Tom Cruise…president?
Don’t worry, Tom Cruise isn’t actually about to become another celebrity meddling in politics. Just that Variety says Cruise is considering taking up a film to be called “The 28th Amendment” as his next project. As you may remember, Mr. I-Survived-Valkyrie had vowed to work more frequently after going through the lengthy, entangled wringer that was the filming and distribution of the WW II drama. He’s said to be considering five projects, with this one as the frontrunner.
“The 28th Amendment” is said to be a “drama [that] revolves around a U.S. president who discovers the existence of a secret cabal that runs the government and wants him dead.” Oh great, just what the conspiracy lobby needs. I can hear people all over the country saying, “See? I told you so!” Apparently it was a spec script that’s been floating around for years; now Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are doing a rewrite.
Most interestingly, though, is the news that Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is in the running to direct. He’s best known for “The Lives of Others,” which won best foreign language film a few years ago. Considering that film’s setting in the secret police-infested East Germany of the Cold War era, this would seem to be a fitting choice for the German director’s first film since he won the Oscar. Supposedly his interest in the project is what’s making Cruise lean towards it, something which no doubt increases the interest of Warner Brothers, the studio behind the project who would love to put the always attention-getting Cruise name above the title.
This sounds like a pretty run of the mill political thriller to me at least, but if Mr. von Donnermarck is into it, then I’ve got to think there’s a little more there…there.
