David Oyelowo in talks to join Tom Cruise in One Shot

David Oyelowo first came to the attention of myself(and likely many others here in the States) as the ill-fated doctor opposite Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland. Here's hoping you weren't introduced to him in the abysmal A Sound of Thunder. I'm hoping nobody other than me had to sit through that debacle. Since then he's kept busy with some high profile supporting roles in films like The Help and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but he got proper screwed when Selma, Lee Daniels' Martin Luther King biopic, got derailed. Oyelowo was set to play the civil rights icon, and may still if it ever gets off the ground. But for now he'll have to settle with working alongside one of Hollywood's greatest stars in Tom Cruise.


Variety reports that Oyelowo has entered talks to join One Shot, which stars Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, an ex-military man and featured character in the novels by Lee Child. The story centers around Reacher being brought into the case of a sniper accused of randomly killing five people, then demanding Reacher get involved.  Rosamund Pike recently signed on to play the daughter of the District Attorney and defender of the accused. Cruise's buddy Christopher McQuarrie(The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) wrote the final version of the script and will direct.

If the deal gets finalized, Oyelowo will play a detective investigating the killings. With Reacher having appeared in fifteen novels(One Shot is the ninth book), there are obviously franchise aspirations here. Whether Oyelowo's character would be a part of future installments isn't clear at this point. Even if he isn't, Oyelowo's got a couple of high profile gigs upcoming. He'll be featured in the George Lucas produced fighter pilot flick, Red Tails, early next year. And after that he'll be back with Lee Daniels(Precious) for an adaptation of The Paperboy.

One Shot is set to hit theaters on February 8th 2013.