Helena Zengel is reportedly set to join Tom Hanks in ‘News of the World’.
It’s said the newcomer will star opposite the Hollywood veteran in the upcoming big screen adaptation of Paulette Jiles’ best-selling 2016 novel of the same name, which is set after the US Civil War.
The book and movie follows the unlikely friendship between Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks) – an early predecessor to the modern day newscasters – and a 10-year-old girl he has to bring to her relatives.
As reported by Variety, Zengel – who most recently appeared in Nora Fingscheidt’s ‘System Crasher’ – has been signed up to play the youngster in the historical drama, which was originally set to be made by Fox 2000.
However, the recent Disney-Fox merger meant the project was abandoned, but Universal quickly bought up the rights and have already pushed the film into pre-production.
Greengrass penned a more recent version of the script after a first draft from Luke Davies, with production set to start later this year.
Hanks and Gary Goetzman are set to produce film Playtone, alongside Gail Mutrux – through Pretty Pictures – and Gregory Goodman.
Over the summer, Hanks starred on the big screen as he reprised his role as Woody for ‘Toy Story 4’, and he previously admitted he "wouldn’t be surprised" if there was another film in the franchise.
He said: "Well, no one is planning on it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere two-and-a-half years from now someone has this kernel of an idea that could become it.
"None of the ‘Toy Story’ movies are in a schedule, they’re not in a pipeline. They don’t say, ‘on this date, we’ll start work on the next ‘Toy Story’ movie’. They wait until someone comes up with a ‘Toy Story’ idea that is worthwhile pursuing."
Helena Zengel joins Tom Hanks in News of the World
