Tom Hanks in talks to play Gepetto in Disney's live-action Pinocchio remake

Tom Hanks could become the next Gepetto.

The 62-year-old actor is in early talks to play the puppeteer in Disney's live-action remake of its 1940 animated Pinocchio film – itself based on the 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian writer Carlo Collodi, Variety reported.

This is the first significant casting news regarding the upcoming reboot, for which a release date has yet to be announced.

In Disney's 1940 film, Gepetto is the creator of Pinocchio, a wooden puppet brought to life by a fairy who promises Pinocchio he will become a real boy if he behaves in a brave, truthful manner.

This, of course, proves to be an uphill battle for the lying, misbehaving Pinocchio.

Paddington filmmaker Paul King is to direct the forthcoming film, which is part of a series of live-action remakes announced by Disney.

Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book have already been brought back to life by the studio.

Dumbo, The Lion King, Mulan, and Lady and the Tramp are all among the list of planned remakes.

Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner, will appear as TV personality Fred Rogers in You Are My Friend, a drama about the beloved host of Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood, coming in October 2019.

He also plays the lead in Greyhound, a World War II film set to be released in March 2019 (for which he also wrote the screenplay), and voices Woody in Toy Story 4, scheduled to debut in June of that same year.