Tom Hanks and Tom Tykwer are going to turn the Dave Eggers novel A Hologram For The King into a feature, Deadline said.
Hanks will star and the film will be directed by Tykwer, the Run Lola Run director who most recently co-helmed Cloud Atlas.
Tykwer has adapted the book, which was published last year by McSweeney’s and became a National Book Award finalist.
The story involves a struggling businessman who, after failing in America, heads to a rising Saudi Arabian city for a last ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and do something memorable.
Hanks and Tykwer bonded over the experience making Cloud Atlas, in which Hanks played several roles. Tykwer directed with Lana and Andy Wachowski. Hanks is currently starring on Broadway, playing ace crime reporter Mike McAlary in the Nora Ephron play Lucky Guy. He plays the title role in the Paul Greengrass-directed Captain Phillips, which Sony Pictures releases October 11, and he plays Walt Disney in the John Lee Hancock-directed Saving Mr. Banks with Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell, with Disney releasing the film smack in the middle of Oscar season, on December 20.
