When Toronto woman Zena Gopal reached out to Tom Hanks on a whim, she didn’t expect that he would respond so quickly, and with such enthusiasm.

“I just made a really dumb bet with some friends over some drinks,” Gopal told CBC. She sent a Polaroid of herself to Tom Hanks in the hopes that he would respond, having heard Hanks has a reputation for responding back to fan mail. The response? A selfie from the legendary actor and a funny letter written on his typewriter.

“Does this count as a head shot? Sorry for the beard, but I have some shooting coming up and I must have whiskers,” he begins.

He continues, talking about Toronto, calling it a “Damn fine town”.

“Growing fast, all those condo towers down on the lake. Nice views, I guess. I have not been there since one of the Film Festival dates sometime back,” speaking of his visit in 2012 for the premiere of Cloud Atlas at TIFF.

“Nice views, I guess“, eh Hanx? That’s one way of putting it.