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The coronavirus just hit alarmingly close to home for Hollywood. Tom Hanks and his actress/singer wife Rita Wilson have contracted COVID-19 in Queensland, Australia, where this year’s Cecil B deMille Award winner has been filming an untitled Elvis Presley biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann.
The 63-year-old Oscar winner took to Instagram to share the news, writing: “Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive. Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves! Hanx!”
Warner Bros. has suspended production of the film—which was originally slated for an October 2021 release—in which Hanks plays Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Austin Butler is playing Presley).
Meanwhile, the NBA has suspended the 2019-2020 season following Wednesday night’s games after a player preliminarily tested positive for the disease.
The news was announced prior to a game at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Utah Jazz when one of the latter team’s players fell ill. Both teams were on-court for warm-ups when they were called back to their respective locker rooms. The NBA player in question (whose name has been speculated only at this point as being center Rudy Gobert), was not in the arena at the time.
The NBA said in a statement: “The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.”
The Utah Jazz have released their own statement: “The individual’s symptoms diminished over the course of today, however, in a precautionary measure, and in consultation and cooperation with NBA medical staff and Oklahoma health officials, the decision was made to test for COVID-19,” adding that the basketball player in question is with health care officials in Oklahoma City and that every measure is being taken to test anyone that said player has had close contact with.
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