Kevin Kline is in finaltalks to star with Colin Hanks in The Great Buck Howard, which is being produced by Playtone partners TomHanks and Gary Goetzman and Sidney Kimmel through his Sidney KimmelEntertainment (SKE).

Kimmel International's newpresident Mark Lindsay will handle sales on the project, which is set to gointo pre-production in June and begin principal photography in September.

Sean McGinly will directfrom his own screenplay about a down-on-his-luck magician who tries to revivehis flagging career with the help of his assistant.

Tom Hanks will make aspecial appearance opposite his son Colin as his on-screen father.

Sidney Kimmel Entertainmentis financing the feature with Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds.

SKE's Marina Grasic andPlaytone's Steven Shareshian and Marvin Acuna will serve as executive producersalong with Andreas Grosch, Andreas Schmid and Jan Korbelin.

"The script and thetalented people involved add up to success in all areas," Kimmel said. "We lookforward to our association with Playtone on this project."

"We are thrilled to bepartnering with Sidney and everyone at SKE," Goetzman added. "This is avery special project to all of us at Playtone and Sidney understands thenuances of the story and its commercial viability on the domestic andinternational fronts."

Los Angeles and NewYork-based SKE is in production on Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris, with Neverwas, Alpha Dog and Trust The Man all in post production.

Playtone is currently inproduction on the CGI-animated feature The Ant Bully starring Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts and MerylStreep for Warner Bros, and the 3D-IMAX space exploration feature MagnificentDesolation.