It's founding fathers' day for HBO miniseries

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Actors Tom Wilkinson and David Morse will join the cast of the HBO miniseries "John Adams," which stars Paul Giamatti as the second U.S. president.

Wilkinson will play Benjamin Franklin, and Morse George Washington in the seven-hour miniseries, which is slated to premiere in 2008.

Based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, the miniseries will chronicle the first 50 years of the American republic. It will be told through the eyes of Adams' wife, Abigail (Laura Linney).

Wilkinson and Morse join the previously cast Stephen Dillane as Thomas Jefferson, Danny Huston as Samuel Adams, Rufus Sewell as Alexander Hamilton, Justin Theroux as John Hancock and Guy Henry as Jonathan Sewall.

Production is scheduled to begin shortly, with most of the filming taking place in Colonial Williamsburg, Va. Tom Hanks will serve as an executive producer.

Wilkinson's recent credits include "Batman Begins" and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." He received an Oscar nomination for 2001's "In the Bedroom." Morse, who recently had a recurring role on Fox's "House," appears in "Disturbia," which opens in theaters April 13.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter