Hanks gunning for "Ladykillers" role
By Michael Fleming
12/10/02 04:44 ET
NEW YORK (Variety) -- Tom Hanks is set to star next summer in "The Ladykillers," a contemporized Coen Brothers remake of the 1955 black comedy.
He will play an eccentric Southern professor who puts together a gang of double-crossing thieves to rob a riverboat casino. They rent a room in an old woman's house, but when she discovers the scheme, somebody has to kill her. The landlady proves tough to dispatch, however. Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers starred in the original.
Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the script; Joel will direct and Ethan will produce the Disney project, although the roles have traditionally been blurred. The film will begin production by next summer in L.A., with additional shooting to be done along the Mississippi River. Also producing are Tom Jacobson, Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson, who have been developing the project for seven years.
Hanks will star in the film after completing the Robert Zemeckis-directed "Polar Express," the live-action/computer-animated adaptation of the celebrated Chris Van Allsburg children's book. He returns to theaters on Christmas Day in "Catch Me If You Can."
By Michael Fleming
12/10/02 04:44 ET
NEW YORK (Variety) -- Tom Hanks is set to star next summer in "The Ladykillers," a contemporized Coen Brothers remake of the 1955 black comedy.
He will play an eccentric Southern professor who puts together a gang of double-crossing thieves to rob a riverboat casino. They rent a room in an old woman's house, but when she discovers the scheme, somebody has to kill her. The landlady proves tough to dispatch, however. Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers starred in the original.
Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the script; Joel will direct and Ethan will produce the Disney project, although the roles have traditionally been blurred. The film will begin production by next summer in L.A., with additional shooting to be done along the Mississippi River. Also producing are Tom Jacobson, Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson, who have been developing the project for seven years.
Hanks will star in the film after completing the Robert Zemeckis-directed "Polar Express," the live-action/computer-animated adaptation of the celebrated Chris Van Allsburg children's book. He returns to theaters on Christmas Day in "Catch Me If You Can."