I had reported about this project as “rumor” back in August, and I just couldn’t find a way to corroborate it with a second source, but it’s now been pretty much confirmed as a done deal.
Showbiz411’s Roger Friedman has Doug Liman saying that his next film will be “Deeper,” starring Tom Cruise. If we go by the original intel, Warner Bros is set to helm the film which has been in development, with numerous different directors attached, for the better part of 10 years now.
Liman tells Friedman that he and Cruise plan for a “scary” movie. “I have never done one,” said Liman, “and neither has Tom.”
This is the same project, written by Max Landis, that was announced back in 2016. Multiple actors had been attached before exiting, including Idris Elba, Bradley Cooper and Gal Gadot. Meanwhile, Kornel Mundruczo and Baltasar Kormakur were once attached to direct “Deeper” in 2016 and 2019, respectively.
“Deeper” is being described by Liman as a “supernatural thriller” that centers on a disgraced astronaut, to be played by Cruise, who is on a deep-sea dive exploring a newly discovered trench but soon finds himself confronted by a sinister and dangerous force.
MGM had originally paid seven figures to acquire Landis’ hot script. They finally let go of the project after reports came out that Landis had emotionally and sexually abused several women. Last we heard from Landis, he shared a co-writing credit on 2020’s “Shadow in the Cloud” — his original script had been rewritten by Roseanne Liang.
Landis first garnered attention as the screenwriter of Josh Trank’s 2012 superhero film “Chronicle.” It helped launch the careers of stars Michael B. Jordan and Dane DeHaan. His other credits include “American Ultra” and “Bright.”
Meanwhile, Cruise and Liman are set to make their third film together — they previously collaborated on “Edge of Tomorrow” and “American Made,” They also have that space-set NASA Movie, which is still in active development.
Just to quickly recap, Cruise is currently involved in six upcoming projects: Iñarritu, “Broadsword,” ‘Top Gun 3,’ ‘Days Of Thunder 2,’ NASA and “Deeper.”
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.