Actor Tom Hanks has been tapped to narrate the upcoming adaptation of KILLING LINCOLN for the National Geographic Channel. Executive produced by Tony and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions and based on the best-selling book “Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever,” written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, the fillm will retell the events of Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth combining CGI technology with “rare historial archives.”
“It’s odd to say the killing of Abraham Lincoln is an unknown story, but it may as well be,” Hanks said in a statement. “The depth of the intrigue, the breadth of the conspiracy and the bare-naked exposure of human nature is so timeless, it’s a wonder how that seminal tragedy in our history could ever be explained in a few sentences: ‘Ford’s Theater… John Wilkes Booth,’ etc. The murder of Lincoln is not a passage of our history — it was a signpost of our American character, then, now and forever.”
“Only Hanks can add that unique poise, intrigue and dynamism that are his trademark to a film about one of the most significant, life-changing events in America’s young history,” Ridley Scott said in a statement. “His mastery always shines through and we can’t wait for viewers to be engrossed in this story.”
The film stars Billy Campbell (THE ROCKETEER) as Lincoln and Jesse Johnson as Booth. Everything seems to be coming up Lincoln these days, with the release of ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER earlier this summer, Steven Spielberg’s biopic LINCOLN to hit this Fall, and now a TV movie coming to NatGeo. I’m not where the resurged interest in the famed President has come from, be it coincidence or the current political climate, but either way I think it’s cool to see some historical projects with top tier talent involved, even if some of them make ol Abe a vampire slayer.
KILLING LINCOLN will air on the National Geographic Channel sometime in 2013. Hanks will next be seen in CLOUD ATLAS, opening on October