Sure Shots: Tom Cruise; Terrence Malick; Lynn Shelton

* Tom Cruise has hand picked Brian Kirk, recently hired to direct Thor 2, to helm the long gestating Paper Wings. You might remember last year when Cruise and a gaggle of his wacko Scientology buds(except for you Jenna Elfman. I still love you.) led a table reading of the story, which centers on a bull riding champ who falls in love with a fast-rising country singer. Cruise and Kirk will collaborate on the script, with Will Smith's production house overseeing. Chances are we won't see this for a couple of years since Cruise has a couple of projects lined up(One-Shot and Oblivion), while Kirk will be tackling the Thor sequel. [Variety]

* Something's happened with Terrence Malick that he's no longer spending years developing his films. We're used to seeing maybe one every decade or so, but now we're lookin' at possibly three or four in the span of a couple years. The latest is a mystery project, said to be a bit smaller than his usual epic stuff, and will see him re-teaming with Christian Bale. The two worked together on 2005's The New World. Whatever the film entails, it'll require a female lead as well. Rooney Mara, Mia Wasikowska, Haley Bennett(Kaboom), and Clemence Posey(In Bruges) are said to be in contention.

* Not being as up on the indie scene as some of my colleagues, I had never seen a Lynn Shelton flick until 2009's Humpday, and that turned out to be one of the best I saw all year. Now she's firmly on my radar, and I can't wait until the follow-up, Your Sister's Sister, which will star Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt. After that, Shelton has lined up another small flick, Laggies. The story centers on a woman who can't figure out how to respond to her boyfriend's marriage proposal, so she lies and tells him she's going off on a retreat but is actually hanging out with some new high school friends. Hmm...any chance of a Greta Gerwig sighting in this one? [Variety]