Cruise in talks for 'Matarese Circle'

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Tom Cruise is in talks to star with Denzel Washington in Robert Ludlum's spy thriller "The Matarese Circle," Variety reported Wednesday.

David Cronenberg will direct the movie MGM said it expects to put into production this year, the newspaper said.

Cruise and Washington would be cast as enemy spies who, after fighting each other for decades, find themselves at odds with the Matarese, a powerful organization behind a conspiracy.

Michael Brandt and Derek Haas are working on the script, which brings forward Ludlum's Cold War premise.

The project is expected to be released in 2010.