I’m stamping this one as a rumor. You’ll see why in a minute.
This one comes from scooper Daniel Richtman, who has a 50/50 track record, and it claims that Tom Cruise is in talks to star in Doug Liman’s “Deeper.” Warner Bros would be producing this one.
This is the same project, written by Max Landis, that was announced back in 2016. Multiple actors had been attached before exiting, including Idris Elba, Bradley Cooper and Gal Gadot. Kornel Mundruczo and Baltasar Kormakur were also once attached to direct “Deeper” in 2016 and 2019, respectively.
“Deeper” is being described as a “supernatural thriller” that centers on a disgraced astronaut, to be played by Cruise, who is on a deep-sea dive exploring a newly discovered trench but soon finds himself confronted by a sinister and dangerous force. The film has been described as a hybrid of “Gravity” and “The Martian”.
MGM had originally paid seven figures to acquire Landis’ hot script. They finally let go of the project after reports came out that Landis had emotionally and sexually abused several women. Last we heard from Landis, he shared a co-writing credit on 2020’s “Shadow in the Cloud” — his original script was rewritten by Roseanne Liang. The same thing might have happened on “Deeper.”
Landis first garnered attention as the screenwriter of Josh Trank’s 2012 superhero film “Chronicle.” It helped launch the careers of stars Michael B. Jordan and Dane DeHaan. His other credits include “American Ultra” and “Bright.”
Meanwhile, if the film does come to fruition, then it would reunite Cruise and Liman, who previously collaborated on 2017’s “American Made.” They also have that space-shot NASA Movie, which is still in active development. I’ve contacted Liman’s reps for confirmation about this project but have yet to hear back from them.