Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu has chosen his next project. Sources tell Deadline that Warner Bros. is in negotiations for an untitled Iñárritu film starring Tom Cruise. Iñárritu co-wrote the script with Sabina Berman, Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolas Giacobone, the latter two were his co-writers on the Best Picture-winning “Birdman”.
Deadline adds that the project is being “treated as top secret,” with no plot details, or production dates, available other than it being a new original story written by Iñárritu. More details are said to be coming soon.
They add that once Cruise heard Iñárritu was shopping around his next project, the actor moved quickly to get a meeting with the Mexican filmmaker. The result could be Cruise’s first film with Warner Bros in the non-exclusive deal they signed together a few months ago.
Now, this is the direction we all want Cruise to take his career into next. He wasn’t joking around when he stated that he wanted to start working with auteurs again. Let’s just hope that he continues on this path and doesn’t hop on board another ‘Mission: Impossible’ or ‘Top Gun’ movie.
I don’t see Iñárritu’s film starting production until late in the year — Cruise is supposed to be shooting the next ‘Mission: Impossible’ for most of 2024 and he is also rumored for a supporting role in Tarantino’s “The Movie Critic,” which doesn’t start production until early 2025.
Meanwhile, Iñárritu is coming off 2023’s “Bardo,” the most personal film of his career, which also happened to be his least well-received. Otherwise, his career has been a stellar one with acclaimed films such as “Amores Perros,” “21 Grams,” “Babel,” “Birdman” and “The Revenant.”
No word yet on who the DP will be, but Iñárritu likes to work with cinematography wizard Emmanuel Lubezki. However, his last one, “Bardo,” was shot by Darius Khondji. Regardless, I’m sure Iñárritu will have one of them lens the film, or maybe even former collaborator Rodrigo Prieto.