Universal Pictures has released a new, full-length trailer for the upcoming drama News of the World, and it looks pretty great. Based on the novel of the same name by Paulette Jiles, the film is set five years after the end of the Civil War and stars Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a veteran who now works as a non-fiction storyteller, going from town to town to read the news. While in Texas, he crosses paths with a 10-year-old girl (Helena Zengel) who was taken by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own. Kidd decides to take her under his wing and return her to her home, venturing across the unforgiving landscape.

The film reunites Hanks with his Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass, and indeed marks a significant departure for the filmmaker behind naturalistic films like United 93 and the Bourne movies. This kind of epic Western is something I’m eager to see how he tackles, and in a statement Greengrass (who co-write the script with Luke Davies) pointed to the film’s emotional resonance as one fo the reasons he made it:

News of the World is set in a bitterly divided, dangerous world and it is a journey of discovery for both Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) and the girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel).  Both characters are lost in different ways and are searching for belonging.  That is what gives the journey tremendous emotional power.  Kidd and Johanna have great adventures whilst overcoming great dangers, and ultimately, the film is about a journey towards redemption.“

“Kidd wanted to communicate an authentic worldview to his audiences because he knew that, along with education and entertainment, the powers of enlightenment could be exchanged in the news readings that he gave,” Hanks added in his own statement.

The film is currently scheduled for a theatrical release on December 25, 2020, so we’ll see if that holds. But in the meantime, I’m looking forward to this one.

Here’s the official synopsis for News of the World:

This Christmas, Universal Pictures is proud to present Tom Hanks starring in News of the World, a moving story written and directed by Paul Greengrass, reuniting for the first time with his star from their 2013 Best Picture nominee Captain Phillips.

 

Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks), a veteran of three wars, now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, sharing the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe.

 

In the plains of Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own. Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will.

 

Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.

 

News of the World is directed by Greengrass (the Bourne films, United 93) from his screenplay with Luke Davies (Lion), based on the National Book Award finalist and best-selling novel by Paulette Jiles. The film is produced by Gary Goetzman (Mamma Mia! franchise, Greyhound), Gail Mutrux (The Danish GirlDonnie Brasco) and Gregory Goodman (22 July8 Mile). The executive producers are Steven Shareshian and Tore Schmidt. The film’s music is by eight-time Academy Award® nominee James Newton Howard.

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