Let’s just state for the record that Tom Hanks is a national treasure. No, he wasn’t in National Treasure, that was Nic Cage. Tom Hanks is the guy who started out his career with an RPG movie and then a TV series where he wears a dress and is now, after two Academy Awards, one of the finest and most highly regarded actors of our times.

Sure, he doesn’t always make the best movies (Larry Crowne comes to mind) but still, he’s always likable and, more to the point, always interesting. His latest is the biopic Captain Phillips, wherein Hanks plays Captain Richard Phillips who was taken hostage by Somali Pirates during the Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009.

The movie is directed by Paul Greengrass and also stars Catherine Keener as Andrea Phillips, Max Martini as the Seal Commander, Yul Vazquez as Frank Castellano and Chris Mulkey as John Cronan. It is scheduled to be released on October 11.

Check out the first trailer for Captain Phillips after the break.

According to Deadline, a biopic of writer and  Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling is in development by Andrew Meieran and his Bureau of Moving Pictures company. About time, I say.

“Rod Serling was one of the true visionaries in television history,” Meieran said. “He single-handedly broke the mold and established television as a powerful artistic medium capable of changing the world when used wisely.”

To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long to get a movie about Rod Serling off the ground. The man is a genius and true visionary with a story that’s sure to be highly interesting and entertaining.

To prove that point, here’s but a sample of that life (as summarized by the Deadline article):

Serling spent his youth as an Army paratrooper and member of a demolition squad during WWII. He was stationed in the Philippines and his experiences would help shape much of what he wrote about in later life.

He worked his way into radio and then became a TV writer who found his niche with the CBS series Twilight Zone, a series that elevated scripted television with thought-provoking science fiction tales, each with a great and unexpected plot twist. The segments have influenced a legion of TV and feature writers to this day.

Influential to say the least. Now that this is going, the real question is who should play Serling? Any votes for your favorite actor?