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Tom Hanks interviewed Bruce Springsteen at this year's Tribeca Film Festival

(TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL)

Tom Hanks may be an even bigger Bruce Springsteen fan than you are.

At least, Friday's hour-long conversation between the two at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre - the last in this year's Tribeca Film Festival Talks - sure made the case.

The event, billed as "Storytellers: Bruce Springsteen with Tom Hanks," kept the spotlight on Springsteen. And Hanks seemed happy with second billing, quoting lyrics, referring to his guest as the "cool rockin' daddy in the USA," and praising his concerts as almost transcendent experiences, "as though we go to church, and the preacher starts preaching right away."

The event itself, of course, was already preaching to the converted - the nearly 3,000-seat theater was filled with happy ticket-buyers, even though Springsteen's appearance brought no new songs, and very little new information.

Still it was a fun, fast hour, as Hanks doggedly went through the Bruce bio and early discography, and a relaxed Springsteen grinned and opened up.

About the Garden State's image: "I remember it was 1967 or 69, we went to San Francisco, played at this little club called the Matrix... And I was in the bathroom, and this guy next to me said, 'Where are you from?' I said, 'New Jersey.' He said 'What's that?' He didn't even say 'Where's that?' he said 'What's that?"

About his first gig: "The first night we played, we played at a swim club and I made $5...Somebody paid me $5 to play. I wish I still had that $5. To me, that was the best money I ever made. Except for all the rest!"

About his decision to become "the Boss": "You're in your 20s, and you're with all of these misfits, everybody is crazy because that's who's drawn to the field. People are hitting one another, and fighting, and getting thrown in jail ... a gentle controlling hand is not such a bad thing."

About cockily heading into that first record deal: "We were big, big fish in Asbury Park and in Central New Jersey. I had a lot of people telling me I was great and I chose to believe them... So when I went in, I had these new songs I wrote and I thought they were pretty good."

At times, the evening had a slightly formal feel, as Hanks - armed with pages of notes - dutifully went through Springsteen's career, record by record. ("I've got 11 albums left," he moaned, as time ran out; he had just barely gotten to "Tunnel of Love.")

But sometimes it got looser, funkier, like when a picture of a teenage Bruce in white cords and sandals was flashed on the screen. Or when Hanks asked if anyone in the audience had ever seen Springsteen's band Steel Mill. One person clapped.

"He's lying," Springsteen said, laughing.

And occasionally - although both men mostly worked hard to steer clear of politics - it took a more serious turn, as Springsteen opened up about other subjects.

Like the drive to be an artist: "Basically you tell a story to save your life. Basically that's what your motivation is. When I was very young, I felt like I was drowning... Your motivation is to keep yourself afloat."

Like the inspiration of "Born to Run": "Cinematic. It came both from life experience of being in Asbury on a Saturday night where you had the circuit and all the hot rods going round and round... and it also came from every B-movie hot rod picture I'd ever seen... The basic sound was widescreen."

Like the inspiration of "Born in the USA": "I was a stone-cold draft dodger...Perhaps I felt guilty about that later on. I had friends who went. I had friends who died."

Like his early IRS troubles: "First of all, I never met anyone in New Jersey who paid any taxes. The entire state wasn't paying any taxes. Certainly nobody under 25 was paying any taxes... What do musicians know? They don't know anything. They don't know about numbers, they don't know about the business side of things."

And there were even a few, one-off surprises and trivia answers, such as the go-to choice back in his cover-band days ("Creedence was always a sure winner"), the songs he's had second thoughts about ("I thought at the time 'No Surrender' was too glib. I think I still think that") and the reason the "Born to Run" album had a newer, bigger, bolder sound ("Well, we weren't selling records the other way").

Basically, it was a low-key, friendly talk-show interview - just that the host was a multiple Academy Award winner, and the guest a major rock star for more than 40 years. But as light as the chat was, Springsteen still left budding artists with one piece of stern advice.

"You've got to have insane ego, hunger, fear and the desperation to take any chance," he warned them. "Anything that comes your way. And try to bust those doors down."

Stephen Whitty may be reached at stephenjwhitty@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwhitty. Find him on Facebook.

