* Tom Cruise is re-teaming with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie(Valkyrie
) on One Shot
, a thriller based on one of the many Jack Reacher novels written by Jim Grant(pseudonym Lee Child). Reacher is an ex-military police officer, who wanders the country in an attempt to know it better. In One Shot, a sniper guns down five people with six shots. Quickly captured by the police, the case should be solved, until he asks to speak to one man: Jack Reacher. Having never read any of the Reacher novels, I can't say whether this is a good thing casting Cruise or not. But considering Reacher is described as being 6 foot 5, with a 50 inch barrel chest, something tells me this is a bad call, Ripley. Shooting begins later this year. [Deadline]* The last two years have seen Sam Rockwell being unfairly snubbed by awards voters for his performances in Moon
and Conviction
. To me, studios should be beating down his door to front their pics. Well he's got another shot to show what he's made of, as ThePlaylist confirms he's now in talks to star in the indie feature, Better Living Through Chemistry. Jeremy Renner had been attached to the role for awhile, but due to his disgustingly busy schedule, had drop out. As he and Rockwell are close buds, it appears he was a factor in getting this deal started. Rockwell would play a small town pharmacist in a loveless marriage who gets mixed up in an affair that eventually turns deadly. Judi Dench, Michelle Monaghan, and Jennifer Garner are set to star as well in the film from debut writers/directors Geoff Moore and David Posamentier. * Daniel Bruhl, who is most familiar as Nazi sniper hero Frederick Zoller in Inglourious Basterds, is in talks to join Ron Howard's Formula One film, Rush. He'd play Niki Lauda, the Austrian F-1 World Champion in a deep rivalry with fellow racer, James Hunt(Chris Hemsworth). While in a tight race for the championship in 1976, Lauda would suffer a terrible crash that left him in a coma for a short time. Peter Morgan(The Queen
) wrote the script, and shooting may begin near the end of the year. Is it me, or is Rush starting to sound like a better film than The Dark Tower? Howard may just drop out of that one altogether.
