If you were worried that coronavirus would halt Disney’s live action remake machine, fear not, another one is coming down the pipeline potentially starring America’s dad, Tom Hanks. Deadline reports that the one and only Hanks is in early negotiations to play the role of Geppetto in Disney’s forthcoming live action reboot of Pinocchio directed by Robert Zemeckis. Apparently, Hanks read the script written by Zemeckis and Chris Weitz and he liked it so much that he reached out to Zemeckis personally to let him know that he wants the part, so you know Hanks means business. Add that to the fact that Disney wanted Hanks to play Geppetto in an earlier version of the project when director Paul King was attached and it seems like Geppetto it’s basically in the bag for Hanks. Zemeckis and Hanks have worked together on three other projects, Cast Away, The Polar Express, and Forrest Gump which won both of them Oscars, so perhaps this is a creative match made in live action remake heaven unlike [checks notes] every other Disney live action remake that has happened thus far. That being said, there’s still plenty of time to course correct and remake the made-for-TV musical Geppetto starring Drew Carrey and Julia Louis Dreyfuss instead.
Despite being the first celebrity to contract coronavirus, Hanks has keeping busy in quarantine, starring in Greyhound which broke streaming records on Apple TV, filming an Elvis Presley biopic in Australia (where he contracted and recovered from the dreaded virus), and, most recently, becoming a Greek citizen. He’s a real boy Greek citizen now.