The Last Samurai writer, John Logan gave an interview to Latino Review about his numerous projects including SAMURAI:

Have you seen “THE LAST SAMURAI”?

John: I’ve seen the last forty minutes.

How much research did you have to do for “SAMURAI”?

John: A lot. “THE LAST SAMURAI,” briefly, is about the opening of Japan in the 1870s, essentially the last days of the Samurai culture. And it’s based entirely on historical fact. We fictionalized an actual Samurai leader, because we had to have him do fictional things, but a lot of what he did was true. The fact that he was destroyed by the Imperial Army was true. The fact that he brought in westerners and experts like U.S. Calvary officers to help build the army is true.

Did you like what you saw?

John: Absolutely.”

Tom Cruise to produce “Ask the dust”?
CW partners Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, who produced Towne’s last directing effort, 1998’s Without Limits, will produce with Jonas McCord. It should be the first film Farrell does after completing the Oliver Stone-directed Intermedia epic Alexander, which starts shooting this summer.

And it is looking to be that Tom Cruise will sign on to do Collateral
“Chicago native Michael Mann will direct Tom Cruise in a big-budget film called “Collateral.” “It’s about a cabbie who picks up a hit man,” screenwriter Stuart Beattie tells GLARE.

“The idea is the cabbie is this nonconformist who gets bullied by the other cabbies and can’t stand up for himself. The hit man is Mr. Bombastic, who hijacks this guy to drive him around all night while he kills four people, with the plan to make the cabbie his fifth kill.” Adam Sandler is in talks to play the cabbie opposite Cruise’s hit man.

Beattie says, “Cruise’s hit man becomes so disgusted at how meek the cabbie is that he tells him, ‘You need to get some backbone.’ As the night goes on, the cabbie becomes stronger and stronger.” If Sandler doesn’t sign, Beattie says some interesting names have been floated to get behind the wheel. “I think Philip Seymour Hoffman would be cool. I also think Robert De Niro would be great. Can you imagine that combination?”

He laughs and adds, “I think Michael and Tom have taken all the gross points out of the film, and there might be no room [budgetwise] for De Niro.”

And lastly, some TLS leftovers:
“More than 200 people haggled over a thousand leftovers from the Last Samurai movie production in New Plymouth yesterday.The bargain hunters gathered at a warehouse on Breakwater Rd yesterday as more than 1000 items used by the movie’s cast and crew went under the hammer.

Helen Heyburn, who worked as a cast driver on the film, liked the look of a lounge suite which was in the home of Paula Wagner, Tom Cruise’s business partner.

And tomorrow, more interviews from Mentor awards. Until then, don’t forget to vote for Tom as the most attractive male Here and here

Thanks Teresa for all the news!!