In honor of that impending deal Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's United Artists might be making with the WGA, allowing them to be the first Hollywood studio to bring writers back to work since the strike began, we figured it would be best to dig up an old Tom Cruise clip to share with you on this fine, fine day. But when looking for an old school Cruise clip that best celebrates this occasion, there was really only one place to go: 1983's Risky Business. You won't see Tommy gettin' down like he does here anymore; in fact, some of his more classic (and memorable) scenes involve the guy singing along to music -- having fun -- but he stopped all that nonsense long ago. Ah, but the clips still survive. Yay for us!

Some interesting tidbits about Risky Business: In this scene, Cruise improvised the entire dance. All it said in the script was that Joel needed to "dance to rock music." So yes, those are his moves ... and his moves only. Other folks we almost saw in this role include Tom Hanks and Nicolas Cage; both of whom auditioned for the part. Timothy Hutton was offered the role, but he passed. Thankfully, because it was this movie -- and, in some ways, this scene -- that flung Tommy Cruise into the spotlight. Good luck on your deal with the WGA, Mr. Cruise, and here's hoping you'll be doing a little dance like this once all the papers are signed.

Some major major news on the strike front seems to be leaking out today, with an official announcement expected to come at some point tomorrow (according to Deadline Hollywood). Looks like United Artists (aka the movie studio run by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner) is in the process of inking a deal with the WGA that's very similar to the one they made with David Letterman's Worldwide Pants. Said deal, if it goes through, would allow United Artists to work with writers on whatever upcoming projects they have planned, making them the first such studio allowed to do this since the strike began. Damn. Score one for Tommy Boy! It's not yet known which films will take advantage of this interim deal right off the bat, but we do know that Oliver Stone's Pinkville was recently postponed due to problems with the script. Chances are, with the cast for that flick already in place, it will be one of the first delayed productions to be back in business. Of course, this is all subject to the deal actually going through.

On the other hand, United Artists could get right to work on a literary property they just optioned for seven figures. While all this interim agreement talk continues, The Hollywood Reporter tells us UA has optioned the film rights to Ranger's Apprentice, a fantasy series written by Australian author John Flanagan. According to HR, it "follows the adventures of an orphan boy named Will who becomes an apprentice ranger and fights to keep the mythical kingdom of Araluen safe from invaders, traitors and other dangers with the help of his master Halt." Yup, that sounds like just about every fantasy series being optioned these days, but what's even more interesting is that writer-director Paul Haggis was in talks to adapt and direct at one point before the strike happened and halted those discussions. Haggis doing big-budget fantasy? Bit of a stretch if you ask me -- what do you think?

We're calling this one Pirates of the Caribbean: The Germans Are Coming! No, Tom Cruise is not replacing Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow; this is a pic of the actor -- as German officer Col. Claus von Stauffenberg -- from Bryan Singer's upcoming drama Valkyrie. RopesofSilicon bring us this first look, and they also have up a fairly interesting comparison shot of the real Stauffenberg and Cruise. To say these guys looked similar would be an understatement -- is there something about Tommy boy we don't know? In the film -- which is based on real-life events, Cruise plays a German officer who led the daring July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. This is a weird role for Cruise, and I'm curious to see if he throws on one of them English-German accents for the film. Also starring Patrick Wilson, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard and the very beautiful (as well as potential future Bond girl) Carice van Houten, Valkyrie is currently scoping out August 8, 2008 as a possible release date. So whaddya think -- would you bring this guy home to mom?

Tom Cruise has been alienating a lot of people lately, so what better way to get on their good side than by trying to kill Hitler? Production begins this summer on an untitled World War II thriller, starring Cruise and directed by Bryan Singer. The film will be based on actual events, and is said to be about German generals who hatch a scheme to assassinate Hitler at the height of WWII. Cruise and Paula Wagner (who looks like she's blowing up a building with her mind in her imdb photo), recently took over the re-launched United Artists, and they've got a pretty smart strategy for turning the studio around: Have Cruise star in everything!

This is the second film "The New UA" has announced that Cruise will appear in, the other being Lions for Lambs, in which he stars with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, who will also direct. Wagner says "After reading the script, Tom and I knew immediately that this was a film we had to make. As an added bonus, because of Bryan Singer's involvement and Tom's admiration for him as a filmmaker, as well as the excellence of the script, the project attracted Tom as an actor. I cannot think of a more perfect combination of creative elements for our second production." All that is known about what part Cruise will be playing is that it is a "central role." After Cruise's brogue in Far and Away, here's hoping he's not playing a German. Accents don't seem to be a strong suit of his.

Singer is said to have just enough time to fit this in before beginning production on the sequel to Superman Returns (The Return of Superman Returns?), which may or may not happen anyway. Gotta say, this movie sounds like it could be very cool, and I for one am thrilled to see Singer getting away from superheroes. And great news for you Keyser Soze fans, the thriller will be Singer's reunion with Usual Suspects writer Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote the script with Nathan Alexander.

Before he takes on a sequel to Superman Returns (currently titled Superman: The Man of Steel), Bryan Singer has decided to go back to his roots and helm a multi-character film that's similar to his 1995 hit The Usual Suspects. Teaming up once again with Suspects writer Chris McQuarrie, pic will be set during WWII and begins production this summer. Though he has an overall deal at Warner Bros. (where he's developing the Supes sequel, as well as a few other films), Singer and McQuarrie decided to put their faith in Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's United Artists who will make this their second film since leaving Paramount. Currently, they're in production on the smells-like-Oscar project Lions for Lambs, which stars Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford (who is also directing).

But what does this mean for the Superman sequel? According to Variety, this new film "will delay Warner Bros.' hope of mounting a sequel to Superman Returns in the near future." Last we heard, the sequel was being planned for a 2009 release, most likely during the summer. Will Singer have enough time to produce both films, or will The Man of Steel find himself shoved off till 2010? Regardless, I'm happy to see Singer leave the comic book universe for a little while; The Usual Suspects is a fantastic film, and if he and McQuarrie can tap back into some of that, I welcome it with open arms. What do you folks think: Is Singer making a good choice here? Or should he be concentrating solely on a Superman Returns sequel?

Imagine that it is a cold, January night in Greenwich Village. It is your birthday, and you are walking down the road, heading home from a blind date when a group of young thugs hold you at gunpoint and push you into a car. In a Brooklyn apartment, you're held captive while the group decides how to gain the most from your kidnapping -- they wanted a grand, but are excited to hear that you have much more than that in the bank. You hand over your ATM number and pin, but you also get a lot in return. Intermingled with threats of violence and requests for legal advice, you get offers of pot and sexual favors, since it is your birthday and all. After 25 hours being held captive, they give you some cab fare and dump you off in Prospect Park.

Sounds like a mixture of comedy and fright, doesn't it? This is the story of Stanley Alpert, an assistant U.S. attorney, who wrote an account of his night in 1998 in the just-published book, The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival. Only weeks after hitting the shelves, United Artists has optioned it. Beating out a number of other studios, it is one of the first possible features to be grabbed by the company since Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner joined. As Variety suggests, it could go either way -- as a comedy or a drama. Personally, I think they'd be doing us, and the story, a disservice to not relish the comedy in this story. There's lots of strange, thriller kidnapping stories out there, but how many times does one get a real story where the kidnappee gets offered sexual birthday presents by the same people trying to wipe out his bank account?

Some folks manage to land big acting gigs after studying the craft for years and acting in no-budget indie films, while suffering through an endless amount of part time jobs. Others, well, just happened to be working at the right gift shop at the right time. Yes, that's how Derek Luke was discovered -- he was working at a gift shop on the Sony lot when someone said, "Ya know that guy who sells Sony t-shirts? Yeah, how about we cast him as the lead in Antwone Fisher?"

Needless to say, Luke is hot right now -- he's starred in Catch a Fire, Friday Night Lights, Biker Boyz and Glory Road, just wrapped filming on Definitely, Maybe and, according to Variety, landed a role in the Robert Redford-directed Lions for Lambs starring Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Michael Pena and Redford. Luke will play one of two soldiers who strays from his platoon and winds up exactly where you don't want to be while stationed in Afghanistan. From there, storylines intersect and Oscar nominations are handed out.

Penned by Matthew Michael Carnahan (brother to director Joe Carnahan and writer behind The Kingdom), Lambs is quite the departure for Redford, who has yet to helm his own gritty, politically-charged film set in the Middle East. It also marks the first film for Cruise and producing partner Paula Wagner since they were booted from Paramount and landed at United Artists.