'Splash' Throwback: Hanks & Hannah Under the Sea

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Back in 1984, Bosom Buddies TV funnyman Tom Hanks made the leap onto the big screen and became a true movie star alongside relative-newcomer Daryl Hannah with director Ron Howard's Splash. The classic fish-out-water (literally!) comedy premiered in theaters 30 years ago this week, and we're celebrating with vintage ET interviews with Hanks and Hannah!

PICS: Stars at South by Southwest

The story of a man who meets the girl of his dreams, only to discover that she's hiding a big secret -- that she's actually a mythical mermaid -- Splash sprang from a story idea by Howard's longtime producing partner Brian Grazer and co-starred SCTV comedy kings John Candy and Eugene Levy.

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Howard's follow-up to the well-received Michael Keaton comedy Night Shift, Splash was a box office hit and cemented his status as a commercial director. It propelled Hanks to be the box office draw we all know and love, initially confirmed by the success of his '84 summer follow-up comedy, Bachelor Party. Previously best known for her roles in Summer Lovers and as a sexy Replicant in Blade Runner, Hannah's star also shot through the roof thanks to becoming everyone's dream mermaid, but she took a detour from comedy with her follow-up '84 summer release, The Pope of Greenwich, and while raising pulses wearing skimpy animals skins in The Clan of the Cave Bear two years later, that film based on the bestseller unfortunately drew a far more unintentional laughs than thrills.