Deadline bring word that Morgan Freeman has joined Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko in Joseph Kosinski’s (Tron: Legacy) forthcoming sci-fi flick ‘Oblivion’ (originally titled ‘Horizons’). Scheduled for a July 19th, 2013 release, the film is based on Kosinski’s own Radical Publishing comic book series. Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) is currently rewriting a script that had earlier drafts by William Monahan (The Departed) and Karl Gajdusek (Trespass)

‘Oblivion’ takes place in an apocalyptic future where most of the population live in clouds above an earth surface that has been rendered uninhabitable. Cruise will play a soldier who’s stuck alone on the planet, repairing the drones that patrol and destroy a savage alien life form. He encounters a beautiful woman who crashes in a craft, and their experience together forces him to question his world view. Kurylenko will play Cruise’s lover and partner who acts as an anchor to the city in the clouds while he performs his repair work on the surface below. Riseborough will play the crash-landed stranger who sways Cruise’s character away from his lover. There’s currently no details on Freeman’s role.

This new image has found its way online from Adam Shankman’s (Hairspray) upcoming musical adaptation, ‘Rock of Ages.’ Featuring a stellar cast in Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Ackerman, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Cranston, Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise, ‘Rock of Ages’ will be released in cinemas June 1st in the US, and June 8th in the UK. Based on the musical of the same name by Chris D’Arienzo, the screenplay is by Justin Theroux and Chris D’Arienzo and Allan Loeb. Check out a previously released image from the film below.

“Rock of Ages” tells the story of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, and more.

This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. Director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) has assembled a fine cast to support Tom Cruise in Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Nyqvist. ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ is out now in the US, while it’s set for release December 26th in the UK.

When I left my screening for the film, many people were talking about the scene, the dizzying scene, at the top of the Burj Khalifa…..

Tom Cruise: The first moment on the Burj, when I saw the rope, I remember just thinking this is….this is the moment of truth (laughs). I didn’t anticipate the crosswinds, when you’re that high up. I had to figure out how to fly and I was using my feet as rudders. I was attached to a cable holding me, but if I turned too quickly I would go head first into the building. There’s one thing seeing it and another thing trying to accomplish it. I remember that I didn’t quite make it the first time and came slamming into the building (laughs). I was very excited because I thought it would be very entertaining for an audience and very challenging, and so that’s why I did it.

I remember when I was a little kid, I had this G.I. Joe doll that you’d take and you’d throw and the parachute opened. I was about four years old, I took my jungle gym, and pulled it over to the gutter of the house where we were living in at the time. I had torn my sheets off my bed, my new sheets, and I tied ropes around the corners of the sheets. I stuffed it around me. Then I got on top of the jungle gym and jumped for the gutter and I climbed up on the garage, being four years old, not thinking things through clearly (laughs), I took the parachute out, my sheets, and I jumped off the garage – because I always wanted to parachute. The second my feet left the roof, I realised this wasn’t going to work and it wasn’t a good idea (laughs). Luckily it had rained the night before so the ground was kind of muddy and soft. I’ve always wanted to do things like that, climbing – I have respect for heights now though. It was very challenging to do this, we trained for months to do it and to figure it out. Brad Bird made me do it (laughs).

How did you find working with Brad Bird on this fourth Mission: Impossible movie? Especially since it’s his foray outside of the world of animation.

Tom Cruise: Working with Brad Bird, someone who I have so much admiration for that it’s going to embarrass him. I love his movies; ‘Iron Giant,’ ‘The Incredibles,’ ‘Ratatouille,’ they’re just magnificent films. He’s a master storyteller and filmmaker, and for this to be his first live-action movie, for me I felt very honoured and excited about it because he’s someone I admire so much as a filmmaker and as storyteller…and as a person. He carried his spirit of filmmaking into this movie, into his first live-action film, and I think when you see the sequences and the tone of the film, you’ll think, “That’s Brad Bird.” I was very excited by it.

With a film like this, where you ’re really raising the bar with the action set-pieces – some of them are genuinely jaw-dropping. What is the motivation for you to do that?

Tom Cruise: I just love what I do, and I do it because I want to entertain audiences and love being part of a team and telling a story. I get very interested in something and that’s what drives me, my interest – trying to figure out how to do things. I train for different things, for different movies, and there’s a certain point at which the work has to get done. So it just happens, you have to. But I think it’s my appreciation, it’s something I wanted to do my whole life, entertain audiences and make movies, and I feel very fortunate about it. That excitement, being part of something, has never gone away. Just my interest and excitement for it, I think that’s what it is.

There’s something that happens in creating. There are moments when you feel a tremendous amount of energy when you see something new, to creatively get excited about. Working with Brad Bird on the story and seeing what he’s creating, and we’re working together, with Paula Patton and the actors, no matter how many days we haven’t slept…..there were some days when I had to work 36 hours straight because we were working on two different crews, or three different crews at once. There’s something where you inspire each other when you’re working, and it’s just the most amazing feeling. Like with Brad Bird, when we were working on the prison sequence and he sent me the Dean Martin song, and I went, this is….it just…you know, I get very excited (laughs), I can’t sleep. It inspired the choreography of the scene. There’s just so many moments like that. That’s what does it for me.

That environment must be immensely challenging, but also a tonne of fun?

Tom Cruise: Oh yeah. I mean, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg…..we had so much fun every day. We were working hard, very long hours, every day, and they were like, “What can we do?” They were there every second and they trained very hard. We try to make an environment where everyone can be the best in making the movie, to make something we’re excited about, to make something that will entertain audiences. There were moments when we were filming, that Brad Bird and I, we called them popcorn moments, thinking of the audience sitting in their theatre and eating their popcorn, and watching it, then just getting stunned. I was thinking of an audience just being entertained, it was a lot of fun….a lot of fun.

This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. Director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) has assembled a fine cast to support Tom Cruise in Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Nyqvist. ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ in cinemas now in the US and December 26th in the UK.

Your character Brandt is pretty duplicitous, he‘s a grey area for much of the film….

Jeremy Renner: Yeah, he’s smart as a whip, he’s very analytical about things, he’s not very emotional. But you do slowly start to see who he is through the film. It was a grey, sort of complex character to jump into. Nothing is as it seems in a spy movie, and this certainly delivers that, I think. I’m attracted to those kind of roles, that you could be good or you could be bad and you just don’t know. I guess I just have one of those arresting faces that look like I want to beat you up or something. I don’t know what it is (laughs), but yeah, I like those parts.

But that’s what the character is, you know, it’s one of those hinge/fringe characters – you’re not sure what’s gonna happen. And that was the attraction for me. I can tell you that Will Brandt is a Chief Analyst for the IMF, the right-hand man to the Secretary, which is always the voice, now a face, finally, in this movie – played by Tom Wilkinson. He hands out all the missions. And this sort of buttoned up, sort of desk jockey, gets thrown into the mix of Ethan Hunt and two other agents, Paula Patton’s and Simon Pegg’s characters. And instead of having a mission sort of dished out, it became.…circumstances kind of fall apart and we’re thrown together and have to be together. It doesn’t mean we like each other, but we have to unite and to overcome certain obstacles. And then within that spectacle of action and mission stuff, there’s an interesting character. You will see. All four characters are very strong archetypes and how they play off each other ends up being really interesting. It’s Brad Bird’s strong suit, if you’ve ever seen ‘The Incredibles.’ I think you’ll see a lot of that within that sort of structure. Some great humour as well.

Was that mystery and intrigue something that interested you about taking on this film?

Jeremy Renner: Yeah, the sort of mystery, intrigue and ambiguity of the character. It allowed a lot of room to figure out the details of him. And then, you know, to be able to work with Tom Cruise, to be a big part of a franchise I was a fan of. To be in a big action movie, that’s fun, there was really no reason to say no (laughs). There was so many reasons to do it. But the most important thing was that I felt like there was enough of the character there that I felt like I could offer up something.

How was it joining an already established franchise, with a recognisable lead? Does that give you an advantage, or is there a challenge in sort of distinguishing yourself, you know, when he’s sort of leading the charge?

Jeremy Renner: I think it’s great to be part of a franchise that is successful, and obviously a franchise, any franchise is successful, because there been a continuation of the people who see it. That’s kind of nice to be a part of when you’re on a world stage, a movie gets all around the world and you know that, because 80% of the movies I’ve done, nobody’s seen (laughs). So kind of going into that is pretty exciting. And getting the opportunity to work with Tom Cruise is really exciting. I thought it was complex enough to go do. I had a lot of fun.

Tom Cruise seems pretty enthusiastic about doing his own stunts. Do you share that enthusiasm?

Jeremy Renner: Yes, I’m enthusiastic about it. I think if it’s required of me to do it, I think I’m attracted to challenges so there’s a great physical challenge in doing stunts. And also, there’s no ticket you can buy for that ride. The opportunity to do the stunts and to do the things that we were able to do on this movie – people don’t get that opportunity (laughs). So yeah, that’s exciting. And if it serves the story and the character, I don’t want to just do a stunt just to do a stunt to have fun. But it just becomes sort of icing on the cake to help Brad Bird tell the story.

What was it like learning the fight disciplines?

Jeremy Renner: The stunt that took the longest to prepare was all the fighting. There was months and months and months of fighting training, five hours a day to learn different disciplines, to be prepared for any sequence that might be written. Because in itself, this is a very rogue production, in that we didn’t so much learn choreography. We learned as much as we can in the discipline and then they taught us on the day to get it going. For me, that was most of the movie.

How was being high up in the Burj Khalifa and looking out the window?

Jeremy Renner: It’s one of those things, like if you get hit by a bus and you didn’t know it, that’s one thing. But if you see the bus coming and you can’t do anything, you get paralyzed and you can’t move, and you just watch it come at you – it’s one of those things (laughs). Tom is out there, running around, doing his thing all over the building. And we’re just standing there, sort of by the edge, and that is more terrifying. And then once we hung out, thirty seconds of near vomiting almost happened, but then once that went away…. Tom was laughing (laughs). He’s hanging upside down, he’s all red faced and he’s like, “Look at this view!!” I’m like, “What are you talking about?! I’m gonna vomit on you.” (Laughs) But once that went away, he was right. It was like, “This is beautiful.” I mean, it was just fantastic. And once all the fear went away and all that stuff, it became a really amazing experience. But before that, the anticipation of it all was terrifying.

I can imagine all training you done for ‘Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ really helped you with your other projects?

Jeremy Renner: Oh yeah, it helped with all of them. Tom has prepared me for, especially ‘The Bourne Legacy,’ but all of them: ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ and then ‘The Avengers,’ and now ‘The Bourne Legacy,’ for the sort of mental place to be to know when you’re doing an action sequence, that….like in any professional sport, in America at least, if you get injured or you hurt your knee or whatever, second string comes in. But it doesn’t happen on movies so you can’t get injured. So it’s sort of getting on this really great program to really just not be in shape, but just prevent injuries. And Tom Cruise introduced me to some really great physiotherapists and that sort of thing, to prepare my body for that sort of torture.

This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. Director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) has assembled a fine cast to support Tom Cruise in Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Nyqvist. Look out for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ in cinemas December 16th in the US, and December 26th in the UK.

This being your live-action debut, what was it about ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ that interested you?

Brad Bird: I was excited to get involved with it because I was looking for an opportunity to, J.J. Abrams and I, we were looking for an opportunity to work together. Before, the timing never worked out. And I met Tom Cruise right after ‘The Incredibles,’ we had this long discussion about what we loved about movies. And this was a chance to work with both of these guys in one fell swoop, and to have a lot of fun with a very big movie.

J.J. Abrams directed the last one, seeing as he was producer on this, how did you two work together?

Brad Bird: He was very involved when I started work on the film, with the planning and the script. He had been working with Tom Cruise and the writers, Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, developing the screenplay. That’s when I saw J.J. a lot. When it came time to shoot the film, J.J. was involved with shooting ’Super 8’ at almost exactly the same time we were shooting ’Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,’ so we didn’t see each other for several months, we sort of disappeared down our separate rabbit holes and came up at the end (laughs). Then I saw him more when we were doing post-production on it.

How was it having your lead star, Tom Cruise, doing a lot of his own stunts, was that a bit frightening?

Brad Bird: It was, but it was so complicated and involved, and we filmed the sequence of Tom climbing the Burj Khalifa in IMAX, so it was very complicated. I was just very worried about not screwing up my part of it (laughs). But there was a moment when I woke up at 4am in the morning and suddenly went, “OH MY GOD, OUR STAR IS HANGING ON A WIRE A MILE ABOVE THE EARTH!” (Laughs) But somehow we got through it, all props to Tom for having the cohunes to do those stunts. That setting is incredibly cinematic. I think Tom has ruined me for actors in action movies, because if an actor doesn’t want to jump of a building, I’m gonna go, “WHY?! Isn‘t that what you do?” (Laughs) Because Tom will be my only experience.

There’s some fantastic action in this film. I know much of it was done without effects, but what is it like in pre-production to see what you’ve filmed but with the added effects?

Brad Bird: That’s very exciting, but when you do these shots which involve special effects, you see them as they’re being developed. You have to have a critical eye, the same way as you do when you’re shooting a scene in person. You still have to go, “No, it has to look a little more like this.” So you’re sort of prompting the movie towards this vision that you, hopefully, have the whole way through. But with this movie, one of the attractions of it was how much of it was not special effects, where we were doing it old school style, with some great stunts. Also, one of the advantages of having done animation, it’s all about pre-visualising, and knowing what something is going to look like long before you do it. So that was a great advantage.

iTunes Movie Trailers has premiered this debut poster and trailer for Adam Shankman’s (Hairspray) upcoming musical adaptation, ‘Rock of Ages.’ Featuring a stellar cast in Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Ackerman, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Cranston, Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise, ‘Rock of Ages’ will be released in cinemas June 1st in the US, and June 8th in the UK.

“Rock of Ages” tells the story of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, and more.

Paramount Pictures has premiered this dazzling 3-minute “Sandstorm Chase” clip from ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.’ Director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) has assembled a fine cast to support Tom Cruise in Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Nyqvist. Look out for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ in cinemas December 16th in the US, and December 26th in the UK. Look out for my interview with Tom Cruise tomorrow.

Director Brad Bird and Producer J.J. Abrams bring us the action packed, entertainment event of the holiday season with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL. This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. You have never seen a mission grittier and more intense than this.

IGN has released this top-notch IMAX poster for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.’ Designed by Matt Owen, the poster features the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, combined with the familiar ‘Mission: Impossible’ lit fuse. The previous instalment in the series was fantastic, fingers crossed this is another gem. Director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) has assembled a fine cast to support Tom Cruise in Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Nyqvist. Look out for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ in cinemas December 16th in the US, and December 26th in the UK.

Director Brad Bird and Producer J.J. Abrams bring us the action packed, entertainment event of the holiday season with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL. This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. You have never seen a mission grittier and more intense than this.

This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. Director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) has assembled a fine cast to support Tom Cruise in Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway, Simon Pegg, Vladimir Mashkov, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson and Michael Nyqvist. Look out for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ in cinemas December 16th in the US, and December 26th in the UK.

How was it playing this larger-than-life, fun loving, flamboyant billionaire? I can imagine that being fun.

Anil Kapoor: It was great. Brij Nath, he’s a telecom tycoon billionaire from Mumbai, India. He loves life, he loves hosting big parties, he loves people, he loves entertaining them, he loves feeding them, getting them drunk, these are all the external parts of Brij. He’s a self-mad man, he has become what he’s become because of hard work, sincerity and dedication – he’s proud to be who he is. He is so flamboyant and so loud, but he doesn’t realise. He’s socially…..not how he should be (laughs), but he doesn’t realise it. There’s a certain kind of innocence in him which is very endearing. His love for women, he actually believes…which is what I felt when I was doing the character, he feels like he’s so charming, so good looking, that any woman in the world would fall in love with him. He’s feels like he’s so rich, he’s got everything, why wouldn’t a woman want to be with him (laughs)? “She says no to me?” Even if she says no to me I’m going to convince her, I’m gonna seduce her,” that the way he feels (laughs).

Was Brij inspired by anyone, how did you build him up?

Anil Kapoor: I met the writers of the film, Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec, and Andre’s married to an Indian girl, her grandfathers name is Brij Nath, so the name came from there. The character was inspired by a billionaire from India, well of course he’s not as bad as the way I project myself in this film, but I took a lot of characteristics from him, his name is Vijay Mallya. So I spoke to him twice, I met him earlier, but I wanted to really observe him. At that time he was very busy, so what I did was I spoke to his assistant, I spoke to his friends. His friends gave me a book which was a compilation of photos, pictures, all the things his friends over the years had to written to him on his 50th birthday. So there was details of what kind of person he is, how he has helped people, how he has come up, the kind of parties he gives, the cars he has, the way he travels, his aircrafts, private jets, his fondness of earrings, the way he looks after himself, the three phones, everything, everything was there in that book. So I studied that book and I also read a book on Ted Turner, I’m a great fan of Ted Turner and what he has done to media, from where he started and how he’s built his empire of CNN. That book was also very fascinating for me. He’s had an epic life, I took a lot from him also.

How was it for you working with Tom Cruise?

Anil Kapoor: What can I say about Tom Cruise? All of the world look up to him, people are inspired by him. And I’m not saying this because I had the opportunity to work with him, I mean it, I mean it sincerely. All the actors, all my colleagues in India, we really look up to him. There is a saying in India, whenever you see a cool guy, or a good-looking person with a little bit of substance, we say, “What do you think, you think your Tom Cruise?” (Laughs) These are lines that are used in films and in real life, even amongst my friends, I’ll be like, “You think you’re Tom Cruise?” When you starts using these lines, and you have someone who becomes an icon, who’s become larger than life, that’s the kind of impact he has all around the world. For me to work with him was fantastic, he‘s a great guy.

This franchise is huge all around the world, what was it like for you becoming a part of it?

Anil Kapoor: I loved it. It’s one of the coolest franchises ever to come on screen. I have seen all of them, umpteen times. And I feel that this becomes very very special, not because I’ve come here (laughs), but I really feel like this is the most exciting, entertaining, best “Mission: Impossible” ever made. ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ is really the best one for me. And again, I’m not just saying that because I’m in it (laughs), I sincerely mean it. We’re very proud of it.

On the promotional campaign for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,’ Tom Cruise spoke to MTV News about the much talked about sequel to ‘Top Gun.’ If reports are correct, Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, the screenwriters behind ‘Thor’ and ‘X-Men: First Class,’ are writing the script for the sequel, with the original producer/director team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott returning. From his comments Tom Cruise certainly sounds like he’s up for it, with his primary motivation in reuniting with director Tony Scott for their first collaboration since 1990′s ‘Days Of Thunder’: “I said to Tony [Scott], I want to make another movie with him. He and I haven’t made a film since Days of Thunder. Tony and I and Jerry [Bruckheimer], we never thought that we would do it again. Then they started to come to us with these ideas of where it is now. I thought, ‘Wow, that would be … what we could do now.”

For Cruise, the two key elements to a sequel would be a worthy script and the freedom to make the movie as they did in 1986: “I hope we can figure this out to go do it again. If we can find a story that we all want to do, we all want to make a film that is in the same kind of tone as the other one and shoot it in the same way as we shot Top Gun… We’re working on it.” Look out for my interview with Tom Cruise for ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ early next week.