Tom Hanks to host docu-drama on Lincoln

Actor Tom Hanks has been signed to host and narrate an upcoming documentary/drama about the Lincoln assassination on the National Geographic Channel.

Deadline reported that the two-hour drama, entitled Killing Lincoln, is based on the book about the 1865 assassination written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.

It will be executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Adrian Moat.
“The murder of Lincoln is not a passage of our history — it was a signpost of our American character, then, now and forever,” Hanks said. His previous excursions into television docu-dramas include Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

Actor Billy Campbell will play Lincoln, while Jesse Johnson has been cast as his assassin John Wilkes Booth. Geraldine Hughes has signed on to play Mary Todd Lincoln.

“Only Hanks can add that unique poise, intrigue and dynamism that are his trademark to a film about one of the most significant, life-changing events in America’s young history,” Scott said.

Scott’s brother, the late Tony Scott, is also credited as an executive producer.

The Wrap reported that Hanks apologized to O’Reilly in March when a video of a 2004 fundraiser was posted, depicting the actor insulting O’Reilly during a skit involving a man in blackfase and an Afro wig.

“I used Bill O’Reilly as the punchline of an uncomfortable joke that was hardly funny and [was] unfair,” Hanks said.

Lincoln is set to air in 2013.