I have an insane curiosity when it comes to who might be\u00a0comic book fans in Hollywood. I don’t know why. I guess it’s just gives me a sense of pride that someone that most of the world is a fan of likes the same things\u00a0I do. And recent news from Hollywood makes me think two of the world’s biggest superstars might be one of us.<\/p>\n
Ruetersis reporting that Tom Cruise is loosely attached to star in an adaption of the Wildstorm comic book, Sleeper<\/strong>. The film is at Wildstorm’s parent company Warner Brothers and is being produced by friend of comics Sam Raimi.<\/p>\n Sleeper <\/strong>tells the tale of a superpowered government agent who is assigned to infiltrate a group of super-villains. While undercover, he falls in love with one of his targets, a woman by the name of Miss Misery. The comic tied in to other Wildstorm properties WildC.A.T.S. <\/strong>and Gen 13,<\/strong> both which have movies in development at other studios, but that shouldn’t keep\u00a0Sleeper <\/strong>from being made.<\/p>\n Cruise was once attached to star as Tony Stark in Iron Man <\/strong>in one of its previous incarnations. And he was interested in the role of Ozymandias in Zach Snyder’s\u00a0Watchmen,\u00a0<\/strong>even going so far as having talks with the director\u00a0before backing out. He keeps circling around roles in comic book films, which makes me believe he is a fan, but has yet to follow through. Maybe Sleeper <\/strong>will be the one.<\/p>\n A stronger case for being a member of comic fandom can be made for Johnny Depp. Not only did he actually star in a comic book adaptation, From Hell<\/strong>, but his production company has a number of comic properties on its slate.<\/p>\n We already reported <\/a>that his Infinitum Nihil production company is one of the players bringing Radical’s Caliber <\/strong>comic book to the big screen. But that’s not the only comic book property on Infinitum Nihil’s docket, and his other comic adaptation is one step closer to completion.<\/p>\n Back in 2006, Depp bought the rights to Arvid Nelson’s Image and Dark Horse series Rex Mundi. <\/strong>The comic deals with an alternate reality where the Protestant reformation never happened. Set in 1933, the Catholic Church is all-powerful and the Inquisition is still up and running.<\/p>\n MTV’s Splash Page<\/a>is reporting that a second draft of the script has been recieved and Depp and company are now looking for a director. Depp will portray the lead character, a Vatican investigator by the name of Dr. Julian Sauniere.<\/p>\n The above article also features a quote from Depp’s production partner, Radical Publishing’s Barry Levine, which tries to tell us that Depp is not a comic fan:<\/p>\n He\u2019s not so much a comics guy as much of a story <\/em>guy. If it\u2019s a good story, it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’m not buying that. If that was true, he’d never have picked up Caliber<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I know this is all just wishful thinking. But wouldn’t it be cool if Cruise and Depp were comic fans?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"