Once thought to shoot this autumn, the Tom Cruise-starring underwater thriller Deeper is reported to be on hold due to its huge budget. Originally due to film in a matter of days, director Doug Liman’s underwater thriller Deeper may have hit a bit of a road block. The project, which has been knocking around Hollywood ... Deeper | Tom Cruise thriller may be on hold
Once thought to shoot this autumn, the Tom Cruise-starring underwater thriller Deeper is reported to be on hold due to its huge budget.
Originally due to film in a matter of days, director Doug Liman’s underwater thriller Deeper may have hit a bit of a road block. The project, which has been knocking around Hollywood for years now, was set to star Tom Cruise and Ana de Armas, with Warner Bros providing the backing and filming set to begin in August or September of this year.
According to Puck (via World of Reel), however, Deeper is now on hold, with the sticking point said to be the budget. Warner had originally earmarked $200m; Cruise has reportedly pushed for $275m, but the studio’s refused to go over $230m.
Whatever the truth behind the story is, these dizzyingly high numbers are quite odd in themselves. Deeper was originally written by Max Landis, whose career was brought to an abrupt halt by serious allegations of sexual assault. The content of the script may have changed since it was drafted a decade ago, but its original concept was largely self-contained – it was set entirely in the confines of a tiny submersible pod, and seen from the perspective of protagonist Edward Breen, a former astronaut turned deep sea diver.
Read more: Deeper | A closer look at Tom Cruise and Doug Liman’s potential undersea thriller
As Breen descends into a previously uncharted ocean trench, he begins to experience an increasing number of supernatural events – or are they the product of his fraying psyche? With much of Deeper's action shown through little round portholes, it’s easy to imagine a version of the script made for a relatively small sum of about $30m or so. Its single location concept isn’t a million miles away from Buried – the Ryan Reynolds thriller made for about $2m in 2010. (Reynolds actually did some proper acting in that movie – it’s really good.)
This is Tom Cruise we’re talking about, though, so he presumably wanted to make the film with a real submersible pod in a real ocean, which immediately adds a zero or two to the end of the budget. Cruise is famous, of course, for performing his own high-wire stunts in the Mission: Impossible movies, but he and director Doug Liman also shot some practical aerial sequences for the 2017 crime drama, American Made.
The pair are clearly keen to work together again, especially on something that involves filming in logistically nightmarish places. Deeper may or may not happen, but there’s always Luna Park – their heist thriller which, if they get their way, will be partly shot in space.
More on Deeper and Cruise’s other antics as it comes in.
