Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock get Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Casting News, News

Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is becoming the “buzziest” book to film adaptation next to Fincher’s remake/adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Oscar winner Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Reader) was signed back in April to direct the film, and two more Oscar winners have just been officially attached: Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia) and Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side).

Bullock and Hanks will star, but the pacifist vegan tambourine player 9-year-old Oskar Schell is the main character in Safran Foer’s book. After losing his father in 9/11, Oskar finds a key in a vase in a closet that belonged to his father. He then sets out on a quest that takes him throughout New York City, that also leads him into learning about his grandparents life before his father was born. Filming is set to begin in January 2011 in New York, with a release in 2012.

The Buzz: I read this book a few months ago and it immediately became one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. The story of Oskar is told mainly through his quirky point of view, and he is so easy to empathize with. Jonathan Safran Foer also wrote Everything is Illuminated, which was the source of the 2005 film directed by Liev Schrieber and starring Elijah Wood. While many similarities can be drawn between the two books, I feel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is the stronger of the two. Daldry is the perfect director for this type of book (even though I didn’t like The Reader AT ALL), and I really like the casting of Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock in this film.

What do you think?

Jenny is proud to be the First Lady of Inside Pulse Movies. She gives female and mommy perspective, and has two kids who help with rating family movies. (If they don't like 'em, what's the point?) She prefers horror movies to chick flicks, and she can easily hang with the guys as long as there are several frou-frou girlie drinks to be had.