Tom Cruise to Star in Alejandro G. Iñárritu Film for Warner Bros.

Movies

Tom Cruise may try to avenge Leonardo DiCaprio by going after that Revenant bear. (I’m kidding; I saw the movie and know what happens.) Yesterday, Variety ran an article saying that Cruise was looking to work with “auteurs” as part of his new deal with Warner Bros., particularly for his first movie with the studio under the deal. Names like Paul Thomas Anderson (who directed Cruise in Magnolia) and Quentin Tarantino (whose supposed final film, The Movie Critic, is a project Cruise is circling) are mentioned, but today, we have a definitive answer. According to a Deadline exclusive, Cruise will star in a movie directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, which Warner Bros. and Legendary are close to picking up. Nothing is known about the film yet, but this sounds like the exact kind of thing Cruise wants to do.

Tom Cruise doing some dramas and prestige pictures sounds good to me. I like his blockbuster films (in general; they’re not all good), but some of his best movies were from the era before he became Ethan Hunt. I’d love to see another film like A Few Good Men or The Firm, or something really unexpected like Interview With the  Vampire. (Imagine a career where you star in those three movies in a row!) He’s also done some great movies with auteur directors, like the magnificent Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s last film. It would also be great to see him do comedies again, like his breakthrough role in Risky Business. It’s funny to think about now, but if you were around back then, the idea of Tom Cruise as an action hero was considered silly. I remember when he made Mission: Impossible 2, and an article in some entertainment magazine called it his mid-life crisis movie, noting that he had never fired a gun on-screen before but was blasting away with twin Berettas in M:I 2. Well, look at him now, and look at that franchise. So, it’s neat to see him come full circle, looking for more grounded dramas again. And I’ll gladly see him in whatever Iñárritu has planned; I haven’t seen most of his films, but I loved The Revenant and Birdman, and they each featured excellent lead performances from great actors. I look forward to seeing what he’s got in store for Tom Cruise.