News that will make you jump up and down on Oprah’s couch: Tom Cruise is in the early stages of developing three new movie projects, including an original musical, according to Deadline. With his producing partner, Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise wants to make: an original musical, an original action film with “franchise potential†(sure, of course), and a movie starring Cruise as Les Grossman, the character he played in Tropic Thunder (… okay). McQuarrie is a frequent Cruise collaborator who has written and directed multiple Mission: Impossible films and is a credited screenwriter on Cruise’s most recent gigantic success, Top Gun: Maverick.
Tropic Thunder’s Grossman was a small role in the original film — a maniacal, over-the-top, easily angered movie producer who many have noted is clearly based on Scott Rudin. Whether the recent reporting on Rudin’s behavior as a boss and producer has affected the choice to put a Grossman film in motion is unknown. A previous Grossman-based project was announced but failed to materialize. Now teach Tom Cruise to tap! Get him en pointe! Make him do “the Bench†from So You Think You Can Dance! We are simply enthralled by the possibilities.