Alicia Malone
Two big bits of movie news today both contain the words Tom and Cruise. First item has young Mapother circling Christopher McQuarrie’s adaptation of “One Shot”, a thriller based on the Lee Child book series about Jack Reacher, a former military policeman-turned-drifter who some might say isn’t so much the Cruise type (OK, Cruise isn’t really appropriate at all) as he is the Dwayne Johnson type – at least that’s how he comes across in the book. Author Child has thrown his weight behind Cruise, stating he’ll do a fine job. “Reacher’s size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way,” he said. Producing is David Ellison, the actor cum producer who bankrolled Cruise’s “Mission : Impossible – Ghost Protocol”. (Deadline)
Meantime, Cruise’s name has come up in relation to Walter Hill’s “Headshot”. The film, a two-hander about a hitman and a cop who team up to take down a common enemy, will star Sylvester Stallone in the role of the former and, up until a couple of weeks, had Thomas Jane pencilled in to play the cop. “Lethal Weapon” producer Joel Silver joined the production recently and immediately dumped Jane from the film – not because the “Punisher” actor isn’t a marquee name (he’s not, but they say that’s got nothing to do with it) but because he’s white. According to Silver, buddy cop-type movies only work when a white actor and a black actor are teamed. Silver has had success with his white/black match-up movies, like “48 Hours”, “Lethal Weapon” and “Demolition Man” but at the same time, he’s never really bothered to make a one-race actioner (I don’t include “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” or “Sherlock Holmes” here because I think they’re totally different types of films). So now Silver’s looking for someone to join Sly on the film, and last we heard Eddie Murphy was the top pick. Today, a couple of folks tell us that Cruise got together with Sly at Joel Silver’s birthday bash on the weekend to discuss the movie. That’s just a rumour doing the rounds at the moment so there mightn’t be anything to it but if there is, someone best tell Silver that Cruise isn’t African American. And when Cruise is supposed to fit this all in? I do not know.
