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Sam Worthington Replaces Tom Cruise in The Tourist Remake

by Alex Billington
August 3, 2009

Last year, before Tom Cruise had made his decision to do the James Mangold comedy with Cameron Diaz, news arrived that he was attached to an upcoming remake called The Tourist. It was set to co-star Charlize Theron and be directed by Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day). THR reports that Cruise has been replaced by Sam Worthington and that filming is now scheduled to start in January. Theron will still co-star with Worthington and Nalluri will still be directing from a screenplay written by Julian Fellowes and Traitor director Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Canal Plus is co-producing The Tourist with Spyglass Entertainment.

The original French thriller that this is a remake of (that starred ex-Bond girl Sophie Marceau) was called Anthony Zimmer and it first premiered in 2005. In this updated version, the two main roles have been switched. Theron plays an Interpol agent who uses an American tourist (Worthington) in an attempt to flush out an elusive and intelligent criminal with whom she once had an affair with. It actually seems like a fascinating concept and I'm quite excited to see this come together. I would've preferred seeing Tom Cruise in the role, but Worthington is a worthy replacement. We'll let you know when we have any more updates.

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Cmurder

Where the hell did this dude come from? He wasn't ever in anything noteworthy, then all of a sudden he's in Terminator: Salvation, Avatar, Clash of the Titans, and now this?? Not that he's a bad actor but, damn, that dude must have one hell of an agent!
Tyler

Agreed.....I think that he scored Avatar (which everyone knows will be huge) and his agent has been promoting him through that break. Think about it, if Avatar is Dark Knight numbers big (or bigger), the guy will def. have a wave of success that he can ride out. Nice move if you think about considering if Avatar is huge, then he can immediantly follow it with other big buget flicks.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

It was all James Cameron! He was the first to really find this guy, put him in Avatar years ago... Cameron called up McG and told him to put him into Terminator. And the rest is history...
cat

agree but worthington comes from the same acting school in australia (i think) as bale and hugh jackman so they kind of saw this coming. cameron knew he would be good in different roles.
L1A

good! no need for religious fanatics in movies!
Fisherr

Sam owns...enough said.
DukePhoenix

#3 Ahhh Alex, I'm pretty sure, it even may have been reported on this site, that Sam auditioned for the role in Salvation and got the part - then asked for Cameron's blessing. Cameron didn't ring up McG and tell him to put him in the film.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

Wait are you sure... I could look up the exact details, but I remember McG saying over and over how Cameron was just praising Worthington excessively and that sort of pushed him into getting the Terminator gig. I don't remember for sure?
http://www.avatarmoviezone.com Chris G.

The version of the story I always hear is Worthington got an audition and was later cast at Cameron's recommendation. I have to say I'd prefer a fresher, younger face in a role like this. If it was like in the original, where the male was the interpol agent, Cruise would have been better. But the male is just a tourist, and Cruise has had a long career, it would be hard to buy him as just a regular guy. Worthington is fresh enough to be a regular guy but has quite a portfolio of work building up, and could very well be a fresh star by the time this comes out. Even people who hated Salvation said he gave one of the best, if not the best, performance in the film. I personally though he was better than Bale in it, and I'm quite a fan of Bale's work. Now he's got Avatar coming out, and thats going to be anywhere from pretty big to enormous. In March he has two movies coming out, a drama called Last Night with Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes, and the bound to be awesome Clash of the Titans remake.
Corran Horn

Worthington also has that Israeli spy thriller The Debt coming out with Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Ciaran Hinds. Having liked his performance in Terminator Salvation, I'm eager to see what Worthington can do with a more capable director.
CJ

I think Worthington is starting a very lucky career. I really don't think there's anything special about this guy.
James

#11 is either a pom or a kiwi This is great news. I'm an aussie so I may be biased, but I really liked Sam in Salvation. I thought he was the ONLY likable character, and he did the best job in a bad movie.
ben lord

he doesn't really do much on screen. he is not really an actor actor. his roles are pretty basic. he was obviously hired because he doesn't show any emotion. he is bland.
someone

Sam Worthington is the luckiest person on this planet. The guy looks like a tradey and can't even act and yet he is landing these roles! His American accent in Avatar was so bad you could tell he is Australian from a mile away. If you can't do a basic American accent, you really aren't deserving of making the big time. Anyone who doesn't agree must be tone-deaf.