On Monday we reported that after appearing on-stage at the MTV Movie Awards as his bald-capped, fat-suited studio exec. from Tropic Thunder, Les Grossman, Tom Cruise said they were working on a feature based on the obnoxious, foul-mouthed charatcer. However at the time it was unclear how firm the plans were and whether it was just something Tom was mulling over.
Well, Paramount has decided it’s a good time to set the record straight, sending out a press release confirming that they are indeed working on a Les Grossman movie, which is currently snappily title, Untitled Les Grossman Project. Cruise is producing and will star in the film, and Ben Stiller will be invovled too, while Michael Bacall, co-writer of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, will handle the script.
The tongue-in-cheek press release treats Grossman like a real person, with Ben Stiller commenting, Les Grossmans 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.
Grossman is definitely a lot of fun in small doses, with the real question being whether they can stretch it out to a full film. The numerous SNL movies have shown that can be tough to do, and it’s easy to see the shouty producer becoming tiresome unless they can really expand the character. However it’s the best thing Tom has done recently, so hopefully it’ll work.