It seems Joseph Kosinski's next effort after "Tron: Legacy" just keeps getting grander. He's already got one of the biggest stars on the planet, Tom Cruise, leading the way with Olga Kurylenko and Andrea Riseborough filling out the female lead roles. And now, Kosinski's lined up of the most respected actors around to lend his talents to the sci-fi picture.
Morgan Freeman has joined "Oblivion" (which seems to have regained its title since our last update), in a role that isn't known just yet, but that Deadline reveals is "critical" to the story. Based on Kosinski’s own graphic novel, the picture is set in a future where the Earth’s surface has been irradiated beyond recognition and the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when surface drone repairman Jack (Cruise) discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows. Kurylenko will play Cruise's wife, with Riseborough as the mystery woman who arrives on the uninhabited planet.
And it appears that before the camera rolls, even more tinkering is being done. With William Monahan having penned the first draft and Karl Gadjusek giving it a go in round two, "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Toy Story 3" scribe Michael Arndt will also be putting his pen to the story. He's a pretty top-shelf guy to be getting in this late in the game to spruce up the script, but it's certainly hard to argue with the choice.
Filming begins in March and the movie will hit theaters on July 19, 2013. This will be the first time Freeman and Cruise will share the screen, but here's a bit of trivia: Freeman narrated Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," which starred Cruise.