Earlier in the week, we got word that Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s untitled Tom Cruise project would start shooting as early as next month. The ensemble for this one includes Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and Sophie Wilde.
A listing on Production Weekly is now saying that cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki will be lensing Iñárritu’s film. A major get. Lubezki was noticeably absent from Inarritu’s last film, “Bardo” — that one was shot by the great Darius Khondji.
In fact, Lubezki hasn’t been on a film set since January 2021, that’s when he shot David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam.” That is unless you count his work shooting half the episodes on Alfonso Cuaron’s Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer” — Cuaron wants us to call it “cinema.”
Regardless, Lubezki might be the best living cinematographer in film; It’s a toss-up between him or Roger Deakins. Lubezki’s been Oscar-nominated a whopping 8 times for Best Cinematography and then became the first person to win the category three consecutive years (“Gravity”, “Birdman” and “The Revenant”).
Lubezki’s style has become groundbreaking and copied in an infinite number of modern-day movies. His use of natural lighting in “Tree of Life” is an all-timer, as were his unedited long takes in Cuaron’s “Children of Men.” He’s teamed up with Iñárritu on
The synopsis on Inarritu’s next film is fairly cryptic, but it’s clear that Cruise is the lead. As far as we know, it will center “on the most powerful man in the world, who embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.”
Given the possibility of a November shoot, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this one get released in late 2025.