Cruise, Waititi, Scream: Weekly Round Up

11th May 2020

So, perhaps the most fascinating news this week came from Tom Cruise. I know there are plenty of you who seem to hate on Cruise, and I get it, but it’s hard to deny that when it comes to balls to the wall action entertainment, there are very few people will to go as hard and as far as Cruise will. He has thrown himself across building, climbed up the world’s tallest building, hung from the side of a airplane and flown a helicopter through dangerous terrain all in the name of entertainment. And, for me at least, it always works. If Tom Cruise’s name is on the marquee then I’m there, where it’s any good or not.

Of course, his insane stunts don’t always save a film from being total trash (oh, hello Mummy: Impossible, how’s that cinematic universe of yours going?), but at the least I know I am going to get something that I likely can’t see anywhere else. When Cruise is on board, I know I’m going to be wowed in some way, shape, or form.

And Cruise seems totally aware of this fact. He pushes the boundaries as far as he can push them, and it would seem he’s in no big rush to stop. Although quite where he’ll go after this week’s announcement is anyone’s guess. This week we learned that Cruise has teamed with Elon Musk’s Space X program to potentially shoot a film in outer space.

No studio has been announced as of yet, and we don’t know who will be writing or directing the project either, so the details remain entirely unknown at this point. We do know that this likely won’t be an entry into the Mission: Impossible franchise (which likely means that Christopher McQuarie won’t be involved, though never say never). NASA, however, were quick to announce that the project will be filming on the International Space Station, which likely means that Cruise will be spending some time there himself in the not too distant future.

Of course, we’ve had plenty of films that have simulated the outer space experience. From Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 through to Gravity and even the grossly underrated creature feature Life, but a film that is actually, genuinely shot in outer space, while sounding kind of goofy and excessive, also does seem like a logical evolution for Cruise’s movie star persona.

Speaking of outer space, another filmmaker heading to the stars, albeit in a far less literal way, is none other than Taika Waititi. The man behind Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok and the upcoming Love & Thunder has this week confirmed that he’s signed on to write and direct his own instalment of the galaxy far, far away.

How much you care about this news will likely depend on how much you care about Disney era Star Wars (and if you’re me that’s almost zero amounts at this point, so even writing about it is something of a struggle). Personally I just don’t think Disney have done all that great a job with a franchise, and even if they had, Waititi’s style, while fun in its own right, just doesn’t seem all that suited to the franchise.

It’s happening, none the less, and Waititi will be co-writing the film alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns , who made her feature film writing debut last year with Sam Mendes’ 1917.

Coming back down to earth for a second, 2022 marks a decade since the release of the fourth instalment into the Scream franchise, Scream 4 (a movie that definitely deserved more love than it got on release) and twenty-five years since Wes Craven’s original. Despite the time between films, and the ever-changing roster of villains, the core team of Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette have appeared in every feature entry.

As the folks behind last years fantastic Ready or Not get ready to give us their take on the meta-slasher franchise with the upcoming Scream 5, the question on everyone’s – or at least my – lips is will that central trio be making a return in anyway?

Well, this week we got a little closer to finding out the answer to that question, as we learned that Neve Campbell is indeed in talks to potentially appear in the film. Obviously, certain outside factors such as COVID-19 are hindering the process somewhat at the moment, but we’re hopeful we’ll get more news on this one as it develops.

Despite the fact that this movie will be the first to not have any involvement from either director Wes Craven (who sadly passed away in 2015, or screenwriter Kevin Williamson, I’m actually sort of looking forward to it. Ready or Not was great fun, and very deconstructive, so I think the franchise is in safe hands.

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