Tom Cruise, Sam Raimi Teaming Up for DC Comics' 'Sleeper'

Tuesday

19Aug2008

Tom Cruise, Sam Raimi Teaming Up for DC Comics' 'Sleeper'

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 1:51AM

There's bouncing back from adversity and then there's what Tom Cruise has managed to pull off in the past two weeks. In the middle of a fairly brisk period of headlines for the former top star in the world, his longtime friend and producing partner Paula Wagner bailed on their joint project of running United Artists. He has also seen his name scratched off above the title of the CIA flick Edwin A. Salt (only to see it replaced by the name Angelina Jolie), and his WWII film Valkyrie, which moved from late 2008 to early 2009 a couple months ago, has now moved back to 2008.

And then there's the matter of his borderline brilliant cameo in a recent comedy.

But the news keeps on coming for Cruise, who, separate from his deal with United Artists, has now expressed interest in three upcoming projects operating at rival studios. The Spyglass thriller Tourist was first, followed by the Universal/Working Title comedy Food Fight, and now there's the DC Comics adaptation Sleeper, which will be produced by Sam Raimi and his Star Road Entertainment.

The Hollywood Reporter has all the details, but we'll give you the highlights: Sleeper is a sci-fi comic that ran from 2003 - 2005. Should Cruise star in the film (and it's his interest that is reportedly moving the business end of the deal along), he would likely play "an operative whose fusion with an alien artifact makes him impervious to pain and allows him to pass it on to others through skin contact." That's right: He has Impervious Cooties. We all knew this day would come.

Here's another hot little detail: The film is the property of Warner Bros., which is in the news for its arm wrestling match with Fox over the rights to Watchmen. Because the studio may look at this as a franchise opportunity, they will probably be a lot more careful when it comes to the language of the contract.

The project sounds really interesting. Raimi has an eye for quality material, and frankly, the movies Cruise has chosen to do over the past few years all sound interesting at first; it's when you actually see a Lions for Lambs or a Vanilla Sky that things start to fall apart. Hopefully, the combo of Raimi and Cruise can attract a top-flight writer who understands the comic and how to transfer it to the screen, and then they can hope to find a director who can create the world that story needs to succeed. It's not enough to have a big name star wanting to do a movie anymore, particularly one with the names Marvel or DC etched on the side.

Colin Boyd |

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2 Comments |

Reader Comments (2)

Guess Raimi won't be doing Spider Man 4 now that he's pulled a "Singer" and switched teams...

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |

Will

Vanilla sky was amazing i dont care what anyone says

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 |

jbarzee

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