Tom Hanks to Play President Abraham Lincoln

Tom Hanks onstage during the live ABC telecast of the 92nd Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 9th, 2020. Credit/Provider: Blaine Ohigashi / ©A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.

Preview:

Tom Hanks will star in ‘Lincoln in the Bardo.’
He’ll play the lead role of President Abraham Lincoln.
George Saunders has adapted his book for the screen.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President, has been brought to screens by a wide variety of actors, including Daniel Day Lewis (in ‘Lincoln’) and Benjamin Walker (in, er, ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’).

And while Tom Hanks has played a number of real-life figures in his career, he’s about to add Lincoln the list as Deadline reports he’s attached to star in ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’, an intriguing new project that looks to blend live action with stop-motion.

Duke Johnson, the Oscar-nominated director who made the stop-motion drama ‘Anomalisa’, is overseeing the new movie, with set to take place in London this year.

Related Article: Tom Hanks and Apple are Returning to World War 2 for ‘Greyhound’ Sequel

What’s the story of ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’?

Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘Lincoln.’ Photo: Walt Disney Studios.

Adapted by writer George Saunders from his own New York Times Bestselling book, ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ will employ a unique blend of stop-motion animation and live action to explore one of the most intimate moments of Lincoln’s life, centering on his relationship with his recently deceased 11-year-old son. The movie will explore themes of love, empathy and human capacity in the face of grief as the story unfolds through an ensemble of characters, both living and dead, historical and invented.

Starburns Industries, which worked on ‘Anomalisa’, is the driving force behind the new movie.

Where else can we see Tom Hanks?

Tom Hanks in ‘Greyhound,’ now streaming on Apple TV+.

Hanks is as busy as ever, with a hefty workload of movies and other projects in motion.

He’ll be back for the sequel to Apple’s World War II thriller ‘Greyhound’ and returns to screens (albeit just in vocal form) as Woody for ‘Toy Story 5’, due out on June 19.

And that’s only scratching the surface of projects to which he’s attached as producer, which include a movie about singer Barry Manilow and ‘Unruly’, the story of boxer Jack Johnson, the world’s first Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion.

When will ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ be on screens?

Even with the Starburns team funding the movie and Hanks’ Playtone company aboard as producer, we’ll have to wait and see what happens in terms of a distributor and a release date.