Tom Cruise and his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman, reteam for a new 1980s-set smuggler/adventure film.
NewsEdge of Tomorrow was a really great summer blockbuster last year—the kind of sci-fi adventure flick they don’t make enough of anymore. Fortunately, even if audiences missed the memo, at least the film’s star and director did not. Indeed, Tom Cruise and Doug Liman (who also directed The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith) are joining forces once more for Mena.
The Universal Pictures release, which is dated for January 2017, will have the two collaborating on an aerial/espionage adventure tale at least ostensibly based on a true story. In Mena, Cruise will play Barry Seal, a hustler and American pilot who gets coaxed by the CIA into participating in a covert operation that involved Seal going from drug smuggler to drug informant. While working for the CIA, he spied on the infamous Medellin Cartel, including leader Pablo Escobar, during the height of 1980s cocaine drug trafficking. He also ended up involved in Nicaraguan and Contra politics, which played a role in the Reagan Administration’s Iran-Contra scandal.
For the film, Cruise will be joined by Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones, Jayma Mays, and Benito Martinez.
In a press release, Liman said, ““I love stories of improbable heroes working against the system, and Barry Seal took the government, and our country, for an unbelievable ride. Interpreting his story has the makings for an entertaining film that is equal parts satire, suspense and comedy—and always surprising.”
We’re ready to jump in this cockpit on January 6, 2017.
