And Tom Cruise's next film will be...

You can’t really blame Tom Cruise for having other things on his mind right now. He’s been kicked off the Paramount lot but grabbed the cash to make Cruise/Wagner productions a truly independent company, so he’s been busy setting that up. And there’s that really-honestly-it’s-love wedding to prepare for.

All that might explain why he’s dragging his feet about committing to a new film – either that, or he’s just being really, really careful about what he chooses. He’s already considered and discarded the likes of 3:10 To Yuma and Fool’s Gold, but now three films are vying for his attention like sad-eyed puppies at a dog’s home just begging him to pick them up and stroke their furry cinematic tummies.

So which one will he throw a bone to? No one knows for sure yet, but the contenders are a couple of military-flavoured dramas and a high concept idea about a man who sells his life in chunks to try to right a terrible wrong.

Indie film Lions For Lambs, written by State Of Play’s Matthew Carnahan sees politics and war meet in Afghanistan, with Robert Redford close to sitting in the director’s chair and occasionally hopping out to act as well and Meryl Streep being wooed to play a journalist.

In major studio-world, we find The Ha-Ha at Warner Bros. Cruise would play a Gulf War veteran struck mute by his injuries, who must care for a 9-year-old when the child’s mother goes missing. With a screenplay by Chuck Leavitt (K-Pax, Blood Diamond), that's in the mix too.

Finally, there’s Fox drama Selling Time. It would give the Cruiser the chance to appear in a Spike Lee joint, though the slightly confusing plot about the hero putting bits of his life up for sale sounds a little odd.

Whichever he chooses, he’d best get on with it – lest we forget who he is...