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Paramount Eyes Chris McQuarrie To Helm Tom Cruise In Next ‘Mission: Impossible’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday November 14, 2012 @ 9:01am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Christopher McQuarrie, Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: After directing Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher, Christopher McQuarrie is poised to take on the next installment of Cruise’s signature tentpole. I’m told that McQuarrie is the choice to helm the fifth Mission: Impossible film that is in the early stages of being put together by Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. They will hire writers before making it official, but he’s the guy that Cruise and JJ Abrams want.

M:I-5 is a big priority for the studio after the Brad Bird-directed Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol grossed just under $700 million worldwide. McQuarrie, who won the Oscar for scripting The Usual Suspects, has more recently become Cruise’s go-to guy as a writer. After collaborating with Cruise on Valkyrie, McQuarrie has had a credited or uncredited hand in most of Cruise’s recent films including All You Need Is Kill, Ghost Protocol (uncredited), and the Top Gun 2 film which is in limbo after the death of director Tony Scott. Paramount and Skydance also have McQuarrie developing to direct Without Remorse, the action thriller based on the Tom Clancy novel. READ MORE »

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Paramount Confirms Christopher McQuarrie Taking On Tom Clancy’s ‘Without Remorse’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday August 7, 2012 @ 8:40am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Christopher McQuarrie, Jack Ryan, Paramount, Tom Clancy, Without Remorse
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has confirmed to me that it is near a deal with Christopher McQuarrie to adapt Tom Clancy’s 1993 novel Without Remorse, with an eye toward directing the film. I’d revealed last week that this was looking … Read More »

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Director Talk: David Yates For ‘Tarzan,’ Christopher McQuarrie For ‘Without Remorse’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 1, 2012 @ 11:52am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Christopher McQuarrie, David Yates, Paramount, Tarzan, Warner Bros, Without Remorse
Mike Fleming

No deals have been made, but I am hearing that things are getting serious between Warner Bros and Harry Potter director David Yates on Tarzan, the long … Read More »

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David Oyelowo Joins Steven Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday November 17, 2011 @ 6:38pm PSTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, George Lucas, John Cusack, Lee Daniels, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: David Oyelowo has joined the cast of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. He has headed to Virginia and will play the role of a cavalryman. Oyelowo takes the job while he’s concurrently shooting the Christopher McQuarrie-directed One Shot with Tom Cruise … Read More »

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Hayley Atwell, Diane Kruger, Kate Beckinsale Reading With Tom Cruise For ‘Oblivion’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday October 26, 2011 @ 12:35pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Diane Kruger, Joseph Kosinski, Kate Beckinsale, Oblivion, Tom Cruise, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The hot role for young actresses is in Universal’s Joseph Kosinski-directed Tom Cruise science fiction film Oblivion. Jessica Chastain already signed on for one of two plum roles, and I’m told the studio will read three actresses for the … Read More »

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Christopher McQuarrie Launches Transmedia Navy SEAL Drama

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 14, 2011 @ 8:02am PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Osama Bin Laden, Rubicon, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

Christopher McQuarrie will write, produce and direct Rubicon, a new property that is intended to be turned into a movie, graphic novel and videogame. McQuarrie is directing Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in One Shot, but the project was announced … Read More »

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Josh Olson Scripts ‘Tabloid’ For Mick Jagger And Steve Bing

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday September 26, 2011 @ 12:42pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Mick Jagger, Steve Bing, Tabloid, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: A History of Violence scribe Josh Olson has been set to write Tabloid, the working title of an adult thriller that is being fashioned as a potential starring vehicle for Mick Jagger. Jagger had the idea for the film, … Read More »

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Rosamund Pike Gets Female Lead In Tom Cruise’s ‘One Shot’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 17, 2011 @ 7:29am PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Film Casting, Lee Child, One Shot, Paramount Pictures, Rosamund Pike, Skydance Productions, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Rosamund Pike is negotiating for the female lead opposite Tom Cruise in One Shot, the Christopher McQuarrie-directed adaptation of the bestselling Lee Child novel series for Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. Pike was among a small group … Read More »

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Paramount Moves Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible’ To December 21 And Sets ‘One Shot’ For Early 2013

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday July 27, 2011 @ 2:10pm PDTTags: Anil Kapoor, Brad Bird, Christopher McQuarrie, Jack Reacher, Jeremy Renner, JJ Abrams, Lee Child, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, One Shot, Paramount Pictures, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures will move Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol from its Dec. 16, 2011 release date to Wednesday, Dec. 21, putting the picture smack into the holiday corridor. That moves the film back from opening against Warner Bros’ Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows and Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel. It will now open against the David Fincher-directed Sony drama The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and be released two days before Paramount’s The Adventures of Tintin, Summit’s The Darkest Hour, Fox’s We Bought A Zoo, and FilmDistrict’s release of the Angelina Jolie-directed In The Land Of Blood And Honey.

At the same time, Paramount will soon formalize a Feb. 8, 2013 release date for One Shot, the Christopher McQuarrie-directed adaptation of the Lee Child mystery novel series that the studio hopes will launch another Cruise franchise. Cruise committed earlier this month to play Jack Reacher, a retired military policeman who wanders the country with his toothbrush, the clothes on his back and his bankbook and inadvertently gets involved in conspiracies that find him taking the side of the powerless and exploited. He often settles matters with explosive violence. For Paramount, the strategy is to replicate the winter release pattern it followed successfully on Shutter Island, the Dennis Lehane novel that was directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Read More »

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Tom Cruise Locked To Play Jack Reacher In ‘One Shot’ For Paramount And Skydance

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday July 15, 2011 @ 7:11pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Dana Goldberg, David Ellison, Jack Reacher, Lee Child, One Shot, Paramount Pictures, Paula Wagner, Skydance Productions, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions have closed a deal with Tom Cruise to play Jack Reacher in One Shot, the thriller based on the Lee Child bestselling book series about the former military policeman-turned-drifter. An early fall start date … Read More »

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Fox Chooses James Mangold On ‘Wolverine’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 6:26pm PDTTags: Antoine Fuqua, Christopher McQuarrie, Darren Aronofsky, Gavin O'Connor, Hugh Jackman, James Mangold, The Wolverine
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: James Mangold is 20th Century Fox’s  and star Hugh Jackman’s choice to direct The Wolverine, ending one of the most competitive contests among directors for a major studio film. Negotiations are about to get underway, but I’m told that Mangold … Read More »

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Tom Cruise In Talks To Play Jack Reacher In Chris McQuarrie-Directed ‘One Shot’ For Paramount And Skydance

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday June 13, 2011 @ 3:51pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Lee Child, One Shot, Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Tom Cruise
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are negotiating with Tom Cruise to star this fall in One Shot, a thriller based on the Lee Child book series about former military policeman-turned-drifter Jack Reacher. Christopher McQuarrie will direct his script. The talks going on right now is for Cruise to make the movie before he stars in the Joseph Kosinski-directed Oblivion at Universal, which starts in January.

Making a Cruise deal is always tricky, and if the One Shot deal takes awhile to come together, it would happen after Oblivion shoots next year. Paramount will co-finance the film with Skydance Productions, whose principal David Ellison also co-financed Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.

Fans of the Reacher book will have to absorb this development, because Cruise is very different physically from the bruising tough guy who has created mayhem over 15 bestselling novels that have sold 40 million copies. In the books, Reacher is 6’5,” about 250 pounds, and when you are on the business end of his clenched fists, you are most likely going to be spitting out teeth and getting fitted for a cast or two. Cruise has always been interested in the Reacher series. In fact, when he and Paula Wagner were partners at C/W, they optioned the book five years ago. Paramount has been developing ever since, but this is the closest that the Reacher franchise has to becoming a reality after years in development. So what if he’s not as tall and beefy as Reacher? I’m told that the author himself is excited about Cruise playing the role, that Cruise personifies the qualities Reacher displays in the books. As for Reacher’s hulking physical size, Child wasn’t locked into an oversized actor (one reason the film took so long to get off the ground), and it was more about establishing an intimidating presence.

“Reacher’s size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way,” Child said when he threw his support behind the move. Read More »

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Will Hugh Jackman Soon Be Packing For A ‘Fantastic Voyage?’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 3, 2011 @ 2:22pm PDTTags: Carlton Cuse, Christopher McQuarrie, Darren Aronofsky, David Slade, Duncan Jones, Fantastic Voyage, Hugh Jackman, James Cameron, John Gatins, Laeta Kalogridis, Shane Salerno, Shawn Levy
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: I’m hearing that Hugh Jackman is director Shawn Levy’s first choice to star in 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Voyage, the James Cameron-produced 3D tent pole film. It’s early days, but this would give Jackman a big movie to do … Read More »

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‘True Grit’ Co-Financier Skydance Targets ‘Star Blazers’ For Christopher McQuarrie

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday February 21, 2011 @ 10:26am PSTTags: Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron, Chris Pine, Christopher McQuarrie, Dan Fogelman, David Caspe, David Ellison, Ethan Coen, Jack Bender, Jack Ryan, Joel and Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Larry Ellison, Legendary Pictures, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Seth Rogen, Shane Salerno, Skydance Productions, Steve Zaillian, Thomas Tull, Tom Cruise, True Grit
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: David Ellison’s Skydance Productions is negotiating a rights deal to turn the 1970s animated science fiction TV series Star Blazers into a large scale live action feature. Ellison will hire Christopher McQuarrie to write the script, with Ellison and … Read More »

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Fox 2000 Acquires ‘Monster Of Florence’ With George Clooney Attached To Star

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday January 4, 2011 @ 6:10pm PSTTags: Book-to-Movie, Christopher McQuarrie, Fox 2000, George Clooney, Movie Deals, Movies
Mike Fleming

Fox 2000 has closed a deal that turns the bestselling crime book The Monster of Florence into a star vehicle for George Clooney. Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander are aboard to write the script. Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen … Read More »

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HOT HELMING: With ‘Wolverine 2′ Job Filled At Fox, Next Big Directing Gig Is Lionsgate’s ‘Pride, Prejudice, Zombies’ With Scarlett

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Sunday October 17, 2010 @ 8:32pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky X-Men Origins Deal, Darren Aronofsky X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2, David O Russell Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Directors, Hugh Jackman X-Men Sequel, Movie Deals, Movies, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: I’ve begun hearing directing candidates to replace David O Russell for Lionsgate’s Pride, Prejudice and Zombies: Mike Newell (Prince of Persia) is the early front runner, but they are still meeting filmmakers and I am hearing Descent’s Neil Marshall is in the mix. Details below.

EXCLUSIVE: One of Hollywood’s biggest directing gigs looks done. Darren Aronofsky’s deal to direct 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 is close enough that discussion has turned to shooting the sound stage portions of the film in New York so the filmmaker and Hugh Jackman don’t have to inconvenience their families. A March start date is being eyed so that Aronofsky has time to open Black Swan and be available for the inevitable awards season obligations. When the New York scenes are completed, they’ll head to Japan to shoot the bulk of the Christopher McQuarrie-scripted movie. Deadline told you last week that Aronofsky had set his sights on Wolverine after passing on the Warner Bros period crime drama Gangster Squad.

With the Wolverine job all but sealed, what’ll be the next hot job helmers will compete for? I’m told a lot of directors are lining up for Lionsgate’s Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, the Seth Grahame-Smith revisionist novel that enhances Jane Austen’s tale of class and manners in 19th Century England with the much-needed infusion of bloodthirsty brain-eating zombies. I’m told that after Natalie Portman backed out of playing Elizabeth Bennet, David O Russell had Scarlett Johansson ready to play the heroine and Bradley Cooper to play Mr. Darcy. Then, Russell himself left to focus on his collaboration with Vince Vaughn Old St. Louis and  Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune at Sony. Read More »

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No ‘Gangster Squad’ For Darren Aronofsky As He Nears Deal On ‘Wolverine 2′

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 12:05pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky X-Men Origins Deal, Gangster Squad, Hugh Jackman, Movie Deals, Movies, X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2
Mike Fleming

Scratch the Warner Bros period crime drama Gangster Squad from Darren Aronofsky’s Things To Do List. That Will Beall-scripted picture momentarily seemed to be the only thing in the way of the Black Swan helmer reuniting with his Fountain star … Read More »

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GK Films Sets Christopher McQuarrie To Draft ‘Unforgiven’ For Angelina Jolie

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday August 25, 2010 @ 4:07pm PDTTags: Angelina Jolie, Christopher McQuarrie, GK Films, Graham King, Peter Schlessel President GK Films
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Graham King, who established himself as a producer by doing repeat business with talent like  Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Martin Scorsese and William Monahan, is fast developing that kind of relationship with Angelina Jolie.

I’m told GK Films is developing … Read More »

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No ‘Avon Man’ For Hugh Jackman

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 16, 2010 @ 4:13pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Hugh Jackman, Hugh Jackman X-Men Sequel, X-Men Origins: Wolverine Sequel
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Hugh Jackman won’t be knocking on doors this fall in the lead role of Avon Man, the 20th Century Fox comedy that Kevin Lima will direct. I’m told that Jackman has dropped out as the star. That’s going to … Read More »

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