Tom Hanks is putting pen to paper to write his first novel, which is described as a “wildly ambitious” story about the making of a film.

The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece spans 80 years, and follows the story up to the opening of the titular movie, which is a “colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film” inspired by a comic book.

Characters include a troubled soldier returning from war, a young boy with an artistic gift, an inspired and eccentric director, a pompous film star on the rise and a tireless production assistant.

The book will be published in the UK and US on 9th May 2023.

Speaking about the project, Hanks said: “Movie making is very hard work over a very long period of time that consists of so many moments of joy slapped up against an equal number of feelings of self-loathing. It is the greatest job in the world and the most confounding of labours that I know of.”

Quoting from Hamlet, he continued: “I hope the book captures as much of ‘the accidental judgements and casual slaughter’ that go into a motion picture’s dictum to hold ‘a mirror up to nature’ that I have witnessed (and caused) since I joined the Screen Actors Guild.”