Sully: Tom Hanks on huggable form in first trailer for film about Miracle on the Hudson

The actor takes on the role of the heroic captain who safely crash-landed an aircraft in 2009

Over the course of three decades, Tom Hanks has made a career out of playing nice guys (Road to Perdition aside, perhaps).

Don't go expecting that to change - one of his next roles arrives in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama Sully which tells the real-life story of 2009's Miracle on the Hudson.

Hanks will play Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, the pilot who managed to safely crash-land an aircraft on New York's Hudson River. Sully saved the lives of all 155 people on board.

"I've got 40 years in the air, but in the end I'm going to be judged on 208 seconds," he can be heard saying in the trailer.

Eastwood's biographical retelling also star Aaron Eckhart as his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles while Laura Linney takes on the role of Sully's wife Lorraine. Breaking Bad actor Anna Gunn and Entourage's Jerry Ferrara (yes, Turtle) will also appear.

The film, based on the autobiography Highest Duty written by Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow, will mark Eastwood's first directorial effort since the Oscar-nominated American Sniper in 2014.

Also this year, Hanks will star in Ron Howard's third Dan Brown adaptation Inferno and The Circle alongside Emma Watson.

Sully: Miracle on the Hudson will be released in the US on 9 September with a UK release following on 2 December.