(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Tom Hanks is "possessed by a demon" when he works on a movie.

The 54-year-old Hollywood star is currently promoting romantic drama Larry Crowne, which he stars in alongside Julia Roberts.

Tom hadn't tried his hand at directing a picture since 1996 musical comedy That Thing You Do!, and has explained his reasons for biding his time.

"It's really personal," he told USA Today.

"It's like you're possessed by a demon. It's such a personal fun club that you join while doing it. After That Thing You Do! came out, I kept wishing we were still doing it. But it required a huge amount of affection for what the story was, and personal things take a long time to do."

Larry Crowne tells the tale of a middle-aged man who returns to college and falls for his public speaking teacher, played by Julia. Tom tried to ensure the movie stood apart from run-of-the-mill romantic comedies though, as he doesn't feel like a stereotypical romantic hero anymore.

"I'm in my 50s so that's not exactly fertile territory for romantic comedy," he laughed in a separate interview with the BBC.

"In Larry Crowne we do it in the way it happens in real life - you just happen to bump into somebody and it turns into one of the greatest things that ever happens to you.

"It's not so much boy meets girl, it's more a man meets woman story - not exactly the nature of old school rom-coms." (C) Cover Media