Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg in last-ditch bid to save Hollywood sign

TOM Hanks and Steven Spielberg are preparing for the biggest production of their lives to save the Hollywood sign from being torn down.

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are in a last ditch bid to save the Hollywood sign Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are in a last-ditch bid to save the Hollywood sign

The actor and producer are leading a campaign to purchase by Friday the 138 acres of land on which the nine iconic 45ft high letters have stood since 1923.

They were granted an extension to a deadline earlier this month to raise $12million (£8million) and warned if they fail there will be no further extension to rescue one of the world’s biggest tourist attractions.

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Owner Fox River Financial Services, based in Geneva, Illinois, says it will have “no option” but to sell the land to a property developer after April 30 if Hanks, Spielberg and conservationists can’t come up with the cash.

Will Rogers, president of Trust for Public Lands, a non-profit nature conservation group, which is working with the stars to save the site, said yesterday: “We are agonizingly close to our purchase target with a little over $1million (£650,000) left to go.

“It’s unthinkable to us that the Hollywood sign could be bulldozed to make way for upscale housing. It’s the thing most people in the world think of when the name Hollywood arises. We’re not talking about defeat.” Some of the campaigners, who were joined on “Save the Peak” demonstrations in Los Angeles by Hanks and Spielberg, are hoping the two wealthy men will stump-up the shortfall.

Both have already donated enormous sums and a senior source in the group told the Sunday Express: “Both men have given their hearts and souls for this project and have been overwhelmingly generous. No one could expect them to give more, although, the truth is, the hope in everyone’s mind is they’ll pledge the extra cash at the 11th hour if we are still short.”

Major studios also contributed to the fund, including 20th Century Fox. But Los Angeles City Council, mired in $3.2billion (£2.1billion) of debt, does not have the finances to buy it. Councillor Tom LeBonge said: “It would be absolutely heartbreaking to see it go.”

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