After earning an Oscar nomination for playing Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Tom Hanks is zeroing in on another children’s favorite. We are hearing that he is in early negotiations to play Geppetto in Disney and Robert Zemeckis’ live-action retelling of Pinocchio.

Although insiders say negotiations are very early, we hear that after reading the script, Hanks has reached out to Zemeckis to let him know he wants to do the film. Disney has always longed for Hanks to play the woodcarver, having approached him years ago when Paul King was attached to direct. That deal was never made, but given Hanks and Zemeckis’ long-standing relationship going back to when they both won Oscars for their work on Forrest Gump, this seems more likely to move forward. [More at Source]