This just in: Tom Cruise still does his own stunts and Mary Hart still thinks it's goddamn amazing. Ever since Cruise's romantic action comedy changed its title from the serious-sounding Wichita to the jump-out-a-castle-windowish, Knight & Day, I don't think anyone has thought, "How is that film going?" And even though the current title is beneath a high concept Matt LeBlanc comeback vehicle, the lack of awareness is strange since the movie is due next summer and directed by James Mangold, who can aptly do the macho-thing (3:10 to Yuma), the girl-thing (Girl, Interrupted), and in between (Walk the Line). In a Vanilla Sky reunion, Cameron Diaz co-stars with Cruise as the romantic interest. She has plenty of happy things to say about him (and the flick's dangerous stunts with footage!) after the jump…
Like many of our readers, I too was non-plussed to see that the footage above (and movie evidently) failed to live up to the knight-in-chainmail dropped into big city premise conjured by the title. Instead, Cruise plays a special agent with a killer smile who goes on a blind date with an unknowing, relationship-challenged woman (Diaz). As Cruise notes in the clip, "adventure ensues" when the date becomes a globe-trotting journey that involves "shifting alliances and unexpected betrayals" and, so timely, a highly sought, epic battery that harnesses infinite power.
The backdrop of the clip is on the Massachusetts set, where the film has completed shooting and is now moving to Spain, Austria, and then somewhere tropical, according to Loaded Gun Boston. I'm guessing that the footage shown of Cruise atop a moving car is the chase on the Charles River referenced in an earlier posting. The spy plot and date-comedy tone automatically draws comparisons to True Lies and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Mangold doesn't seem to be skimping on similarly expensive (and likely ludicrous) set pieces; there's also a crash involving a highjacked 727.
But can audiences still buy Cruise as the everyman romantic interest, even in the spy-mold of his still-kicking Mission: Impossible franchise? A similar, less harsh question might be asked of Diaz, who recently spat out of one of Richard Kelly's endangered wormholes with The Box (arguably the least favorably received studio movie by general audiences this year). Personally, I think Cruise is the definitive example of how the internet has gutted and morphed the notion of super stardom (also: credited surnames like "Cruise"), and headlining a movie with such an unhip, '80s-esque title is questionable, no matter the director or stunt-rock. Rounding out the cast are Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, and Maggie Grace, all of whom are smart additions, generally speaking.
- Paul Dano Joins James Mangold's Wichita Project
- Wichita Details Emerge
- What Movie Will Tom Cruise Do Next? James Mangold's Wichita
- Comic-Con: Much New Footage Shown From Richard Kelly's The Box
- Richard Kelly's The Box Movie Trailer
- Mystery Team, Richard Kelly, Ninjas and More Invade Comic-Con 2009
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