Rama’s SCREEN

I remember the olden days when it was so easy for Tom Cruise to find work with some of the top notch directors of our time.
Minority Report with Steven Spielberg, Jerry McGuire with Cameron Crowe, The Firm with Sydney Pollack, Far and Away with Ron Howard, Born on the 4th of July with Oliver Stone, Rain Man with Barry Levinson, The Color of Money with Martin Scorsese and Top Gun with Tony Scott.

I mean.. back then it’s as if every A-list director wanted to work with Tom Cruise..
Now.. not so much.

One of Tom Cruise’s new projects is EDWIN A. SALT, about a CIA officer who’s accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy. He must elude capture long enough to clear his name.
The thing is… there have been a few directors considered to helm the project… names like Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) and Peter Berg (The Kingdom) but they all balked.

And so, according to Variety, Australian Philip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games) is next in line, or final negotiations I should say to take on the responsibility. Everybody at Columbia pictures is crossing their fingers, hoping he wouldn’t have second thoughts.

I have to admit, Tom Cruise is still a talented actor.
Yes, he’s a Scientology cuckoo but damn it, if you’ve seen his work in the past, then you’d know that he’s more than just a poster boy.
The problem now is.. Just like when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was distancing himself from Pres. Bush in order to get re-elected.. I got a feeling many filmmakers are beginning to feel like they’d rather work with someone else rather than to have their names attached to Tom freakin’ Cruise.

* In celebration of this info, let’s take a look again at this clip..the best, funniest impersonation of Tom Cruise ever