Casting News: Tom Cruise Confirmed for All You Need is Kill; Ender's Game Casts Haillee Steinfeld, Targets Harrison Ford
Posted 12.02.11 by Ryan
In October, we reported that Warner Bros. was trying to talk Tom Cruise into accepting a role in the adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel, All You Need is Kill. Looks like the convincing worked.
Deadline reports that Cruise has officially committed to the role of a futuristic soldier fighting a war against an alien race who gets killed in action. In a Groundhog Day twist of fate, he is reborn every day to repeat his final day, slowly realizing that there are difference in the repetitions and that he be able to change his future.
All You Need is Kill earlier reported to have the unfortunate title, We Mortals Are, but now thankfully back to it's original title, is one of two sci-fi projects Cruise is attached to. After finishing the action/thriller adaptation of One Shot this fall, Cruise heads into production of Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski's sci-fi epic Horizons next year. However, Cruise had to work out his busy schedule before he could commit to the movie.
All You Need is Kill was adapted by Dante Harper (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters) with rewrites by Joby Harold (Awake), who will also executive produce. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) will direct the movie, which is currently without a release date.
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Casting has finally begun on the adaptation of Ender's Game, based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card. With Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) set to direct his own script, he didn't waste much time casting the title character, Asa Butterfield (Hugo, Son of Rambow). Rumors of Butterfield's casting began last month, with the young actor finally announcing his casting was final last week via Twitter.
now that I've [released] all my pent up emotion, I'm going to talk a wee bit more civilised. I have just booked Enders Game. :)
Butterfield will play Ender Wiggin, a talented and strategic gamer who is recruited by the government, along with other gifted children, to help lead the attack against an alien race that has devastated Earth. However, Butterfield won't be fighting alone. Variety reports that True Grit actress Hailee Steinfeld will join the cast as Petra Arkanian, the only girl in the Salamander Army who quickly becomes Ender's most trusted ally.
With those two lead roles cast, Summit Entertainment is now trying to target the adult lead role of Colonel Hyrum Graff, the Commander of Training for the International Fleet, an elite boys' military academy. Talks with Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings) proved a bust, and a separate Variety report claims that the studio is looking for a veteran actor, with Harrison Ford at the top of the list. Ford is by no means a lock for the role.
Ender's Game is scheduled for a March 15, 2013, release date. Star Trek and Transformers screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman will produce.