November 29, 2001
Tom Cruise is working towards realizing his longstanding dream of portraying a magician in a new project based on the life of the man who perfected camouflage.

Variety reports Cruise has hired "Jurassic Park III" screenwriter Peter Buchman to adapt David Fisher's novel "The War Magician." The book tells the true story of a British music hall magician who was hired by the army to develop techniques that would allow forces to be undetected in the desert during the campaign against Germany.

Buchman was hired by Cruise's production company based on his work on "Alexander," the as-yet-unproduced screenplay for Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's planned film about Alexander The Great, Variety said.

The report said Cruise is also interested in Anthony Minghella's adaptation of Charles Frazier's novel "Cold Mountain."