With Will Ferrell already set to star in the American adaptation of the Forrest Gump-esque Swedish novel The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared, original Forrest Gump star Tom Hanks has had to find a different American version of a Swedish thing he can star in. Luckily, Deadline is reporting that he’s attached to star in A Man Called Ove, a remake of director Hannes Holm’s Oscar-nominated Swedish comedy (which was based on Fredrick Backman’s novel).
The story is about a “grumpy widower” who gets fired as the chairman of his neighborhood association, and so with nothing left to live for, he decides to kill himself. Thankfully, his attempts continuously get sidetracked by a “need neighbor,” who he gradually becomes friends with, leading him to go an “an unusual journey of introspection and caring for others” all while still wishing he could just kill himself. Hopefully it’s more fun than it is bleak and depressing.