The revolving door for directors on the project has finally come to a halt and the winner (for now) is J.J. Abrams, the creator of the TV series Alias and Lost. But the catch is that production, originally scheduled to start this month, has been delayed considerably. At this point, M:I-3 will not start filming until next summer.
Abrams was Tom Cruise's first choice to take over the project but his commitments to Alias and the launch of Lost made it impossible for him to start right away. So now he has the time needed to take care of his day job and prep for this new project.
Cruise, not one to sit idly by, has quickly found something else to do with his suddenly free time. He signed up to play the lead in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the H.G. Wells story War of the Worlds. That movie will start filming in November.
Spielberg himself was close to making a movie about the terrorist attacks on the 1972 Munich Olympic Games but backed off at the last second due to concerns about the script and security. So now playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) is giving that script a rewrite.
Paramount, which was funding M:I-3, now finds itself in the enviable position of having two tentpole pictures with Cruise in the works. It will team with Spielberg's DreamWorks on War of the Worlds.
Thanks to The Hollywood Reporter.
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