EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — News of the World co-star Fred Hechinger talks to us about working with his on-screen hero Tom Hanks, and how Hechinger paid homage to the Oscar winner on the set.

5 Things You Need to Know:

  1. The film follows a Civil War veteran, played by Hanks, who goes town to town reading newspaper articles from around the country to local folks. Along the way he discovers a young girl who was stolen by Native Americans as an infant, and the vet decides to return her to her aunt and uncle.
  2. Hechinger plays a loner who is a part of this band of militia working to cleanse the county from outsiders. He has a bond with Hanks' character and helps him escape.
  3. Hechinger will next be seen in HBO's limited series The White Lotus and Will Ferrell's short film David. He also just completed The Woman in the Window, Fear Street, Amazon's The Underground Railroad, and Two Against Nature.
  4. The longtime Hanks fan said he's looked up to the renowned actor his entire life. "One of my favorite actors of all time," said Hechinger.
  5. To prepare for the role, Hechinger learned how to ride a horse for the first time. "The horses that I was working with, they’ve been in so many more movies than I have," he said. "They are real pros. There’s no way that my character would ride a horse. He’s the only character that doesn’t ride a horse. So I did all this training, and we got on set and talking about it and said actually I should be walking the whole time."