Tom Hanks: New Productions Signed

Hollywood's Mr. Nice Guy signs on to three massive productions. Details inside.

Hot off the heels from his portrayal of straight laced, by-the-book, FBI agent in the latest crime-caper movie, Catch Me If You Can; Hanks looks set to dominate the big screen again this year and next with not one or two upcoming blockbusters - but with an impressive THREE major motion pictures in the making.

Hanks in Catch Me if You Can

Being big and loyal fans of the Hankster here at Kikizo, we are more than thrilled to pledge why Hollywood will be banking big bucks on this award-winning actor within the next couple of years.

Flying the flag for the Hankster campaign will be Tom's highly anticipated project The Polar Express, which had been put on hold due to Hanks signing onto the gangster drama, Road to Perdition. With Tom's own company Playtone behind the project (Playtone also played key production support for Hanks' directorial debut in the musical comedy, That thing you do!; as well as last year's smash hit rom com, My Big Fat Greek Wedding), he will be doubling up as one of the film's producers and has been involved in kick starting the film from the beginning.

If you haven't guessed already, the film has a seasonal flavour to it (which means we'll probably see it around the holiday period). The CGI animated movie is based on the tale of a young boy who explores his faith of Santa Claus when a train arrives at his front door and promises to take him and other kids to the north pole to see Santa (Hanks plays the train conductor). While Hanks is no stranger to voicing CGI characters thanks to the success of Toy Story, this will be slightly different as the animation will be based on live-action motion capture. However, it looks like this adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's story (he's the guy behind other story originals such as Jumanji) will be in good hands as Tom's old Forrest Gump buddy, Robert Zemeckis, will be warming up the director's seat. Other names attached to this so far for voiceovers include Chris Coppola, Michael Jeter and Peter Scolari.

The runaway success of Catch Me has meant that Spielberg and Dreamworks just couldn't get enough of casting Hanks as the amicable loner in comedy drama roles. You only have to look at their next joint project set for 2004 release to rub your hands with glee in anticipation of another quality flick!

Dubbed as Terminal, not much info has been circulating on this so far except the story's premise and that scriber Jeff Nathanson (screenwriter of Catch Me) is also onboard for the project. The plot revolves around Hanks, who plays an immigrant fleeing from his home country that is under attack in war. Having lost his home country in the political climate, Hanks's character has to find residence in the New York airport terminal as he has no choice but to rebuild his identity, make friends with airport staff and he even gets to fall in love with an air hostess - lucky him! The film is set for production once Spielberg has wrapped up Indiana Jones 4.

And finally... the film that I'm probably most intrigued about is Hanks's lead role in the remake of the classic Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers. Anyone who has been enough of a film buff to check out these great oldies from the then production powerhouse (my favourite Ealing pic being Kind Hearts and Coronets) will be familiar with the film-making genius that is the Ealing Studios and its London-proud markings in cinema history way back when.

Moving the plot from its London roots and firmly planting them in stomping cool New Orleans, the remake not only boasts Hanks taking on the role of Professor Goldthwait (originally played by Alec Guinness) but also has the directorial mastery of the Coen brothers behind the camera as well. The film follows Goldthwait's dark side as a criminal honcho who plans to heist a massive riverboat casino. However, things aren't as smooth running as the actions of his old landlady. Mrs. Munson, gets in the way of the prof's and his three cronies' grand swindling schemes.

Hopefully with the right buzz - this will be a stonker of a hit and we look forward to seeing a bit more about The Ladykillers as well as his other two films in the pipeline.

Transistor Sister
Film Buff, Kikizo Movies