Well, look at that. Only a few days after Mike Fleming joins the Deadline team, New York-style, and he is already providing major scoops. He reports that Tom Hanks has written a comedy for himself and Julia Roberts. He will also be directing the pic, titled Larry Crowne. The duo recently starred together in Mike Nichols‘ Charlie Wilson’s War, which brought in $119 million worldwide. Fleming was told “Hanks will play the title character, a man forced to reinvent himself and find a new career as he navigates the second act of his life.” This will be the first directing gig in almost 15 years for Hanks, since That Thing You Do!

I really enjoyed Charlie Wilson’s War and it’s nice to see Roberts in the spotlight again after the under appreciated Duplicity. I’m also looking forward to The Pacific, the follow-up to Band of Brothers that Tom Hanks (and Steven Spielberg) are executive producing. The 10-part series will hit HBO on March 14th. It looks to be a good year for Hanks and I’m interested to see what comes of Crowne.

Larry Crowne is to start production this April in Los Angeles.

What do you think about Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks together again?