In a move that seems a bit out of left field for the actor, Tom Cruise has agreed to terms to star in the upcoming Biblical epic Methuselah. Deadline brings word of the casting, telling us that the film will revolve around the titular character, who lived for 969 years, and plans to show us “how all the years he spent on Earth helped him to develop a set of unparalleled survival skills.”
Setting up shop over at Warner Bros. under the watchful eye of Harry Potter producer David Heyman, the project has actually been in development for a while now. Cruise had been flirting with it for some time as well, finally making things official once the film snagged a director.
That’s right, in addition to Cruise, Methuselah now has a helmer on board and it’s none other than Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales co-director Joachim Rønning. The original script belongs to Zach Dean and while details are still thin on the ground, it’s being reported that the studio is hoping for an epic action film in the vein of Ben-Hur and plans to bring in a few more scribes to help re-write Dean’s draft.
No other actors have climbed aboard the project just yet, but with Tom Cruise now set to star and Joachim Rønning planted firmly in the director’s chair, the movie should have no problem filling out its cast in the weeks to come. Until it does, though, head on down to the comments section below and let us know what you think of Cruise starring in a Biblical epic like Methuselah.
