Tom Cruise to begin shooting new Alejandro G. Iñárritu movie in UK imminently
A new Tom Cruise movie is set to begin shooting in the UK as early as next month. It’s set to be directed, produced, and co-written by Oscar-winner Alejandro González Iñárritu.
The untitled project is still shrouded in mystery, but boasts a star-studded supporting cast including Oscar-nominees Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons, Coen Brothers favourite John Goodman, Call Me By Your Name actor Michael Stuhlbarg, and breakout star of the surprise Sundance hit Talk to Me, Sophie Wilde.
The movie, which was first announced in February, is Cruise’s first film under a deal he inked with Warner Bros. Discovery in January that sees him developing and producing movies for the studio. The project may well be a diversion for the actor, whose recent on-screen appearances have been almost exclusively in big-budget action movies and franchise instalments.
Iñárritu, who won back-to-back Best Directing Oscars for 2014’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and 2015’s The Revenant is an outspoken critic of the commercialisation of cinema, and has thus far stuck exclusively to pensive, occasionally cryptic scripts about the human condition that feature experimental filmmaking techniques such as exclusively natural lighting and extended takes.
In contrast, Cruise’s most recent projects have been two Mission: Impossible instalments and the global action hit Top Gun: Maverick. He is also working on the eighth Mission: Impossible film and a sci-fi thriller helmed by Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman which will make him the first civilian to do a spacewalk.
Although the story for the new project is still being kept under wraps, Iñárritu has teamed up with Mexican playwright Sabina Berman and two of the writers who helped script Birdman and The Revenant, Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolás Giacobone.
As reported by Variety, Cruise’s highly-publicised producing deal with Warner Bros. provides the star with his own offices on the Warner Bros. Discovery lot in California and is not exclusive, pointing to the influence that the Mission: Impossible actor wields in Hollywood in the wake of globally dominant hits like Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I.
As part of the deal, Cruise will develop, produce, and star in both franchise material and original content such as the Iñárritu project.
When it was first announced, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, co-chairs at Warner Bros Motion Picture Group, shared, “We are thrilled to be working with Tom, an absolute legend in the film industry. Our vision, from day one, has been to rebuild this iconic studio to the heights of its glory days.”
They continued: “In fact, when we first sat down with [Warner Bros. Discovery chief] David Zaslav to talk about joining the Warner Bros. Discovery team, he said to us, ‘We are on a mission to bring Warner Bros. back – we have the best resources, storytelling IP, and talent in the business – and we need to bring Tom Cruise back to Warner Bros!’”
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