Hazanavicius May Join Hanks & Portman IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS

Oscar-winning French filmmaker in talks for pre-WWII tale.

‘The Artist’ director Michel Hazanavicius is reportedly in talks to direct Tom Hanks in an adaptation of the Erik Larson nonfiction book ‘In The Garden Of Beasts.’

In the film Hanks will play mild-mannered Chicago professor William Dodd, who becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany before the Nazis began to assert an iron grip across Europe. At first, his family embraces the vibrant scene in Berlin, and his young daughter Martha in particular falls hard for the seduction and engages in a series of affairs with the handsome men of the Third Reich and even the first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolph Diels.

According to Deadline, Natalie Portman (‘Black Swan’) is being eyed for the role of Martha.Hanks will produce the project with Playtone partner Gary Goetzman.