Now I'm actually one of those rare people, a fan of Tom Cruise, something which I'm going to be only too happy to defend in an upcoming article. So the news that he could well be playing a serial killer from the times of the Renaissance is genuinely exciting.

The roles he plays where he's a morally dubious or just downright evil character are perhaps the best we've seen, and they tend to be where he really does stretch his acting and give us that powerful intensity he has.

The film is adapted from the novel The Monster of Florence (Play.com / Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com) by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi, and it's actually a true crime novel which looks a the three decade long string of serial murders during the Renaissance that was the inspiration for the famous on screen serial killer, Hannibal.

Right now Universal Pictures have picked up the story to create a screen adaptation, and there's no word in the story in Variety (no link given) through Yahoo News if Tom Cruise will star or not as yet. I personally hope he does, but then when you are the head of a production company and a leading actor, you'll always be associated with every project coming through the door. He could be starring in every Universal Pictures film in development, that's the beauty of running your own production company.

However this one is interesting as it will play on some of his great strengths as an actor, and I'm hoping there will be a director on the project strong enough to stretch him, because when that happens and he's challenged, that's when we see his best performances.