Tom Hanks is to star in new baseball movie The Comebacker.
The Hollywood veteran, 69, is reteaming with director Marielle Heller after they previously worked together on Oscar-nominated 2019 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood — about the life of TV star Fred Rogers — for the new project which is based on a short story called The Comebacker by Dave Eggers.
Heller will direct with Tom onboard to star while the are both listed as producers, according to Variety.
The publication also reports music star Bad Bunny and Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo are also being lined up for roles.
The film will tell the story of a pitcher, called up by the minor leagues, whose behaviour changes after suffering a major head injury, with his poetic speeches becoming a sensation after being documented by a veteran sports journalist, who rediscovers his love of the sport.
Deadline.com reports Tom will play the sport star’s pitching coach.
Eggers’ short story focuses on on California team the San Francisco Giants, but Variety reports the movie’s the screenplay will be centred around the New York Mets instead.
The collaboration will mark the third time Tom has starred in a film based on Eggers’ work after previously appearing A Hologram for the King, the 2016 film based on Eggers’ 2012 novel of the same name, and 2017’s The Circle, which was adapted from the writer’s 2013 book.
Tom previously played the manager of a women’s baseball team in 1992 sports movie A League of Their Own.
The latest casting news comes after it was revealed Tom is lining up another job playing former US President Abraham Lincoln in a new movie.
The actor will star as the 16th President of the United States in the big screen adaptation of George Saunders’ novel Lincoln in the Bardo.
According to Deadline, the project will be a live-action/stop-motion animation hybrid movie, which he will also produce through his Playtone label.
The Cast Away star is to play a live-action version of Lincoln in the motion picture, which will also use stop-motion animation to explore Lincoln’s life.
The film is also expected to explore Abraham Lincoln’s relationship with his late son Willie Lincoln, who passed away amid the Civil War aged 11.
Duke Johnson will direct the motion picture and produce alongside Tom Hanks, Paul Young and Devon Young Rabinowitz. Production will take place in London.
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