the Pentagon Papers

Washington (CNN) Reflecting on the first year of Donald Trump's presidency, actor Tom Hanks recalled that prior to Trump's win, he didn't think it was possible.

Before the election, Hanks recalled, he said something like, "Well, you know what? Then aliens are going to land on my front lawn and dinosaurs are going to wear capes."

"If I had said instead, if that happens we are going to -- neo-Nazis are going to hold torchlight parades in Charlottesville and Pocahontas jokes will be said in front of the Navajo code talkers. That would have been just as hellacious in imagination, I think, as what we have," Hanks said in an interview with David Axelrod for "The Axe Files."

Alongside Meryl Streep, Hanks is co-starring in the upcoming film "The Post," which tells the story of The Washington Post's controversial decision to publish stories about the Pentagon Papers, the Defense Department's secret study of US involvement in the Vietnam War.

The movie will be released later this month, and it comes as the administration continues to double down on attacks against the press.

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