Cinematical

Continue reading Tom Cruise Not Attached to John Woo's 'Flying Tigers' ... Yet

Tom Cruise Not Attached to John Woo's 'Flying Tigers' ... Yet

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:32:00 EST

Filed under: RumorMonger, Tom Cruise

Is John Woo going to work with Tom Cruise again? Quite possibly, and in a World War II setting to boot. Woo has been in a hold pattern over Hollywood ever since Paycheck came out, although he's recently struck gold with both audiences and the box office overseas with Red Cliff, which hits American shores on November 20th. Now he's circling Flying Tigers, a project about the first American volunteer group in the Chinese Air Force during WWII.

We spoke to Woo recently about Red Cliff, and you can read the full interview with him later this week. However, we couldn't resist sneaking in a question about Cruise, and you can read what we got after the break.

Johnny Depp Might Be 'The Tourist'

Elisabeth Rappe — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:32:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, Casting, Sony, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp

Sony's thriller The Tourist just keeps sending its talent packing. Originally set to be a vehicle for Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron, it shifted gears last month and was re-cast with Angelina Jolie and Sam Worthington. But once again, The Tourist finds itself without travel arrangements for a male lead as Variety reports that Worthington is out due to "creative disagreements" and Johnny Depp is in.

Depp is still in talks to play the hapless American tourist, and with the way this film is going, one can't assume it's finalized. But if it is, it might just be the casting coup of 2010. A Depp-Jolie pair-up has been something dreamed about by a lot of producers and studios over the years. Once upon a time, rumor even had them attached to play Cathy and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. People want to see them having onscreen sex. It'd be the hottest thing since ... well, Brad Pitt and Jolie having sex onscreen. (And off. Hey, I'm just being honest. There was a reason everyone wanted to see their offspring.)

The Tourist is also on the hunt for a director. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was circling the project, but departed alongside Worthington over those whispery creative differences. Reportedly, a lot of directors are interested, including Alfonso Cuaron. While shake-ups can be be a sign of a bad film, I'd like to think that a thriller that winds up with Jolie, Depp, and Cuaron came together exactly as it was meant to.

Continue reading Quick List: Celebrities With The Worst Reputations

Quick List: Celebrities With The Worst Reputations

Jessica Barnes — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:03:00 EST

Filed under: RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Tom Cruise

Perception is everything, and I don't mean to get all metaphysical on you, but sometimes it's how the world sees us that can define who we are -- but what if the world thinks you're a psycho? In an interview with American Psycho director Mary Harron, she was reminiscing about the black comedy, and as it turns out, her star Christian Bale based his vision of the murdering yuppie on -- wait for it -- Tom Cruise. According to Harron, she and Bale had been collaborating on the character when "...he [Bale] called me and he had been watching Tom Cruise on David Letterman, and he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes, and he was really taken with this energy."

Actors take inspiration from all kinds of places, but you can't help but wonder if Bale saw something that we would all be made painfully aware of: the 'crazy' side of Cruise. And it was that same energy that worked so well in P.T. Anderson's Magnolia when Cruise played motivational speaker Frank T.J. Mackey. But for me, what made this story truly funny, is that who could have predicted that soon enough Bale would be dealing with his own troubled image in Hollywood as a rage-aholic and something of a bully? On the upside, though, maybe Bale's on-set rant will one day inspire another young actor (ahh, the circle of life).

These guys aren't the only ones to battle troubled reputations (whether or not they're deserved), and after the jump: a few more stars who have run their reputations into the ditch...

Jolie's 'Tourist' Set for 2011 with 'Lives of Others' Director

Jenni Miller — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:32:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, Casting, RumorMonger, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Remakes and Sequels

Angelina Jolie's pet project The Tourist might finally have a director, according to Variety. Internationally acclaimed director and writer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck "hasn't formally entered into negotiations," but it's looking likely that the man behind the critically hailed film The Lives of Others will be hopping behind the camera for this 2011 release.

Jolie reportedly turned down the sequel of Wanted in favor of The Tourist (although the rumors of her return of the sexy tattooed assassin remain at large) but she was holding out on officially signing on to The Tourist until Spyglass found a director she approved of.

Strangely enough, Tom Cruise was originally set to costar but dropped out in favor of Knight & Day with Cameron Diaz. Jolie's latest film, Salt, was originally set to star Tom Cruise, but then he backed out, the writers did a quick fix-me-up on the script, and voila -- here's Evelyn Salt!

In any case, this remake of Anthony Zimmer is about an Interpol agent hot on the trail of a former paramour and criminal; the spy makes use of an American tourist to help find her. Sam Worthington (Avatar) costars as the tourist, and according to /Film, Jolie plays the ex. On the other hand, Variety is reporting that she plays the Interpol agent. Hollywood Reporter is taking the safer route and not saying what Jolie's role will be. Yikes!

2011 sounds like one of those things where the movie keeps getting pushed back more and more until the stars and director are all like, "Whatever, I have no idea what's happening with that any more." But remember when Angelina Jolie provided us guilty pleasure movies like The Bone Collector? I would be happy to see her as the spy or the criminal; what do you think?

Continue reading Real-Life Romances On The Big Screen

Real-Life Romances On The Big Screen

Jessica Barnes — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:32:00 EST

Filed under: Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Lists, Nicole Kidman, Trailers and Clips

It's not that strange for two people who work together to fall in love, but it does seem to happen an awful lot in Hollywood (although to be fair, most of us don't spend our days rolling around half-naked with our co-workers). So even though it might be easy to fall in love at work, it isn't as easy for a couple to stay in love once they're spending every waking moment together -- and the latest celebrity couple who will put my theory to the test is Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer (better known as Sookie and Vampire Bill) from HBO's True Blood. The two fell in love (and got engaged) while working on the vampire soap, and now they're heading back to work together in the thriller, Open House.

According to IMDB, the story will center on a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, and are trying to offload their palatial home during a weekend 'open house'. But, things start to get a little weird when it turns out one of the potential buyers never left. The film was written by Paquin's brother Andrew (who will be making his directorial debut), and the cast will include Tricia Helfer (BSG), Rachel Blanchard (Spread), and Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker) in unspecified roles while the True Blood stars will play the married couple.

Moyer and Paquin aren't the first real-life couple who like to work together, and over the years plenty of Hollywood power couples have tried and failed to translate that relationship onto the big screen. After the jump: some other famous real-life couples on the big screen...

Tom Cruise's 'Wichita' Turns to 'Knight & Day'

Jenni Miller — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:15:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Thrillers, Casting, Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise has been in Boston (what, haven't you read the reports of Suri sightings in Beantown?) filming what was previously known as Witchita, a new film from Fox co-starring Cameron Diaz that is billed as a spy comedy romance thriller. Well, the film that has been blowing sh*t up in Massachusetts has the new title Knight & Day, as well as an impressive roster of new cast members.

In addition to Cruise, Diaz, Paul Dano, Maggie Grace, and Marc Blucas, Knight & Day has added Oscar nom Viola Davis, thespian Peter Sarsgaard, and sexpot Olivier Martinez to the cast.

As Jen Yamato pointed out, this sounds like it could be successfully aimed at the female audience, but can audiences accept the idea of Tom Cruise as a Clooney-type dreamboat? Can he still be funny? (Funny on purpose -- not funny like in Valkyrie.) Will female audiences be turned off by Diaz? James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) is directing, but the five (!) screenwriters include Dana Fox, who wrote Couples Retreat and What Stays in Vegas, and partner Scott Frank wrote Marley & Me and The Interpreter.

Color me skeptical. Cutesy title and a mixed bag of actors and writers? What do you think?

Continue reading Local News Airs Set Explosion From Tom Cruise's 'Wichita'

Local News Airs Set Explosion From Tom Cruise's 'Wichita'

Jen Yamato — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:15:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Comedy, Romance, Newsstand, Tom Cruise, Movie Marketing, Images, Trailers and Clips

The last time Tom Cruise romanced Cameron Diaz on screen, some serious Fatal Attraction kind of s*** went down. So count us among those curious to see how their next pairing will turn out, especially considering this week's news that Paul Dano has joined the cast of their spy comedy-romance-thriller, Wichita. But while a handful of tame set photos have emerged from the Boston set, we can get a glimpse of what level action to expect thanks to one enterprising local news station that broadcast footage of an expensive-looking set piece filmed this weekend.

As Cinematical's Peter Martin reported earlier this year, the Diaz-Cruise starrer is being directed by James Mangold, who also did a script polish with Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island). Will it be anything like Mangold's only other romance-tinged film, Kate & Leopold? Let's hope not. Set for release in July 2010, Wichita joins a crowded 20th Century Fox summer slate but might just draw in that key summer demographic: the ladies.

Diaz stars as a Midwestern woman romanced by a secret agent (Cruise) who gets swept up in his globe-trotting secret agent shenanigans; Maggie Grace, Marc Blucas, and Paul Dano co-star. I'm guessing that this action-comedy might play a little something like True Lies, but I can't quite decide what I find the scariest: watching Tom Cruise try to be funny, watching Tom Cruise make it with Cameron Diaz, or watching Cameron Diaz do a Midwestern accent?

Continue reading Now It's the 50 Best Movies of the Decade!

Now It's the 50 Best Movies of the Decade!

Jessica Barnes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:02:00 EST

Filed under: Fandom, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Lists, Trailers and Clips

Earlier today we brought you Rotten Tomatoes' list of the 100 worst reviewed films of the decade. Now, though it might be a little premature (considering that we still have a little while to go before we hit our next decade), the good folks over at I Heart Chaos have decided to get the ball rolling on those end-of-decade lists by shoveling out what they believe are the Top 50 Movies of the 2000's. Usually these kinds of things start to gain in popularity towards the end of the year, but I guess the early bird does get the worm, so let's get right to the chase and find out who made the cut.

When you've got a a list of 50, there is plenty of wiggle room, and it's a pretty comprehensive list that manages to find room for cult faves and foreign flicks. But I'll admit, even though Chaos has put together a solid list, I was a little surprised that the #1 film for this decade is Quentin Tarantino's Samurai/Cowboy epic, Kill Bill -- though that's the beauty of a list, everyone wants to have a little friendly debate, I guess. You can read the entire list over at Chaos, but rounding out the top five are The Dark Knight, No Country for Old Men, and Kinji Fukasaku's adaptation of Battle Royale.

The great thing about a long list like Chaos' is that it makes room for all kinds of movies that sometimes you just don't have room for in streamlined lists of five or ten entries. But I love a challenge, so I decided to put together a list of my top films of the 2000s ... although I've cheated just a little.

After the jump: my nominations for the top films of the 2000s...

Will Robert Downey Jr. Be the Next Lestat?

Elisabeth Rappe — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 09:03:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Universal, RumorMonger, Newsstand, Tom Cruise, Remakes and Sequels

Like everyone in the civilized world, I love Robert Downey Jr., and it's because I love him that I fervently hope that this fangbanger rumor hits sunlight, and bursts into flames. Bloody Disgusting reports that Universal is looking to cash in on the blood-sucking frenzy, and reboot Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, and that Downey is in talks to play the famous Lestat de Lioncourt.

Lestat was the hero of most of Rice's vampire novels. Blond, bisexual, and a blend of poetry and snark, his seductive powers led him into all kinds of scrapes. He seduced men and women, ran around with the Devil, swapped bodies with humans, seduced the first vampire (who just happened to be an Egyptian queen), and found time to be a rock star. At thirteen, he was one of the most wonderful literary characters I had ever met and by my 20s I found him pretty annoying. Your mileage may vary. But I was one of the few who actually liked Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, and enjoyed Tom Cruise in the role, and was always disappointed that they didn't go on to make The Vampire Lestat together. I think Cruise could have done good things with that installment.

To bring it back now just feels wrong. It feels like a series that time has just passed by, and so much of Rice has been ripped off by every vampire series after that it's not going to really offer anything new. But if they go through with it (and with Twilight and True Blood winding everyone up, I have no doubt they will), they have to look elsewhere for Lestat, don't you think? Downey is wrong for the role, far more ill-suited to the Frenchman's fangs than Cruise ever was. Hopefully, it won't come to pass, and a new Chronicles will only happen in a universe where Alexander Skarsgard can take the role because he isn't on True Blood.

Frank Darabont Will Die To Make 'Fahrenheit 451'

Elisabeth Rappe — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:02:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Classics, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Casting, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp

A new adaptation (I refuse to use the word remake here) of Fahrenheit 451 has been in the works for ten years now. I was very excited by the news that Mel Gibson was planning it as a Braveheart follow-up, as it seemed like that would mark a new and serious phase of his directing career. I wish that was something I could have been right about.

Frank Darabont was the next one to take it on, and he's been attached to it since 2001, rewriting Terry Hayes' script and being delayed by everything from Indiana Jones IV, Mission Impossible III, The Mist, and Law Abiding Citizen. SciFi Wire caught up with Darabont at the Saturn Awards, and the director / writer declared that it was really time to get on with it already ... and that it might actually get underway this time, depending on whether or not the Big Name Actor he wants signs on.

"Fahrenheit is the thing I'm trying to get up next, which is casting-dependent, so it's one of those. I'm out to somebody at the moment, fingers crossed, because, boy, do I want to make that movie. I'm not giving up. I'll die in the traces before I don't make that movie ... It's not one of those movies that are vastly expensive by any contemporary standard, but money is still money, and it's of a price that requires somebody that will justify that investment. This is definitely going to be more than The Mist, so those other considerations do come into play."

You can go crazy wondering just who that Big Actor who can pull in the money and box office might be. Could it be someone that rumors have long attached, like Tom Hanks (Darabont's pick for years), Brad Pitt, or Tom Cruise? Or could we be looking at someone newly bankable, like Johnny Depp?

Cruise! Diaz! Spy Comedy! 'Wichita' (?!)

Peter Martin — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:35:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Comedy, Romance, Casting, Deals, RumorMonger, 20th Century Fox, Tom Cruise

Don't hold your breath, but Tommy Boy may have chosen his next project. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz "are in advanced negotiations" to star in an action comedy currently titled Wichita, according to Variety. Cruise is notoriously ~~indecisive~~ cautious, though, so it's not a go until the cameras start rolling.

If all goes well for 20th Century Fox, the idea is to throw the movie into the summer 2010 maelstrom. Fox already has The A-Team, Gulliver's Travels, and Predator set for the season. The bigger question is how Cruise would handle the role. The character he would play is described as "a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of a single woman." The movie is described as having "several action scenes," so it sounds like it would lean more on comedy and romance. The sole time Cruise has tried to be funny and romantic was his Academy Award-nominated performance 13 years ago in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire. Cruise looks very good when he's running, and can play stoic and stiff in his sleep, but comedy is basically an undiscovered country for him.

The secondary question is James Mangold, who is set to direct. He has mad skills with actors (Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line), but his only previous romantic comedy was Kate & Leopold with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman in 2001, which, alas, I haven't seen. Cameron Diaz is a definite asset as a comedic actress. Still, I'm wondering: is this a recipe for disaster?

Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 5/19

Peter Martin — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:02:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Thrillers, New on DVD, Family Films, Tom Cruise, Home Entertainment

Valkyrie
Tom Cruise wants to kill Hitler. "Worth seeing for its irresistible ensemble of character actors, a handful of really well-crafted sequences, and a truth-based story that simply deserves to be repeated," wrote Scott Weinberg. Directed by Bryan Singer. Available in single-disc and double-disc editions, and also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Kevin James as a plus-sized man in uniform. "Harmlessly humorless, Paul Blart tepidly goes through its motions, but that doesn't mean you have to," opined Nick Schager. Directed by Steve Carr. Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

My Bloody Valentine 3D

Remake of 1981 slasher flick. "Cheesy, corny, gimmicky, gory fun ... low-brow entertainment with high-tech execution," declared William Goss, and I concur. Consider this movie a love letter to horror fans. With Jensen Ackles and Kerr Smith. Directed by Patrick Lussier. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

True Blood: The Complete First Season

Southern Gothic vampire weirdness translated remarkably well to television, despite some wonky faux-Louisiana accents. Not every episode works, yet even the imperfections and blemishes are fascinating to watch. With Anna Paquin. Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.

Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 5/19

After the jump: Indies on DVD, more Blu-ray picks, and Collector's Corner!

Travolta Cassidy and the Sundance Cruise?

Monika Bartyzel — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:15:00 EST

Filed under: Casting, RumorMonger, Tom Cruise, Western

I seriously love the Daily Express. These guys know how to scheme up a good rumor. This time around, they're going for the ultimate buddy remake. Forget the likes of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Who'd want those guys when you can have Tom Cruise and John Travolta? According to the gossip rag, Cruise wants to remake the 1969 classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and star in it along with Travolta. Not only that, but Cruise reportedly got the blessing of Paul Newman before he passed on.

According to the Express' source, this remake has "been a pet project of his [Cruise] that has been on the back-burner for years. But now he's ready to go, and will most likely happily eschew the enormous salary that he normally commands."

Now I'd love to see Travolta and Cruise as buddies on the big screen. I think they could have a lot of fun with each other. But a Western? One of the most iconic Westerns with two of Hollywood's most notable and critically loved male stars? No thanks. If this is, in any way, true, Newman must have been high on pain meds. And if it comes to fruition, I think we're all going to want to be high on them.

Would you like Travolta Cassidy and the Sundance Cruise?

Read the Best Movie That You're Never Going to See

William Goss — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:03:00 EST

Filed under: RumorMonger, Scripts, Tom Cruise, NSFW

This is what I know for sure: that two or more screenwriters got together and wrote a screenplay so ... touchy that their respective agencies refused to send out, and as such, they've made this hilariously irreverent project available on the interwebs for any and all to gawk at and gasp over.

As a matter of time and priorities, I rarely read or go looking for scripts, but with yesterday being a Sunday and all, I was blessed with an hour or two to spare and this entering my periphery. And guess what? I don't want to see this made into a movie. It simply wouldn't do. Hollywood is incapable of serving up huevos like this to people like us -- at best, they'll be undercooked.

Not to oversell it, but the ~~careers~~ nay, lives of all involved (audience included) would peak after it was made and seen. We don't deserve this. God doesn't deserve this. But there it is. Enjoy.

Continue reading Geek Daily: Mickey Rourke Has to Eat, Muscle Suits and Wolverine, And More!

Geek Daily: Mickey Rourke Has to Eat, Muscle Suits and Wolverine, And More!

Elisabeth Rappe — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:03:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Casting, Deals, MGM, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, Tom Cruise, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

There is a delicious irony in the penny-pinching that surrounds Iron Man 2. We're talking about Tony Stark, a Marvel character who is wealthier than God, and whose sequel will bring in millions at the box office. Yet the studio reportedly didn't want to bring Jon Favreau back because they were convinced they could pay a new guy less. Then came reports that they dumped Terrence Howard largely because they had overpaid him. Last week, Samuel L. Jackson told the world that Marvel was feeling the economic crunch, and wouldn't pay his asking price to reprise the role of Nick Fury. Now, Variety reports that Marvel is offering Mickey Rourke the grand total of $250,000 to play Crimson Dynamo, and hints that he may not sign for such a low offer. Seriously Marvel? Of course, actors are hideously overpaid and all, but I think Rourke deserves a decent chunk of change for Iron Man 2 considering what Marvel will make on the film.

Meanwhile the "maybe they aren't overpaid, money doesn't heal humiliation" category, check out this Liev Schreiber quote from Details about playing Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. "I started to read blogs in the comic world with things like 'That's the dumpiest, most out-of-shape Sabretooth I've ever seen in my life!' They gave me a muscle suit at the beginning. I was so humiliated I thought, I've got to try to do this on my own ... I felt like I owed it to the genre to be big." Now take a moment, and be glad Fox cast someone as committed as Schreiber so that you didn't have to see Sabretooth in a rubber muscle suit.

Interview: 'Valkyrie' Producer and Writer Christopher McQuarrie

James Rocchi — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:02:00 EST

Filed under: Thrillers, MGM, United Artists, Podcasts, Celebrities and Controversy, Tom Cruise, Interviews, War

Best known as the writer of The Usual Suspects, Christopher McQuarrie has an impressive number of films on his resume (including his criminally overlooked directorial debut, The Way of the Gun), but Valkyrie -- opening nationwide this week -- saw him also serve as a producer alongside director Bryan Singer and star Tom Cruise. A thriller about the 1944 plot inside the German military to try and assassinate Adolph Hitler, Valkyrie turns one of history's nightmares into a taut modern thriller -- a tricky balancing act that the film pulls off: "What we tried to do was to always maintain the focus that this was a movie about an event, that this was a movie about the events of July 20th (1944), and remain focused on that. We weren't making a bio-pic, we weren't making a film about the Holocaust -- all of those things were happening ... (but) this movie is about this incredible event that happened. ... And at the same time, maintaining a sense of responsibility."

McQuarrie spoke with Cinematical from New York about working alongside the German government, how producing a mega-million war film was like "drinking from a firehose," forgoing German accents, his possible future take on superheroic franchise The Champions and much more. You can listen to the podcast here at Cinematical by clicking below:

You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie, Together Forever

Elisabeth Rappe — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:45:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Drama, Foreign Language, Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, United Artists, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Newsstand, Tom Cruise, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, War

Okay, maybe Tom Cruise and Valkyrie screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie won't be together forever ... but they are in for a very long haul. Variety reports that McQuarrie is penning no less than three projects for Cruise to star in.

The first up is likely to be The Tourist, which has Cruise and Charlize Theron attached as the leads. A remake of the French thriller Anthony Zimmer, the original script was penned by Julian Fellowes. McQuarrie is quickly rewriting it so that the film can begin shooting by March.

The pair also might be returning to World War II, as McQuarrie and Mason Alley are teaming up to write Flying Tigers, the real life story of a volunteer fighter squadron that was formed to assist the Chinese in fighting the Japanese during WWII. Cruise isn't formally attached, but he has been itching to do another fighter pilot movie since the days of Top Gun.

But the most intriguing film on the McQuarrie-Cruise slate is the UA project The Champions, which McQuarrie is penning and producing alongside Guillermo del Toro. Based on the British television series about super-powered government agents, it's now being developed for Cruise to star in. It was inevitable that Cruise was going to want in on this whole "superhero" trend -- the aura around his Tropic Thunder costar Robert Downey Jr. was espcially hard to miss. How could he not want some of that? Remember, he's already attached to Sam Raimi's Sleeper, so he's obviously waking up to the trend and franchise potential of superpowers. Well, best of luck to McQuarrie and Cruise -- may the relationship be a fruitful one.

Charlize Theron Recruits Tom Cruise in 'The Tourist'

Peter Martin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:02:00 EST

Filed under: Thrillers, Casting, Tom Cruise, Remakes and Sequels

He was once the hottest thing on the planet; she was most recently a secret selling point of a summer blockbuster. Will a first-time teaming of Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron melt the universe? If negotiations get finalized, they'll be united in awesomeness in the upcoming thriller The Tourist, according to Variety.

Cruise is set to play the titular role of an American vacationer who gets sucked into a dark world of espionage when an Interpol agent taps him to help her catch a sneaky bad guy. Don't you hate when that happens? If only I could count the number of times I've been recruited while on vacation to assist a gorgeous, highly-trained government agent do her job. Theron would play the agent, a woman with a past romantic history with the wily master criminal. I must ask again: why do all the beautiful ladies always fall for the irredeemably corrupt yet charming bad boys?

My guess is that Theron uses Cruise to make her old boyfriend jealous, but I haven't seen Anthony Zimmer, the French original that serves as the basis for The Tourist. Maybe that doesn't matter, because the original's plot has evidently been changed around. In Anthony Zimmer, the female lead was not a law-enforcement officer but instead the criminal's current mistress.

Will Tom have hidden talents that blossom only when forced into the role of a reluctant warrior? Will Charlize fall for a typical American tourist dressed in Bermuda shorts and black socks? Will sparks fly between Tom and Charlize? Time will tell; production is slated to begin by next March under the helm of director Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day).

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise are Overpaid

Christopher Campbell — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:45:00 EST

Filed under: Box Office, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman

In the last few years, Nicole Kidman has starred in a number of movies that underperformed at the box office, but last year's disappointing grosses for ~~The Interpreter~~ The Invasion, The Golden Compass and even Margot at the Wedding likely contributed to her being named the least bankable actor in Hollywood by Forbes magazine. Apparently, given her exorbitant asking price, Forbes estimates her movies only earn, on average, as much from ticket sales as she earns for appearing in them. This is a major drop compared to last year, when Kidman's films were estimated to gross $8 for every $1 she's paid.

After Kidman, Forbes names Jennifer Garner, whose '07 films The Kingdom and Catch and Release did poorly enough that the runaway success of Juno couldn't help her ranking. On average her films grossed $3.60 for every $1 she took home. In third place, not surprisingly, is Kidman's ex, Tom Cruise, who bombed big time with Lions for Lambs last year. Others making the list of most overpaid actors include Nicolas Cage, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Cate Blanchett and Will Ferrell. Meanwhile, Russell Crowe, who topped the list last year, is considered more fairly paid this year thanks to the success of American Gangster.

Such fluctuations in actors' bankability only continues the debate regarding the importance of movie stars these days. Certainly all the names on Forbes' list are big names who occasionally headline blockbuster hits, but are they actually significant to moviegoers' attraction to a movie? Apparently not.

So, which actor do you think is most in need of a major reality check before his or her next major paycheck?