‘Mena’ Movie Updates: Doug Liman’s Upcoming Action-Thriller Film with Tom Cruise Gets Surprising Title Change, Oscar-Worthy Reschedule

‘Mena’ announced its newest title-change to ‘American Made’. Director Doug Liman’s upcoming action-thriller film starring Tom Cruise in the lead role as Barry Seal is also rescheduled to September 2017.

According to the Independent, Liman’s upcoming biographical action-thriller and drama film recently announced a surprising title change. The film was originally titled ‘Mena’, after a small town in Arkansas, but was re-titled as ‘American Made’.

Liman is best known for his work as director and/or producer on several popular full-feature films  including 2002’s ‘The Bourne Identity’, 2005’s ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’, 2008’s ‘Jumper’, 2010’s ‘Fair Game’, and 2014’s ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, for which he was nominated a Saturn Award for Best Director. One of his first films from the 1990s entitled ‘Swingers’ won him the MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker.

His upcoming film will star Tom Cruise in the lead role as Barry Seal, a TWA pilot recruited by the CIA in their fight against an emerging communist threat in Central America through one of the biggest covert operations in U.S. history. Barry’s role in the operation led to his involvement with the Medellin drug cartel.

Joining Cruise are Domhnall Gleeson, Jesse Plemons, Lola Kirke, Sara Wright, Jayma Mays, and Connor Trinneer among others. The film is written for the big screen by Gary Spinelli and produced by Doug Davison, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Brian Oliver, Kim Roth, and Tyler Thompson.

The film, then entitled ‘Mena’ was originally scheduled for a January 6, 2017 release date. According to Collider, it has then been rescheduled for September 29, 2017. Liman expressed his enthusiasm over the new film saying, “I love stories of improbable heroes working against the system, and Barry Seal took the government, and our country, for an unbelievable ride. Interpreting his story has the makings for an entertaining film that is equal parts satire, suspense and comedy—and always surprising.”

Production for Liman’s film met tragedy on September 2015 while cast and crew were filming in Colombia, according to Entertainment Weekly. A plane crash on set killed Alan Purwin and Carlos Berl and injured Jimmy Lee Garland after succumbing to bad weather conditions on their return to an airport in Medellin.

‘Mena’, now entitled ‘American Made’, is an upcoming biographical crime-thriller film produced by Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Quadrant Pictures, and Vendian Entertainment. It is distributed by Universal Pictures in the United States.