Tom Hanks' Playtone and Universal Pictures have optioned the rights to Erik Larson's best-seller In the Garden of Beasts, TheWrap has confirmed.

Hanks and Gary Goetzman would produce the movie. The Oscar-winner would possibly star in the story of William Dodd -- the U.S. ambassador to Germany in the 1930s, who witnesses Hitler's consolidation of power with growing alarm -- and his sexually adventurous daughter.

Larson's other historical bestseller, the serial-killer drama Devil in the White City, has been optioned by Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way.

Hanks next stars in December's Oscar contender Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. He is currently filming Tom Tykwer's science fiction drama Cloud Atlas.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported that In the Garden of Beasts has been optioned.

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