dante, brezner and finnell agreed that tom hanks would be the most suitable actor to portray the harried ray peterson, a conservative man who tries to introduce excitement into his life by investigating the activities of his strange neighbors. dante referred to hanks as "the reigning everyman, a guy that everybody can identify with", comparing hanks with james stewart. brezner echoed the sentiments, saying, "hanks is an actor capable of acting funny rather than funny acting. he also has no problem with transition from comedy to pathos, as he showed in "nothing in common", and he's now proving himself as one of the country's most versatile actors."