That Thing You Do Band The Wonders Reunites for Coronavirus Relief Fundraiser

Celebrities continue to find new and inventive ways to connect with fans, and keep themselves [...]

By Spencer Perry

Celebrities continue to find new and inventive ways to connect with fans, and keep themselves entertained, while we all remain in lockdown in our homes. The latest of this is the cast of That Thing You Do! the 1996 musical comedy that marked Tom Hanks directorial debut. The cast members of the film got together in a Zoom meeting to livestream a commentary about the film together, synched up with fans around the world. Stars Tom Everett Scott, Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, and Ethan Embry all took part in the event, which was designed to raise money for MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund for musicians effected by the ongoing pandemic. Special guests that popped up included Colin Hanks, Giovanni Ribisi, and Kevin Pollak (all of whom appeared in the original film). You can watch it in full in the player above!

"Right now, where everything is so uncertain, there's this wide range of options of how this could play out," Scott told Rolling Stone about the event. "And people are starting to really get upset about that. I think this movie offers a respite. It's a change of pace. It's something familiar."

Viewers were encouraged to donate what they were able during the livestream, but in addition a special auction for fans was put up in conjunction with the event with a very rare vinyl edition of the soundtrack to the film. The LP hails from Mondo music and Playtone, who will release the full retail edition later this year, who donated one of only five existing copies of their test pressing for the vinyl soundtrack release. Whoever wins the auction will be the first person in the public to own a copy, with the current high bid as of this writing sitting at over $5,100.

The sum total of the donations made during the livestream and from the auction will be made to MusiCares in the name of songwriter Adam Schlesinger, the 52-year-old musician that penned the titular song from the film and who tragically passed away from the coronavirus earlier this year.

"We're gonna try to bring as much attention to that as we can," Embry added. "It's our way to honor Adam."

Hanks was among the first high-profile celebrities to confirm they'd been diagnosed with the coronavirus, having tested positive for it in the first part of March along with his wife Rita Wilson. Speaking in an interview with Good Morning America, Wilson confirmed that they contracted the disease from someone that both of them came into contact with but that everyone on their "close contacts, family, work team" hadn't tested positive, meaning it could have been a chance encounter with an infected stranger.

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