All of a sudden, EVERYONE wants to know if Christopher McQuarrie will indeed direct Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 5, a question that’s been around for a good five months now.
While digging around, The Hollywood Reporter discovered that the talented Oscar-winning writer/director and frequent Tom Cruise collaborator already has another assignment on his plate, to write and direct a remake of the Cold War thriller Ice Station Zebra for Warner Bros.
The 1968 MGM movie based on the Alistair McLean novel was about an American Naval submarine team racing the Russians to retrieve sensitive photographic material in the Arctic and it was one of the very first submarine action movies with all the torpedoes and intrigue and double agents that you would expect from one. It’s illustrious cast included Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown and it was a major hit at the time.
McQuarrie first got attention for his screenplay for The Usual Suspects, directed by his other frequent collaborator Bryan Singer, for which he won an Oscar, before turning to directing with 2000’s The Way of the Gun. He reunited with Singer and first worked with Cruise writing the 2008 WWII thriller Valkyrie and then wrote and directed Cruise in last year’s Jack Reacher. He’s also been involved with the writing on Singer’s recent Jack the Giant Slayer, Cruise’s upcoming All You Need is Kill and did a pass on The Wolverine.
Ironically, Cruise recently signed to another Cold War-inspired movie for Warner Bros., the re-imagining of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., directed by Guy Ritchie and co-starring Armie Hammer.
THR’s seems to think that this new project may impact whether McQuarrie directs Mission: Impossible 5, although nothing has been confirmed for either project besides the fact that they exist.
(Photo Credit: Sean Thorton/WENN.com )
