UPDATE: Astonishingly, it's possible that there is no validity to the below report from Fox News. Moviehole got word from people within the production that Cruise (and everyone involved) has just been waiting for a rewrite to make his final decision, as there were initial concerns the role might be overly similar to his MISSION IMPOSSIBLE part. Cruise is reportedly also the only actor who has been approached for the project (Fox News claimed that possible replacements -- including Will Smith -- were being discussed among the producers via "internal memo").
7-18-08: Does Tom Cruise have an overestimated sense of self-worth? (Let's pretend none of us saw that Scientology video, 'kay?)
According to Fox News, which has always been dedicated to providing the most accurate news they can possibly fabricate, that may be the case. Apparently Tom's return to potential greatness (don't call it a "comeback", he's been here for years) in the spy thriller EDWIN A. SALT may be blowing away like spilled sodium chloride. Word is that Cruise still thinks his dollar value is in the A-list $20 million range, but the project's producers may not feel the same.
Director Phillip Noyce (CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER) is still attached to the project, but it supposedly now needs a new leading man. Curiously, the movie was set up at Columbia rather than Cruise's own company UA.
Over the past few years, Cruise's drawing power has dwindled as his real-life public persona hovers somewhere between "a little creepy" and "completely and terrifyingly creepy" -- his starring vehicle as a sympathetic German officer plotting to kill Hitler in VALKYRIE has been shoved all over the release schedule. Though undeniably talented, he just needs to take a few more risks (COLLATERAL worked wonders in my eyes, and TROPIC THUNDER reportedly does the same), and whatever pay cut might accompany it.
Extra Tidbit:
Tom: I would also recommend not laughing. Or appearing on camera aside from movies, for at least a decade. Or until Katie Holmes' wife contract runs out.
