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Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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Salt Talks

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It's looking like it might be prudent to back away -- for the time being, at least -- from today's 7.19 report by Fox 411's Roger Friedman that Tom Cruise won't be doing that Edwin A. Salt movie with Philip Noyce, from a script by Kurt Wimmer. Freidman is saying Cruise has "apparently" bailed "because of money" and that Will Smith has now stepped into the role. Not so, says a well-placed source who's focusing on the creative side.

Freidman's story more or less claims that the Salt producers haven't offered Cruise his usual massive salary because they feel he isn't the same box-office powerhouse he was five years ago...which of course he isn't. But my guy says the Smith story is complete horseshit, and that Cruise's issue isn't the money (as far as he knows) but the Wimmer script, which has given Cruise concern because the Salt character is too much like Mission Impossible's Ethan Hunt, whom Cruise has played three times.

"Cruise is waiting for the new [Wimmer] draft which is coming out in the next couple of weeks," I was told this morning. "He's never been officially attached to the film...never said that he absolutely wants to do it. The main concern is about the character being too close to Hunt.

"He's always had this concern about repeating himself. Salt is a character working for the CIA, being extraordinary at disguise and athletic...there are a whole lot of similarities there. It's possible that salary discussions may have taken place, but that's not my area. All I know is,we're waiting on a new script that will arrive in a week or two."

What's the motive of the people feeding the Cruise-is-out story to Friedman? "Everybody wants to bring down Tom Cruise," my source said. "Except everyone associated with Edwin A. Salt would like Tom to be in it."

Salt Talks<< previous | next >>Salt Talks

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 19, 2008 at 11:16 AM

comment #1

Balthazar says ...

Cruise can't be too picky at this point. ... Playing and re-playing the Ethan Hunts of the world is probably his best box-office bet as an actor right now.

Posted by Balthazar at July 19, 2008 11:54 AM

comment #2

cjKennedy says ...

Who do you suppose would've fed Friedman the money line, or did he just make it up because it's jucier copy?

Posted by cjKennedy at July 19, 2008 12:14 PM

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

friedman is notorious for grabbing the worst rumors and running with them. He works for Murdoch. he writes for the NYPost. They'll spread any lie on Page 6 that serves their Master. The motto at Fox News is simple, you can repeat a lie 100 times an hour, but you only have to make a correction once.

Posted by corey3rd at July 19, 2008 12:21 PM

comment #4

Michelle says ...

http://www.moviehole.net/2008/07/18/cruise-edwin-a-salt-rumours-untrue/ Moviehole had this story yesterday.

Posted by Michelle at July 19, 2008 12:21 PM

comment #5

hollyman says ...

Friedman is a joke. Why FOX News has him is beyond me... He has been wrong so many times....

Posted by hollyman at July 19, 2008 12:25 PM

comment #6

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Partial filmography from imdb.com...

Kurt Wimmer (I) : Sphere(adaptation), Street Kings (screenplay), Equilibrium, Ultraviolet (written & directed by).

Conclusion: Cruise may be a nutjob, but not entirely stupid. At best, Wimmer has an awful track record so far. At worst (and the more likely scenario), he is an awful filmmaker.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at July 19, 2008 1:02 PM

comment #7

AH says ...

Who in their right mind would ever believe anything Friedman says. The man's a jackass.

Posted by AH at July 19, 2008 1:26 PM

comment #8

corey3rd says ...

that Kurt Wimmer? That Kurt Wimmer? I'd rather be waiting for my new luxury liner to be backed into the dock by Capt. Hazelwood. I'd rather trust Andy Dick to pick up my kids from Daycare. I'd rather have Jessica Simpson date my quarterback.

Posted by corey3rd at July 19, 2008 1:29 PM

comment #9

redmond says ...

And hats off to Citizen Kane for putting things in perspective. Jesus, Ultraviolet? Wow, maybe Tom Cruise isn't entirely insane after all.

Okay, yeah, he is. RUN KATIE!

Posted by redmond at July 19, 2008 1:39 PM

comment #10

BurmaShave says ...

ULTRAVIOLET is truly one of the worst films, but SPHERE is underrated and EQUILIBRIUM has some fascinating elements. STREET KINGS was basically a rejected TV pilot, not really terrible, and didn't bear any kind of stamp I would associate with Kurt Wimmer.

Posted by BurmaShave at July 19, 2008 1:49 PM

comment #11

Jake Gittes says ...

Friedman is a terrific reporter. He breaks more news than he fakes or takes. Roger excels at stories with deep legal or financial details. He wrote well and early on Pellicano, Michael Jackson's entanglements, and that "Dana" character who ripped off most of young Hollywood in the late nineties (Damon, Affleck, Leo, Tobey, etc.) Friedman is a proud New York Jew and sees the Cruise "Valkyrie" film as a way for Scientology to curry favor with the German Government, a country that says no to Scientology. After Gibson's anti-semitic rant at the Jewish highway patrolman, Friedman wrote an oddly misguided story about Gibson building a chapel on his Malibu property. Friedman's a good reporter- he just loses objectivity when he feels his faith is threatened. In this weeks Cruise story he questions whether Cruises'career every had a heyday-Really???

Posted by Jake Gittes at July 19, 2008 1:50 PM

comment #12

Jake Gittes says ...

Posted by Jake Gittes at July 19, 2008 1:50 PM

comment #13

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Exactly what kind of stamp would you associate Wimmer with, BS?I don't know...I feel like you're giving him waaaay too much credit.

Sphere was no Crichton masterpiece to begin with, and wastes some serious talent (Hoffman, Schreiber, Levinson) while blatantly NOT improving on the subpar source material. Plus, it had the added bonus of coming out a year after "Event Horizon," which, unbelievably, I feel is the more effective film.

Equlibrium was RETARDED except for the action sequences ("gun-kata"), which, admittedly, were (still are) a pretty creative and fresh way of duelling with firearms. However, the rest of the film plays like an eighth-grade playhouse rendition of Gilliam's "Brazil" set to a spoken word recitation of "Fahrenheit 451" by a chronic stuterrer.

Proud to say I never caught "Street Kings."

The best work on his resume appears to be scripting "The Recruit." Can't say I remember anything about it except Pacino.

Is this really someone worth defending?

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at July 19, 2008 2:10 PM

comment #14

The Pope says ...

Cruise is at a cross-roads. Or has been for some time. Probably far too long. He should have developed other material which would have by now alowed him to change his screen persona. But I think he is too obsessed with staying young.

I remember the press wetting themsleves back in 1996. "Tom is a genius. Aged just 34 and he produces Mission: Impossible. He acts in it as well...." Yeah, and he runs VERY fast. So what?

At the age of 30 Warren Beatty had prodcued and stared in Bonnie and Clyde. At 43, he had written, produced, directed and starred in REDS. He was nominated four times for that film and it brought his total to 11)

Toim is now 46 and has spent far too long played nothing but kds. He should have been diversifying a lot more, a long, long time ago.

Posted by The Pope at July 19, 2008 3:15 PM

comment #15

corey3rd says ...

Sphere was like being stuck in an Igloo cooler for 2 hours. The only thing good to come out of it was Wag the Dog. Wimmer's name attached to anything besides a paper shredder is a warning sign.

Posted by corey3rd at July 19, 2008 3:24 PM

comment #16

Chicago48 says ...

About Friedman. I've been reading him for years and sometimes he's right and sometimes wrong and sometimes he plays both sides of the fence, like the Madonna-ARod story. One week he was in Madonna's corner, calling the stories untrue. the next week it was totally diff.

As for Cruise, I do wish he would do something light hearted again, something about sports or whatever, because the public cannot believe his serious side.

Posted by Chicago48 at July 19, 2008 4:15 PM