Tom Hanks’ Lincoln in the Bardo Adds Willem Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage
Tom Hanks’ upcoming Lincoln in the Bardo has expanded its voice cast with three major Hollywood performers, bringing Willem Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage into the adaptation of George Saunders’ acclaimed novel.
The trio has joined the cast of the unusual live-action and stop-motion hybrid, with Hanks portraying President Abraham Lincoln in the film’s live-action sections. The project is directed by Duke Johnson, who previously received an Academy Award nomination for the stop-motion film Anomalisa.
The casting announcement gives the project a particularly impressive ensemble while also revealing more about the supernatural world at the center of the story.
Willem Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage Join
Dafoe, Bailey and Dinklage will provide voices for three of the ghosts who inhabit the film’s central supernatural setting.
Willem Dafoe voices Reverend Everly Thomas, a minister who dies expecting to reach heaven but discovers that the afterlife is not what he imagined.
Jonathan Bailey voices Roger Bevins, a young man who died after a failed romance and immediately regretted his decision.
Peter Dinklage voices Hans Vollman, another ghost whose story is tied to his desire to reunite with his much-younger wife.
Their roles are particularly important because the ghosts form the heart of the film’s animated world.
Tom Hanks Plays Abraham Lincoln
Hanks stars as Abraham Lincoln in the live-action portion of the movie.
The story centers on a deeply painful episode in Lincoln’s life: the death of his 11-year-old son, Willie.
The film explores Lincoln’s grief as he visits his son’s grave, while the supernatural portion of the story follows the spirits who remain in the cemetery.
Rather than presenting a conventional historical drama, the movie combines historical events with fantasy and the perspectives of a large community of dead characters.
A Hybrid Film Unlike a Traditional Biopic
One of the biggest reasons Lincoln in the Bardo stands out is its filmmaking approach.
The project combines live action with stop-motion animation, separating the historical world of Lincoln from the strange supernatural environment surrounding his son’s grave.
That structure reflects the unusual format of Saunders’ original novel, which uses hundreds of voices and perspectives to tell its story.
The result is expected to be considerably different from a conventional Abraham Lincoln film.
Based on George Saunders’ Booker Prize-Winning Novel
The movie is based on Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the 2017 Booker Prize.
Saunders has adapted his own novel for the screen, allowing the movie to retain a direct connection to the source material.
The novel blends historical figures with fictional ghosts and explores grief, mortality, empathy and the difficulty of letting go.
That combination makes the project both a historical story and a supernatural drama.
Duke Johnson Directs
Duke Johnson is directing the adaptation.
Johnson previously co-directed Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman, a stop-motion feature that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.
His background in stop-motion makes him particularly well suited to a project that requires live-action performances to interact with an animated supernatural world.
The film is being produced through Starburns Industries, with Johnson, Paul Young and Devon Young Rabinowitz producing alongside Hanks and Gary Goetzman through Playtone.
The Ghosts Are Central to the Story
The newly announced cast members are not simply supporting voices.
The ghosts are fundamental to the film’s narrative.
The story takes place in the cemetery where Lincoln’s young son has been buried, with the spirits inhabiting the space becoming witnesses to the president’s grief.
Their own histories and regrets become intertwined with Lincoln’s mourning, allowing the film to move between historical reality and the supernatural.
This makes Dafoe, Bailey and Dinklage important components of the movie’s central emotional and visual concept.
A Major Ensemble
The new casting brings together several performers with major film and television profiles.
Dafoe has appeared in films including Poor Things, The Florida Project, The Lighthouse and Spider-Man.
Bailey has become one of the industry’s most recognizable young stars through Bridgerton, Fellow Travelers and the Wicked films, while Dinklage remains internationally known for his work on Game of Thrones and a wide range of film projects.
Putting the three performers together with Hanks gives Lincoln in the Bardo an unusually strong ensemble for a stop-motion hybrid.
More Than a Historical Drama
The project also offers Hanks another opportunity to play a major historical figure.
His portrayal of Lincoln is surrounded by a surreal supernatural story rather than a straightforward political narrative.
The film is ultimately focused on grief and human connection, using Lincoln’s personal tragedy as the entry point into a much larger examination of death and loss.
That gives the project a different identity from conventional presidential biographical films.
TIFF Market Plans
The project is also moving into an important stage of its international rollout.
CAA Media Finance and WME Independent are handling sales at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival market.
That indicates the film is now being positioned for wider industry exposure as its cast continues to expand.
Why the Casting Matters
The addition of Dafoe, Bailey and Dinklage significantly raises the profile of Lincoln in the Bardo.
It already had Tom Hanks in the role of Lincoln and an acclaimed source novel behind it. Adding three actors with major international profiles makes the project substantially more attractive to audiences and distributors.
More importantly, their casting reinforces the film’s unusual concept: Hanks provides the live-action historical anchor while the three performers help populate the film’s animated supernatural world.
Looking Ahead
Lincoln in the Bardo is shaping up as one of the more distinctive upcoming projects involving a major Hollywood cast.
Tom Hanks will portray Abraham Lincoln, while Willem Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage will provide voices for central ghost characters. Duke Johnson directs, and George Saunders has adapted his own Booker Prize-winning novel.
With its combination of live action, stop-motion animation, historical drama and supernatural storytelling, the film could become a notable showcase for both its star-studded cast and its unconventional filmmaking approach.
