Tom Cruise Will Play A Spy Who Loves Cameron Diaz In WICHITA

As we told you back in March, Tom Cruise is planning to reteam with Cameron Diaz for a 20^th Century Fox production called “Wichita”.  If true (and when you’re talking Tom Cruise, you can never be too sure, can you “Edwin A. Salt”?) this would end months of mindless speculation about where the actor would plant his talent flag after his bravura cameo in “Tropic Thunder” and his completely adequate turn in Bryan Singer’s “Valkyrie”.

Just to be clear – Cruise in Wichita is still not official, but apparently that’s OK by Variety.  They’re reporting that writer Scott Frank’s latest draft of the script (once called “Trouble Man”) is receiving a Cruise-approved retouch by director James Mangold and that both Cruise and Diaz are currently in “advanced negotiations” for their parts.  Diaz is still playing a single woman but now the “mysterious man” she bumps into is revealed as a secret agent.  That’d be Tom, I’m guessing.

Fox hasn’t set a release date for “Wichita” (which is good because release dates and Tom Cruise don’t see eye-to-eye lately) but the studio is reportedly aiming for a summer 2010 release.  And suddenly I see why Tom Cruise is interested in this movie!  Summer means big budget and lots of promotion and that man needs a big hit like nobody’s business.