The comic book series Sleeper was written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Sean Phillips. It tells of an agent who comes into contact with an alien artefact which makes him totally oblivious to pain.

The agency that runs him then places him undercover into an evil organisation and while there he falls for one of their female agents, damn life's twists and turns!

This marks another change in direction for the actor, in recent weeks he's been assigned to a thriller called The Tourist and possibly a comedy called Food Fight. What with completing recent roles in the comedy Tropic Thunder and the story of the plot to kill Hitler from within his own ranks, he's really spreading himself across roles.

As usual, since there is so much material for Sleeper, this is being eyed as a franchise, but then what isn't these days?

It's not clear whether Tom Cruise will take the leading role, but the option is there for him. Although on the face of it Sleeper doesn't sound that it's a deep and strong story, it does have potential with both Sam Raimi and Tom Cruise involved.

I think this would gain extra weight if Raimi had been directing, but for now the word from Yahoo Movies is that he's just producing. We'll see what develops.