Tom Cruise and Sam Raimi Team up for 'Sleeper'
Venkman here - For some reason Tom Cruise and Sam Raimi just seem likely an unlikely pair to team up and make a movie. It's some thing that I would have never guessed would happen. But here they are working together to bring to life a movie adaptation of the comic book 'Sleeper'. Hey! Everyone else is getting into the comic book movie business why shouldn't Tom Cruise? Here is what the trades are reporting:
Together with Sam Raimi, he is setting up "Sleeper" at Warner Bros. Cruise is loosely attached to star in the adaptation of the DC Comics/Wildstorm comic that Raimi would produce with his Star Road Entertainment partner Josh Donen.
Written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, "Sleeper," which ran from 2003-05, centers on 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. He is placed undercover in a villainous organization by an intelligence agency and falls for a member of the group, named Miss Misery.
I hate Miss Misery. Sounds like an interesting concept. I have never read the comic book so I am not sure how good the story line really is. But its got the makings of a geek movie. Aliens, Fusion, artifacts, impervious to pain, villainous organization, and Miss Misery. The article continues:
Although he remains a co-owner of United Artists -- from which his longtime producing partner Paula Weinstein resigned last week -- he's not tied exclusively to that company. It now looks as if his next acting gig will be the Spyglass thriller "Tourist," as if to counter the more cerebral role he played in the UA boxoffice failure "Lions for Lambs" and the upcoming UA WWII period pic "Valkyrie," in which he plays the anti-Nazi Claus van Stauffenberg.
"Sleeper" is the third project that Cruise has become associated with over the past two weeks --all three separate from his commitments at UA. In addition to "Tourist," the actor has expressed interest in the Working Title-Universal comedy "Food Fight."
Also apart from UA, the actor picked up some good notices last week for his uncharacteristic turn as a bald film mogul in DreamWorks-Paramount's "Tropic Thunder."
He was pretty damn funny in that role.
Even if Cruise opts not to do "Sleeper," his interest in the project is propelling it forward, despite complicated rights issues that must be sorted out. Raimi and Donen have long been fans of the book, and the project could have found homes at Sony and Regency if those issues hadn't been so complex.
"Sleeper" is a spin-off book from Wildstorm flagship title "WildC.A.T.s" and features characters from another spin-off book, "Gen 13."
Both books had been set up at different places around town and some of those deals were made before DC bought the imprint in 1999.
Warners, now involved in a legal wrangle with Fox over the rights to "Watchmen," appears determined to cross all the t's and dot all the i's in its contracts for "Sleeper."
Stupid FOX.
The project is being eyed not only as a starring vehicle for Cruise but also as a possible franchise for the studio.
Well it would be cool to see what come of all this. Cruise has got som much going on right now who knows when or if he will get around to doing the movie with Raimi. Even though they are an unlikely pair to work with each other I would love to see what they can do as a team.