Tom Cruise Is Remaking A Wild Clint Eastwood Action Thriller
An exclusive report on the next movie Tom Cruise is making as part of his new deal with Warner Bros.
Update May 2024: This Giant Freakin Robot exclusive was confirmed, and Tom Cruise is remaking the Clint Eastwood movie The Gauntlet. Christopher McQuarrie is on as director. Scarlett Johansson and Dan Matteucci are in the cast as well.
A few months ago the trades announced that Tom Cruise signed a strategic partnership with Warner Bros. to develop and produce original and franchise theatricals for Cruise to star in. At the time, what exactly he was planning to develop remained unknown.
Now GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT can exclusively report that one of those movies will be a remake of the 1977 Clint Eastwood action thriller The Gauntlet. Tom Cruise will take over the role originally played by Eastwood in the movie, that of alcoholic Detective Ben Shockley.
The original version of The Gauntlet was also directed by Clint Eastwood, but our source tells us Christopher McQuarrie will direct the Tom Cruise version. Tom Cruise will, of course, produce as part of his new deal with Warners.
McQuarrie has become Tom Cruise’s go-to director over the years. He directed Tom Cruise on movies like Jack Reacher and three Mission: Impossible (soon four) movies. Now Christopher McQuarrie is working with Cruise on The Gauntlet.
This information comes from the same proven source that has broken several other, now confirmed, WB-related stories for us. GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT‘s editorial policy prohibits me from printing stories submitted by sources without a proven track record.
The Gauntlet is not one of Eastwood’s better-known projects. It received mixed to favorable reviews on its release. The story involves a detective ordered to escort a prostitute to a trial, where she’s expected to testify against the mob.
As you’d expect, things don’t go well, and Detective Shockley ends up under attack and on the run. The movie’s filled with some pretty big action set pieces, including high-speed pursuits with helicopters and motorcycles. There’s even a road warrior-style chase in a hastily armored bus. It’s easy to imagine Tom Cruise turning that into one of his stunt-laden action flicks, only with perhaps a grittier twist than what we’ve come to expect from him in the Mission: Impossible films.
