Tom Hanks to Play Abraham Lincoln in Hybrid Live-Action/Animation Film

The list of famous folks that Tom Hanks has played over his decades-long career just got a little longer: The Oscar-winning actor has signed up to play President Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln in the Bardo, a live-action/animation hybrid film to be directed by Duke Johnson (Anomalisa), produced by Starburns Industries. The movie is based on the George Saunders book of the same title, a New York Times best-seller that also won the Booker Prize in 2017.

According to Deadline, the new film “will employ a unique blend of stop-motion animation and live action to explore one of the most intimate moments of Lincoln’s life, centering on his relationship with his recently deceased 11-year-old son. The movie will explore themes of love, empathy and human capacity in the face of grief as the story unfolds through an ensemble of characters, both living and dead, historical and invented.”

Hanks will play Lincoln in the movie’s live-action segments. However, his next project will be an animated one: He returns as Woody the cowboy in Toy Story 5 this summer.