We talked yesterday about Tom Cruise trying to get a Les Grossman movie off the ground. Well its not just a flight of fancy. Paramount has picked up the deal and issued a press release.
The Press release reads as if Grossman was a real person and they intend to make the movie with Tom Cruise “in talks” to play him.
HOLLYWOOD, CA (June 9, 2010) – Paramount Pictures and MTV Films announced today that they are set to develop a movie around mega-producer Les Grossman. The announcement comes on the heels of Grossman’s groundbreaking and visionary production of the soon-to-be Emmy® award-winning 2010 MTV Movie Awards Sunday night. Tom Cruise, along with Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld of Red Hour Films will produce and have secured the life rights to Grossman.
Grossman, best known as a mega producer, has most recently mentored talents such as Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. In 2008, Grossman was introduced to the masses by Stiller in the comedy “Tropic Thunder” where the famed producer had a cameo playing himself.
Said Ben Stiller: “Les Grossman’s life story is an inspiring tale of the classic human struggle to achieve greatness against all odds. He has assured me he plans to quote, ‘F**king kill the sh*t out of this movie and make Citizen f**king Kane look like a piece of crap home movie by the time we are done.’ I am honored to be working with him.”
When asked what the screenplay was about Grossman responded: “To quote my great friend Kirk Lazarus, ‘I don’t read the script, the script reads me.’”
Adam Goodman, Paramount Film Group President said, “Everything I learned in this business, I’ve learned from Les. I started out as his assistant, and from the first day he threw his desk at me when I got his lunch order wrong, I have loved him like a father. I am forever grateful to Ben and Stuart Cornfeld and their ability to secure his highly-coveted life rights,”
Tom Cruise is said to be in talks to portray Grossman in the film.
Michael Bacall, who wrote the screenplay for Scott Pilgrim vs The World is secured to write the script.
Some concerns were that Les Grossman is a character that fits only as a brief distraction. I disagree. There is no reason a good writer can’t take the existing character and broaden him from stunt cameo moments into a full fleshed out character.
That all we have seen are these isolated moments of Grossman dealing out his angry fountains of blunt honest career guidance doesn’t mean they can’t make a movie that shows how he got there.
I just hope to hell they get a chance for Tom Cruise to cameo and he can make fun of himself as Grossman tells him how to fix his career.
