Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr., Jon Hamm, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale have all taken a look at the forever gestating "A Star Is Born" reboot at Warner Bros. over the years, and now, the studio is courting yet another big name star in hopes they can snare him in the lead role.
Tom Cruise, who will show off his singing chops in the upcoming "Rock Of Ages," is now being eyed by the WB to join Clint Eastwood's brewing film. Originally slated to start filming last month, Beyoncé's pregnancy kiboshed those plans and Clint is spending his spring shooting the baseball drama "Trouble With The Curve" instead. It seems he still intends to make this his next picture, but the studio clearly wants a big name star in the lead for a story that has been told countless times already.
The tale of a wide-eyed girl dreaming of stardom who finds a helping hand from a washed out, alcoholic older leading man was first made as a drama by William Wellman in 1937, but truly became legendary when it became a musical in 1954 starring Judy Garland and directed by George Cukor. In 1976, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson tried to repeat that success but were met with dismal results. Now 40 years later, the filmmakers hope they've got the right stuff to make it happen with Cruise as the beleagured musician and Mrs. Carter as the girl he falls in love with, and launches to stardom.
It all depends on scheduling (the actor has got "Horizons" and "We Mortals Are" already on the calendar), if Cruise wants to do it, if he likes the script and countless other factors, but it would be a name director that the picky actor could knock off his bucket list. And from a studio perspective Cruise + Beyoncé is a pretty easy sell. So we'll see, but if it doesn't happen, we won't be shocked either. [Deadline]