UPDATE: The New York Post has spoken to “sources” who claim that Tom Cruise will gain significant weight to portray Barry Seal, whose nickname was “Fat Man”. The real Seal weighed nearly 300 pounds, so if all is true, expect Cruise to stray perhaps the furthest out of his comfort zone he’s ever been.
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It seems like the success both critically and commercially for Edge of Tomorrow has got Tom Cruise and Doug Liman thinking about their next move together. This time though — they are leaving out the Groundhog Day aspect of the story.
The Hollywood Reporter reported on Wednesday that Cruise and Liman are set to re-team for Mena, a 1980s drug thriller being made by Universal and CrossCreek. The project was originally being eyed by Ron Howard to direct, who was attached to direct the project when Universal picked it up as a spec by Gary Spinelli for a reported $1 million.
The film tells the story of Barry Seal, a fired TWA pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medellin Cartel. He was later recruited by the DEA and CIA to provide intelligence, with his work tying to the Iran Contra scandal. He was assassinated by Colombians in 1986.
Liman is currently finishing up the documentary, Reckoning with Torture, and is returning to Universal to do the film for the first time since helming The Bourne Identity in 2002. Cruise is currently at work filming Mission: Impossible 5.