The Matarese Circle
It seems those discussions between Tom Cruise and David Cronenberg proved fruitful sooner rather than later as the actor is now officially negotiating to star opposite Denzel Washington in The Matarese Circle, based on the late Robert Ludlum’s novel.
The story joins two secret agents from rival nations as allies in order to stop a conspiracy headed by the powerful Matarese group that emerges as a mutual threat. The novel was set during the Cold War using CIA and KGB agents, but Michael Brandt and Derek Haas are setting their script in contemporary times, so perhaps the feature nations will change. Cronenberg also previously said that he was going over the script personally.
This is still a pretty wild departure for David Cronenberg, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see what kinds of performances he gets out of Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington. The movie certainly has a nice pedigree so far. Still, wouldn’t it be grand if Cronenberg returned to his twisted body horror days at least once more?
The plan is for the film to go into production later in the year for a 2010 release as one of MGM’s tentpoles.
