News of the World: is the new Tom Hanks western movie on Netflix a true story - and when can I watch it?

News of the World is a new Western film now on Netflix, and looks to be the streaming service’s next must-watch movie.

It stars Tom Hanks – his first role in the genre – and sees him teaming up with director Paul Greengrass, with whom he previously worked on 2013’s Somali pirates thriller Captain Phillips.

That film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and early reviews of News of the World suggest the new film could replicate a similar level of awards success.

But is it a true story?

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What happens in News of the World?

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks) – a former Confederate infantryman who is still nursing the emotional wounds of his past life – tours from town to town in 1870s Texas, sharing stories of a bitter and bloody civil war with locals who can ill-afford the time or energy to read newspapers themselves.

On a trail leading from Wichita Falls, he stumbles upon a 10-year-old German girl called Johanna Leonberger, taken in by the Native American Kiowa and raised as one of their own with a new name, Cicada.

Documents found nearby reveal that her mother, father and younger sister were killed six years earlier by the Kiowa people, and the law dictates that Johanna must be forcibly returned to her biological uncle and aunt in Castroville.

So Kidd reluctantly agrees to become the girl’s temporary custodian.

Is it a true story?

News of the World is not a true story, and the film is based on a 2016 novel of the same name by American poet and novelist, Paulette Jiles.

But while the story is fictional, some aspects of it are at least “inspired” by real events and people, and Jiles writes in the News of the World’s foreword that much of Johanna’s story was inspired by The Captured, a true account of author Scott Zesch’s ancestor.

Adolph Korn was captured at age 10 from the Texas Hill Country by three Apaches. He was soon traded him to some Quahada Comanches, and quickly had to adapt to their way of life, training with Plains warriors who were at war with US soldiers and white settlers.

Eventually, Korn was forced to return to white society, but he didn’t manage well and ended up living alone in a cave.

Another real life figure that contributed to Jiles’ decision to write the book was Kiowa Dutch.

"I can get lost in the joys of research,” says the author. “Just using Bing to search images of ‘photographs; Comanche and Kiowa captives’ brought up a lot of great photos from the Smithsonian photo archives.”

"It was there that I found a photo of Kiowa Dutch – a mysterious person who was clearly Caucasian but had been raised Kiowa, and had no knowledge of his original name or birthplace of provenance.”

Tom Hanks’ character may also be drawn from the influences of a real life person, a distant relation of a friend of the author by the name of Captain Adolphus Caesar Kydd.

News of the World isn’t actually the first novel of Jiles’ in which Kidd appears, and the character made his first appearance in her 2010 book, The Colour of Lightning.

The novel has been adapted for the screen by Australian screenwriter Luke Davies, who earned himself a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2016 film Lion, which starred Dev Patel.

Who stars in it?

Tom Hanks stars as Captain Kidd, a screen veteran who’s notched up over 40 years of experience and who will be instantly recognisable to film fans as the stars of such past hits as Big, Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan.

But it’s his co-star who is getting the most buzz following the release of the film, German child actress Helena Zengel, who features opposite Hanks as Johanna.

When the nominations for this year's Golden Globes TV and film awards were recently announced, the 12-year-old secured a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Particularly intriguing considering the Globes often suggest Oscar success just a few weeks later….

Film fans may recognise Zengel as the star of 2019 drama System Crasher, which was Germany’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, though it was not nominated.

Speaking on The Graham Norton Show’s New Year’s Eve special, Hanks admitted Zengel had been entirely unaware of his successes, saying, “I think she is too young to have seen any of my films.

"I would test her every now and again and she would shake her head and say, ‘That means nothing to me.’ I’d say, ‘When I worked with Clint Eastwood…’ and she’d say, ‘Who is Clint Eastwood?’”

Acting alongside the central duo are Mare Winningham, an Oscar nominated actress who plays Jane; Elizabeth Marvel – best known for her roles as Heather Dunbar on House of Cards and President Elizabeth Keane on Homeland – as Ella Gannett; and Bill Camp, who recently appeared in Netflix series The Queen's Gambit, and plays Corey Farley.

Elsewhere on the cast are Neil Sandilands (The Flash), Thomas Francis Murphy (The Walking Dead), Chukwudi Iwuji (Designated Survivor), and Ray McKinnon (Sons of Anarchy).

When can I see it?

News of the World is streaming on Netflix now.