Tom Cruise Had Excessive Control EXCLUSIVE Variety. There were few signs that a major blockbuster was about to premiere when The Mummy rolled into Manhattan last week. The marquee of the AMC Loews Lincoln Square Theatres had gone blank. The carpet was totally covered with black plastic. Security only let guests past barricades after quizzing them about what they were there to see, and everybody had to walk through two imposing metal detectors. Inside the theater, Tom Cruise was jubilant, as he stood in front of the crowd. Hey yall, said the 5. He introduced Alex Kurtzman, the films director, as well as the cast members, who stood quietly as Cruise delivered a 1. Movies arent made by single people, he said. Its a team effort. But in the case of The Mummy, one personCruisehad an excessive amount of control, according to several people interviewed. Watch Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels starring Jason Flemyng in this MysteryCrime on DIRECTV. Its available to watch on TV, online, tablets, phone. Watch Hatchet Online Full Movie' title='Watch Hatchet Online Full Movie' />The reboot of The Mummy was supposed to be the start of a mega franchise for Universal Pictures. But instead, its become a textbook case of a movie star run amok. As Hollywood is playing the blame game on what went wrong on The Mummy, which had a measly domestic opening of just 3. Cruise. In the same way that he commanded the stage at the films premiere, leaving his cast standing awkwardly by his side, several sources close to the production say that Cruise exerted nearly complete creative oversight on The Mummy, essentially wearing all the hats and dictating even the smallest decisions on the set. On stage, Cruise admitted his own perfectionist tendencies. I dont just make a movie. I give it everything I have and I expect it from everyone also. Universal, according to sources familiar with the matter, contractually guaranteed Cruise control of most aspects of the project, from script approval to post production decisions. He also had a great deal of input on the films marketing and release strategy, these sources said, advocating for a June debut in a prime summer period. With terrible reviews, The Mummy, which insiders say cost as much as 1. Watch A Trip To The Moon 4Shared. GRgAwLU/hqdefault.jpg' alt='Watch Hatchet Online Full Movie' title='Watch Hatchet Online Full Movie' />Directed by Adam Green. With Kane Hodder, Joel David Moore, Deon Richmond, Amara Zaragoza. When a group of tourists on a New Orleans haunted swamp tour find. BibMe Free Bibliography Citation Maker MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard. Watch breaking news videos, viral videos and original video clips on CNN. Get the latest music news, watch video clips from music shows, events, and exclusive performances from your favorite artists. Discover new music on MTV. The film is performing much stronger overseas, where it was Cruises biggest international rollout with a 1. Its not clear if the movie will break even, and its cast a shadow on the studios plans for a Dark Universe franchise thats supposed to feature A list stars like Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man and Angelina Jolie in negotiations for The Bride of Frankenstein. A representative for Cruise didnt respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Universal refuted that Cruise had a negative influence on the production. Tom approaches every project with a level of commitment and dedication that is unmatched by most working in our business today, the statement read. He has been a true partner and creative collaborator, and his goal with any project he works on is to provide audiences with a truly cinematic moviegoing experience. Cruises controlling behavior comes as Hollywoods star system is in tatters. In the 1. 99. 0s and early aughts, studios shelled out big money for the likes of Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, and Harrison Ford, confident that their names above the title could guarantee ticket sales. In exchange they were offered big perks, hefty salaries, and a sizable share of the profits. Along with the money came the power to veto key decisions. But as comic book movies and special effects heavy productions took over, top actors found themselves in less demand and with less influence. Cruise has navigated the new landscape better than somethe Mission Impossible franchise still makes money but other efforts such as Oblivion have disappointed. Going forward, he may have difficulty exerting the same kind of sway over other films. It may be the last hurrah for big movie stars, but on the set of The Mummy, Cruise acted like the top gun he once was, calling all the shots. Kurtzman had been in the running to direct the project before Cruise signed on, but the actor gave his blessing for the filmmaker to slide behind the camera. Theyd established a comfort level when Kurtzman worked as the screenwriter of Mission Impossible III. In the wake of The Mummys failure, the decision to tap such an untested director on a sprawling action adventure seems to have been foolhardy. Kurtzman wouldnt necessarily rank high on a studios wish list for a project this big, given that hes a producer and writer who only helmed one small feature that debuted to mixed reviews 2. Chris Pine drama People Like Us. As Kurtzman struggled to adjust to scope of the project, it felt more like Cruise was the real director, often dictating the major action sequences and micro managing the production, according to sources. There were other ways that The Mummy was transformed from a scary summer popcorn movie into a standard issue Tom Cruise vehicle. The actor personally commissioned two other writers along with Mc. Quarrie to crank out a new script. Two of the films three credited screenwriters, Mc. Quarrie and Dylan Kussman, an actor writer who played small roles in The Mummy and Jack Reacher, were close allies of Cruises. The script envisioned Nick Morton as an earnest Tom Cruise archetype, who is laughably described as a young man at one point. His writers beefed up his part. In the original script, Morton and the Mummy played by Sofia Boutella had nearly equal screen time. The writers also added a twist that saw Cruises character become possessed, to give him more of a dramatic arc. Even though Universal executives werent thrilled about the story which feels disjointed and includes Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll they went along with Cruises vision. And the crew fell in line too, behind Cruise as the boss. This is very much a film of two halves before Tom and after Tom, said Frank Walsh, the supervising art director, at a London screening of The Mummy this week. I have heard the stories about how he drives everything and pushes and pushes, but it was amazing to work with him. The guy is a great filmmaker and knows his craft. He will walk onto a set and tell the director what to do, say thats not the right lens, ask about the sets, and as long as you dont fluff what youre saying to him hes easy to work for. Once the film was done, Cruise brought in his longtime editor Andrew Mondshein to piece together the final picture. The films credits also list Gina and Paul Hirsch as editors. He spent time in the editing suite overseeing the cutting, which everybody agreed wasnt working. On the lot, there were differences of opinions about whether Cruises directions were improving a picture that had been troubled from its inception or whether they were turning a horror film into a Cruise infomercial. Some believed that Cruise had no choice but to assert himself. Given Kurtzmans inexperience directing tentpoles, Cruise, who has carried heavily choreographed action movies all his life, had to try to rally the troops or risk having the production fall behind schedule. Universal knew that if it wanted The Mummy to compete against the likes of Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Cruises waning star power. As the studio scrambled to deal with weak tracking, it released a portrait in late May of Cruise with other actors from the Dark Universe franchise, including Depp and Javier Bardem who will play Frankenstein. Yet the studio couldnt even assemble all the actors in the room at the same time, and the image had to be Photoshopped. 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