Tom Hanks goes on an Old West adventure in the thrilling teaser trailer for Paul Greengrass' News of the World. For four decades Hanks has been one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, with roles in almost every imaginable film genre, including science-fiction, thrillers, animation and of course comedy.
At one time Hanks indeed was mostly thought of as a comic actor, thanks to early roles in broad comedic films like Volunteers, Bachelor Party and The Money Pit. But Hanks became a bona fide dramatic star in the early '90s thanks to his Oscar winning turn in Philadelphia, then became a true superstar with his lead performance in the blockbuster Forrest Gump. In recent years, Hanks has settled into a reassuringly fatherly on-screen persona, though he still finds himself in some pulse-pounding situations in movies like Captain Phillips, Sully and 2020's war film Greyhound.
For his next film Hanks reunites with Captain Phillips director Greengrass to tackle a genre he's never done before, the Western. News of the World stars Hanks as a grizzled Civil War veteran protecting a young girl during a harrowing trek across the American West. See the new teaser trailer for the film from Universal in the space below:
Hanks' character Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a wandering story-teller who literally brings the news of the world to people living on the wild frontier long before radio and television. But in typical Hanks fashion, Kidd becomes a reluctant hero thrust into danger when he agrees to take charge of a young girl named Johanna (Helena Zengel) who has lived most of her life among natives after being kidnapped as a baby. Johanna finds the world of white people utterly alien, yet Kidd must deliver her to her biological aunt and uncle, leading to an epic adventure across the Wild West.
Greengrass of course already sent Hanks on one harrowing journey in Captain Phillips (indeed there's an amusing call back to that film when Hanks refers to himself as "Captain" in the new clip), a film that received wide acclaim. It remains to be seen if the duo can find the same magic in their new film, but the movie definitely has tons of dad appeal with its combination of Hanks and the Old West. Indeed, it's amazing to realize that Hanks has never done a Western before this, even though his career stretches back to the early 1980s. News of the World is currently scheduled for release at Christmas, 2020, but of course Hollywood release schedules are incredibly fluid now with the on-going COVID pandemic.
Source: Universal Pictures