 The films former director Joe Carnahan (qv) was offered the  position of director after Tom Cruise (qv) was impressed by his  work on _Narc (2002)_ (qv), which Cruise also executive produced.  Carnahan stepped down from the position of director because of  creative differences only a month before filming was originally due  to begin in August of 2004. His departure delayed the film by a  year, while a new director was being sought after. In this time,  Cruise went on to film _War of the Worlds (2005)_ (qv) which had its  originally intended 2006 release fast