Los Angeles, Aug 14: Tom Cruise may find his latest leading lady this weekend.
Cruise is gearing up to make One Shot, a Paramount-Skydance adaptation of a 2005 Lee Child crime thriller. Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote Cruise's Valkyrie movie, penned the script and is directing.
On Saturday, McQuarrie and the studio were reading at least three actresses for the female lead: Hayley Atwell, Alexa Davalos and Rosamund Pike.
Atwell is best known to US audiences as the female lead opposite Chris Evans in Captain America.
Davalos last appeared in Clash of the Titans as Andromeda and counts Defiance, The Mist and The Chronicles of Riddick amongst her credits.
Pike drew acclaim for her work in the British movie Made in Dagenham and Barney's Version. She also appeared with Carey Mulligan in An Education.
One Shot centers on a Jack Reacher, an ex-Army cop who gets sucked into the mystery surrounding the arrest of a sniperaccused of killing five random people in a shooting. The female role is that of tough lawyer and daughter of the discrict attorney.
The studio is said to be seeking a pedigreed yet non-A-list actress for the movie.
Brit Marling was an early favorite but sources say her schedule didn't work.
The studio is eyeing a fall shoot in Pittsburgh. Paramount had no comment.
