Disney has recently embarked on a series of live-action remakes of its classic animated films, having found success with the likes of buffed-up versions of The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
With Mulan due to hit streaming service Disney+ in September, the next project looks set to be Pinocchio - and according to Deadline, it seems like the company might have found the actor to play Geppetto, the man who carves the magical boy out of wood and raises him like a son.
The entertainment news site reports Tom Hanks is 'in negotiations' with the studio about taking on the role and while talks are in the very early stages, the 64-year-old has reportedly reached out to director Robert Zemeckis to confirm his interest.
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Deadline also writes that the Academy Award-winner was approached to play the woodcarver last year when Paddington director Paul King was attached to the movie.
We'll have to wait and see whether he ends up landing the role.
Hanks and Zemeckis have worked together before on Forrest Gump, which earned each of them an Oscar, for Best Actor and Best Director respectively. They've also worked together on Castaway and The Polar Express.
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Pinocchio tells the story of how a woodcarver named Geppetto creates a marionette. He makes a wish that his creation would turns into a real boy - Pinocchio, no less - and a fairy ends up making that dream come true. However, he still has the body of a wooden puppet.
The fairy tells Pinocchio that if he proves himself to be 'brave, truthful, and unselfish' then he can be turned into a real boy.
It's unclear when the new film is scheduled for release, however Andrew Miano and Chris Weitz have been announced as the producers and Zemeckis is working with Weitz on the script.
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Interestingly, another Pinocchio is being made, set for release next year, which will be directed by Academy Award-winner Guillermo del Toro. It's promised to be a much darker retelling of the 1940 animated film.
Ewan McGregor has been announced to play the cricket in this project - in Disney's version, the character is named Jiminy Cricket, and serves as the story's narrator and Pinocchio's sidekick and conscience throughout.
However, in Carlo Collodi's original 1883 book The Adventures of Pinicchio, he's killed by the title character before returning as a ghost - and you'd imagine that's the version of the character who'd interest a director like Del Toro.
Del Toro told Entertainment Weekly about his fascination for the story of the puppet who desperately wants to be a real boy.
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"In a strange way, two of the stories that fascinate me the most are kind of related, which is Frankenstein and Pinocchio," he said eight years ago.
"They are both about creatures that are created and then get lost in a world they don't understand. And they are both journeys of understanding, and journeys of evolution of the spirit.
"When we started working on Pinocchio we knew very clearly that we wanted to make it different in the sense that it is not just a fairy tale but a fairy tale that actually moves you and emotionally affects you. It deals with ideas that are relevant to everyone, to all mankind in a way."
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