Hanks heads west

Tom Hanks looks like he is heading west for the first time.

10:10 16 June 2004

Tom Hanks looks like he is heading west for the first time.

Reports indicate that he has now signed up for a western.

The Oscar winner has acted in over thirty films - including adventures in space, with a mermaid, in various wars, and as a toy cowboy - but he has never been in the Wild West.

"Boone's Lick" will see Hollywood's most bankable star work alongside Julianne Moore. Moore plays Hanks' character's sister-in-law.

Moore's character takes her family from Boone's Lick, Montana, to the army fort where her husband lives.

Lasse Hallstrom, ("Chocolat", "What's Eating Gilbert Grape") is in talks to direct the project, which is based on Larry McMurtry novel.