Deja Vu
Lions For Lambs is the first production for the Tom Cruise-run United Artists. Though the price was low (for a Cruise film--only $35 millions), it's flopping, and everyone knew it would flop. So why did a guy who could make any film he wants agree to it?
Maybe he thought the part worked (I've heard he's the best thing in it). Maybe he just wanted to work with two superstars from his childhood.
Or maybe it's that he's worked in political films before and they were popular and critical hits. And what were the plots? One had a patriotic guy who joins the army, becomes paralyzed and turns into an anti-war activist. Another was about soldiers torturing someone down in Gitmo. He must have figured this new script was gold.
posted by LAGuy @ 1:17 AM
2 Comments:
I think just he wanted to get something out under the UA banner asap, and this came together fast and was budgeted right. He also took third billing just to show what a mensch he is. He's desperately trying to rebuild his image and this project fit perfectly into that agenda. Considering the laughfest that the "Valkyrie" trailer is rumored to be, he's got bigger problems than "Lions for Lambs" flopping.
I agree that Cruise had what he thought were good reasons to make this--get UA going with what looked like a prestige project. I don't think it'll hurt his career too much because no one thought it had a shot no matter who was in the role. A flop in an action film is what would seriously hurt him. Onthe other hand, LFL won't give him any more acting credibility as say, Magnolia did.
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