Hollywood royalty is stepping into presidential boots. Tom Hanks is set to portray former President Abraham Lincoln in ‘Lincoln in the Bardo,’ a feature adaptation of George Saunders’ best-selling 2017 novel.
Directed by Duke Johnson, the film will blend live-action and stop-motion animation, creating a visually inventive retelling of Saunders’ haunting and deeply human story. The project hails from Starburns Industries and is currently in production in London.
Hanks will appear in live-action as the 16th U.S. president, anchoring the film’s emotional core. The story centres on Lincoln’s grief-stricken relationship with his recently deceased 11-year-old son, Willie Lincoln, unfolding within a dreamlike graveyard inhabited by restless spirits. It is a meditation on loss, love and the unbearable weight of leadership during the Civil War.
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Johnson directs from a screenplay by Saunders himself. The filmmaker previously co-directed the Oscar-nominated animated feature ‘Anomalisa.’
Producing the film are Hanks and Gary Goetzman under their Playtone banner, alongside Johnson, Paul Young and Devon Young Rabinowitz for Starburns Industries. Saunders, Steven Shareshian and Aaron Mitchell serve as executive producers.
Saunders’ novel was awarded the prestigious Booker Prize in 2017, praised for its formally daring structure and profound exploration of grief. The film adaptation promises to retain that experimental spirit.
