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Post-Cruise, Pitt may be next MI star
Paramount pictures is now planning to rope in the actor for the lead role in the Mission Impossible flicks.
The Mission Impossible flicks will now be sans agent Ethan Hunt after Paramount pictures ended their contract with Tom Cruise, instead studio bosses are now planning to rope in Brad Pitt for the lead role.
Paramount Pictures, the company behind the franchise, ended their long-running partnership with Cruise and is planning to install Pitt instead.
The firm is determined to keep the lucrative series alive after Mission Impossible:III took £212million at the box office, with the previous episode taking £290 million.
"MI:IV will not include Cruise's character, agent Ethan Hunt. They're considering a brief mention, saying Hunt retired to live a safe life with his new wife,” an insider was quoted by the Daily Mail, as saying.
"They're set on Brad taking over as a gutsy new head operative who puts together his own unique team of specialists," he added.
Sources say Paramount is prepared to do whatever it takes to get Pitt on board, and is even willing to make him the highest-paid movie star in history, with a salary topping £21 million.
Cruise and Paramount ended their 14-year relationship last month, with chairman Sumner Redstone blaming Cruise's controversial behaviour for the split.
"It's nothing to do with his acting ability, he's a terrific actor," Redstone told the Wall Street Journal.
"But we don't think that someone who commits creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot. As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal. His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."
Sources cite Cruise's bizarre antics - such as the infamous "sofa dance" on the Oprah Winfrey chat show - and his links to the Church Of Scientology as factors in why he and the studio parted company.
