Paul Greengrass in Talks to Direct ‘News of the World’ Adaptation With Tom Hanks

The two previously worked together on “Captain Phillips”

Tom Hanks Paul Greengrass
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Paul Greengrass is in talks to direct Fox 2000’s big-screen adaptation of “News of the World,” with Tom Hanks set to star.

The film would see Greengrass reunite with his “Captain Phillips” star. The 2013 film garnered six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and grossed $218.8 million worldwide on a budget of $55 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

A best-selling novel written by Paulette Jiles, “News of the World” was nominated for the National Book Award for fiction.

The book, which takes place in the wake of the Civil War, follows Cpt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd as he travels through Northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. He is then tasked with delivering a young orphan girl, Johanna, to her relatives in San Antonio after a band of Kiowa raiders killed her parents and sister. Captain Kidd must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember — strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become — in the eyes of the law — a kidnapper himself.

Most recently, Greengrass directed “22 July” for Netflix. The film revisits Norway’s worst terrorist attack where over 70 people were killed. “22 July” looks at the disaster itself, the survivors, Norway’s political system and the lawyers who worked on the case in a three-part story.

Hanks, who last appeared in the Oscar-nominated “The Post,” will voice Woody in the anticipated “Toy Story 4” and will portray Fred Rogers in the upcoming “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”

Hanks and Gary Goetzman will produce “News of the World” through their production company Playtone with Gail Mutrux through Pretty Pictures. Elizabeth Gabler and Nikki Ramey will oversee the project for Fox 2000.

Greengrass and Hanks are repped by CAA.

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