Tom Hanks to Portray Lincoln in Unique Hybrid Movie

Tom Hanks has signed on to play one of his famous family members.

The “Forrest Gump” star has been cast to play President Abraham Lincoln.

The movie, which is a live-action/stop-motion animated hybrid, will be based on “Lincoln in the Bardo,” written by George Saunders, Deadline was first to report.

He will be in live action in his presidential portrayal and will focus on his relationship with his recently deceased 11-year-old son.

So, how is Hanks related to the 16th president?

According to Ancestry.com, Nancy Lincoln, the president’s mother, was born Nancy Hanks. She married Thomas Lincoln and the future leader was their second child. She died at the age of 34 when Abraham Lincoln was only nine. The genealogy website claims Abraham Lincoln’s “legacy — and familial ties — live on through distant relatives like Tom Hanks.”

Tom Hanks will also produce the film through his Playtone label, and it will be directed by Duke Johnson, People magazine reported.

The Oscar-winning actor has played real-life people in the past, including Walt Disney in “Saving Mr. Banks,” Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in “Sully,” and Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”

He has also lent his voice in “Killing Lincoln” and “The American Revolution,” according to IMDB. He was also executive producer for “The Pacific,” “John Adams,” and “Band of Brothers.”

In a piece for The New York Times, Hanks called himself, “a lay historian who talks way too much at dinner parties, leading with questions like, ‘Do you know that the Erie Canal is the reason Manhattan became the economic center of America?’ Some of the work I do is making historically based entertainment.”

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