Tom Hanks Trying His Hand on Broadway

When an actor has already dominated the silver screen, what’s left? Why, Broadway, of course. Acting on a stage before a live audience is the ultimate challenge and thrill for a true actor, and Tom Hanks has decided he’s up for it. The multiple award-winning actor will be starring in the Broadway play Lucky Guy next year.

Hanks’ publicist confirmed that the Philadelphia actor is currently in negotiations for the project. He will be playing Mike McAlary, a columnist for a tabloid called Daily News in the Nora Ephron bio-drama based on a true story. McAlary covered the New York City police beat in the late 1980s through most of the ’90s. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998 at the age of 41 for his coverage on the police brutalization of Abner Louima. McAlary died of colon cancer soon after receiving the Pulitzer.

In all fairness, Hanks, 55, has graced the stage before, although it was not Broadway and it was more than 30 years ago, so we feel secure assuming it likely feels new to him. In 1979, he played a part in the Riverside Shakespeare Company’s stage production of The Mandrake.

Hanks is currently best known for his many hit roles in highly successful films, some of which include Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, The Green Mile, Big, Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story (he is the voice of Woody), Apollo 13, and Charlie Wilson’s War, among many others. Hanks won an Academy Award for  Best Actor for both Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.

The multi-character play seems primed for success with a star like Hanks, as well as the team behind the actors. Ephron first gained recognition in the industry as the wrier of When Harry Met Sally. She debuted her playwriting skills in 2002 with Imaginary Friends and co-authored a play adopted from the book, Love, Loss, and What I Wore.

This is not the first time Hanks and Ephron have worked together. Ephron is also responsible for writing Hanks’ past hits Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail.

Lucky Guy will be produced by Sonia Friedman and the former president of HBO Films, Colin Callender. The play will be directed by Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe. Rehearsals begin next January. Our only complaint is that we have to wait so long!