Tom Hanks to Bring Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts to the Big Screen

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Hanks’ production company Playtone, alongside Universal, has optioned the film rights to author Erik Larson’s historical nonfiction work In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, to be produced under the Playtone banner.

Tom Hanks has been involved with a number of WWII-themed projects, and his company was personally behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific. In the Garden of Beasts details the true story of William Dodd, American Ambassador to Germany during the rise of the Nazi party from 1933-1937. Dodd lived in Berlin with his daughter Martha, and while both were initially entranced by Germany’s bustling changes, they came to see the reality of the looming situation, which Dodd unsuccessfully rallied against.

Another of Larson’s works, The Devil in the White City, is currently in development with Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way production company.

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