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Tom Cruise NOT to Star with Taylor Lautner in Northern Lights

by Ethan Anderton
January 6, 2010
Source: Deadline Hollywood

It sucks when you hire someone to re-shingle your roof, but he puts holes in it, throws tools around and goes shirtless for your girlfriend. That's what I think of Taylor Lautner. Studios pay him to act, but instead he aimlessly walks on screen, talks like a robot and of course there's the shirtless thing. And yet Sharkboy is now the highest paid teen actor as Deadline Hollywood reports he'll get a whopping $7.5 million to star with Tom Cruise in Northern Lights, the story of a gifted, young, aerobatics pilot who must face off with his controlling, billionaire father and falls in love with a female pilot. Or as I like to call it: Top Gun and Son.

The project comes from a new company called Skydance Productions (from producer David Ellison) and of course Paramount has a first look deal with the company so I'm sure they'll be tossing this into their plan to make Lautner their next big action star after he goes action-packed in Max Steel, the story of an extreme sports junkie recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body. It's also interesting to note that other successful teen actors like Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus haven't even gotten a payday this big, and Efron at least has some semblance of acting talent. Of course being an action star hasn't always come with acting prowess (we're looking at you Seagal, Van Damme, and Diesel) so not much has changed in the industry.

Update: We received an email from Skydance Productions tonight informing us that our post was incorrect. Apparently Tom Cruise will NOT be in the movie and "there is no billionaire father in the storyline." So then why was it reported to begin with? Mistake or jumping the gun on a deal with Cruise? Both Nikki Finke and EW.com have updated their posts removing any mention of Tom Cruise, although EW included a few lines mentioning that, "a rep for David Ellison’s Skydance Productions tells EW that character does not exist and that Cruise is not attached to the project in any way." So there you have it, no Cruise in Northern Lights.

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Related categories: Casting, Movie News, Opinions

Voice of Reason

hate that kids nose
LifeLiquid

Hollywood is a joke anyways. Half those young teen actors are being paid a lot of money for their bad work. Then they wonder why half the films they produce fail. Not even Shia LaBeouf who has more talent than Taylor got a payday that big for Transformers.
http://truthoncinema.com Dan

I like how Tom Cruise's hand is just floating there. He must be doing Scientology magic or something...
Xerxex

I'm worried about the future of films, these young actors really are not showing any real talent.
Realist

Typical agents and lawyers screwing things up by over compensating. But I guess the teen girls will pay to see him or worst case he has $7.5m in his bank account! Plus how many guys could they cast as short as Tom Cruise in order to play his adult son?
BLtzie

#3 HAHAHAHAH!
samuelj

why so hateful ? give the kid a chance.
http://www.firstshowing.net Ethan Anderton

@7 samuelj, I gave him a chance to show his stuff in Twilight: New Moon, his apparent "breakthrough" role. Having seen the flick, I was unimpressed and unless he gets some serious acting classes under his belt, the guy is nothing more than eye candy for the opposite sex.
inquest7

yeah, voice of reason i have a problem with his nose too not hating on him or anything but uh...when i look at him i always wind up thinking of bacon or some other porkish product ! howeva, i'm certain he cries on his way to the bank because of what i think! mr. lautner might consider pitching himself to remake that new Comcast commercial (the one with ms. piggy looking up lovingly at tay diggs). ok already enuff already from me 'bout the kid's snout! cause he is still pretty cute.
dex

I'm fed up with this kid. You are right alex, he can't act at all.
http://www.firstshowing.net Ethan Anderton

Thanks, Dex! But my name is Ethan Anderton and I wrote this article! Glad we agree though!
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif crapola

No-one even commented on how stupid the film sounds. A gifted aerobatics pilot? Billionaire dad? Bring on the clowns... - The money these tools get paid has never made any sense.
Betty Sweaver

I don't mind Labeouf he seems likeable and has at least a bit of charisma. I wouldn't however go and see anything with this chippendale in it. He doesn't look like he could open a plane door let alone fly one
napoleonblownapart

Michael J Pollard wants his nose back!
d1rEct

7.5 Million is obscene for someone like him.
WB EXEC

Hollywood is screwed up. 7.5 Million? I am sure if studios offered these stars even a few hundred thousand dollars they would do these roles. I mean if no one is offereing this loser 7.5 M what is he going to do? He has no acting talent and I am sure he has no other skills to fall back on. Studios should get together and eliminate big paydays and lower the production costs. I am sure once stars start getting offers in the 2-3 million dollar range things will change, if not start getting some untapped talent and develop. Stop relying on stars to bring in fans and start relying on a GOOD story. Studios take all the risk and they lose money on films the actors never give any money back if the film is garbage or loses money its time they start taking a hit too. Any one agree or am I just out of it?
http://www.thepowwowshow.com Johnny Neat

Now that makes sense, Cruise doesn't need that much help in his image to make tween trash.
guh

good this kid didn't deserve to work with someone like tom cruise, hell that kid doesn't deserve to be in any movies except if it involves gay "werewolves" and "vampires"
inquest7

micheal j. pollard...tee hee
The Chiz

Top Gun and Son! Classic! Seriously, who WAS a good actor in the the Twilight films? The only decent actors seem to be the ones that play the human school kids. Even Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen were unimpressive. It's just a shitty script with unrelatable characters that not even an oscar winner could make something out of.
winter

There is a reason none of you make movies.
Frost Adriana

for all of you haters, taylor is not ugly he is hot and a good actor(not saying he a GREAT actor).. he is so gentleman and very pleasing in camera. Tom can define "Best of the Bests." i also love tom, he is my crush. Don't be so rude people, you are just Jealous, accept it just accept it so it won't be hard for you to see these two handsome men..