Country and western culture seem to be the flavor of the week after the success “Crazy Heart” with Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon now eyeing a team up in “Paper Wings,” a romance film set in the world of rodeos according to the L.A. Times.
The film will follow a rodeo champion (Cruise) who falls in love with an up-and-coming country singer, to be played Witherspoon. While such a role will be a first of its kind for Cruise, Witherspoon will be treading similar ground after her award-wining role as June Carter in James Mangold’s Johnny Cash biopic “Walk The Line.” She also has the sure-fire feminist hit “The Pioneer Woman” being developed by Sony which follows a woman’s journey from spoilt city girl to domestic ranch wife.
“Paper Wings’ has evidently been around for quite some time but most recently was picked up Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment who has now presumably brought BFF Cruise on board. Smith’s “Pursuit Of Happyness” and “Seven Pounds” director, Gabriele Muccino, is also being linked to this project though is only one of several directors who are “in the mix.”
While both are still considered A-listers, stocks seem to be dwindling for the pair. Cruise has been on an acting hiatus but will be return this summer in the spy-rom-com “Knight & Day” alongside Cameron Diaz. Witherspoon, meanwhile, hit a hurdle with “Rendition” and “Four Christmases” after her aforementioned “Walk The Line” success but has James Brooks’ “How Do You Know” coming out later this year.
When was the last time a rodeo picture did well if ever? 1980s “Urban Cowboy” maybe? Some of the scenes in “Brokeback Mountain” (god, could you imagined a whole movie of that)? The project sounds like a bit of an ill-conceived move, including this odd pairing of Cruise and Witherspoon. Who knows, Cruise circles a lot of projects — see “The Tourist” which he even hired a new scribe (“Valkryie” writer Christopher McQuarrie) to rewrite and then still bailed — but doesn’t always bite.