Noyce Draws ‘Blood’ While ‘Edwin A. Salt’ Dangles
Referring to unnamed sources last week, Fox entertainment monkey Roger Friedman reported that Tom Cruise was likely off the upcoming film Edwin A. Salt, the story of a CIA officer who is accused of being a Russian sleeper spy. According to Friedman, Cruise bailed because the producers no longer consider him a $20 million star. Citing the actor’s age (45) and affiliation with Scientology, Friedman smirked, “His heyday as a box office star – if he ever had one – is over.”
Friedman then claimed Cruise had been replaced by Will Smith whom, Friedman noted with special glee, “Cruise has courted for Scientology.” Soaking delightedly in his own fey snarkasm* like Waldo Lydecker in a warm bath, Friedman quipped, “Talk about rubbing ‘Salt’ in a wound!” Emphasis and exclamation point Friedman’s. I can practically hear him titter as he dictates.
That’s all well and good, but then Moviehole’s Clint Morris reported that Friedman’s story was false all around. Morris quotes “high-ranking contacts within the production” as saying “the studio, producers, director and potential star (Cruise) are all waiting on a rewrite of the script from Kurt Wimmer, which is due in a few weeks. Will Smith has not been approached to star. Cruise is the only actor who has been approached.” Morris clarifies that Cruise isn’t officially on board the film and is waiting to see the new script. Cruise had apparently been previously concerned that the part was too close to his Ethan Hunt character from Mission Impossible.
Now comes another twist in the Salt story. Terry George and then Peter Berg had both been tossed around as possible directors for the film, but Variety’s Michael Flemming reported on June 30 that Phillip Noyce (the underrated Dead Calm) was in negotiations. Tonight word comes from Borys Kit and Steven Zeitchik in The Hollywood Reporter that Noyce is off Salt to develop and direct a remake of the 1935 pirate flick Captain Blood for Warner Bros. instead. Blood doesn’t have a writer yet and is but a glimmer in the studio’s eye. No word yet on who will be directing Edwin A. Salt.
Confused? Me too.
*no, of course “snarkasm” isn’t a word, but if I have my way it will be.
Filed under: News, Pre-Production
Tags: Edwin A. Salt, Philip Noyce, Roger Friedman, Tom Cruise, Will Smith
““His heyday as a box office star – if he ever had one – is over.”
That’s hilarious. “If he ever had one”. Brilliant.
Yeah, seriously. Not liking the guy is one thing, but denying the fact that he was huge is crazy talk. Plus as we’ve talked about before, I think his demise is exaggerated.
I agree. It’s way exaggerated. He’s still working, he has his own production company….it could all end badly, yes, or it could be a new level of success for him if it works out. we’ll see.
still a good actor.
Yes he is and he’s one hit away from putting all this talk to rest.
He may be past his $20 million prime, but did he make that for Magnolia? I doubt it.
If David Poland didn’t think Friedman was beneath contempt, we’d have a 1000-word-long detailed-with-statistics rebuke of this.
One thing I like about Poland is his scorn for Friedman and Finke. I guess that’s two things.
His Finke obsession is a bit childish though.
Fox entertainment monkey Friedman. Ahahaha. Surely a mentally handicapped monkey unlike the fabulous LiC monkeys. No, Tom Cruise never had a heyday as a big box office star, not at all. A picture of Friedman is next the word “risible” in the dictionary.
I’m more interested in what’s going on with Philip Noyce. He’s been attached to so many promising films recently. I hope the bottle doesn’t stop spinning on Captain Blood, which sounds like an abomination. I’ll take Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland over a second tier Orlando Bloom (and I thought he was the bottom rung…) or Keira Knightley, thank you very much.
Here’s hoping Noyce is still making Dirt Music (pairing Rachel Weisz with Colin Farrell is brilliant) or American Pastoral.
I’m the only one, but when I see the words “Tom” and “Cruise” put together, I think: “Who gives a fuck?”
Cruise is not a factor that will convince me to see a movie neccessarily, but he’s not a drawback either.
As for Noyce…yeah, I don’t know what to think about Captain Blood. I’m curious about it and I suspect Noyce can do it up right. I recall Dead Calm to be an overlooked gem.
Ditto the Dead Calm sentiment. But Noyce’s more commercial American films come across a little listless (Sliver, The Saint, Bone Collector, and the so-so Clear and Present Danger). A Captain Blood remake seems like a project easily hijacked by producers and turned into an unofficial POTC sequel.
The POTC thing is a real fear, and you’ve got a good point about those other films. It seems like Noyce kind of lost his way for a while, but I’m hopeful that he’s rebounding.