Tom Cruise, 47, has launched a seemingly impossible mission – finding a director.

The star of three Mission: Impossible movies is casting around for a director for M:I-4, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Cruise, who recently appeared in Knight and Day with Cameron Diaz, is said to have settled on Brad Bird, the 52-year-old director and writer of The Incredibles in 2004.

Cruise will reprise the role of Ethan Hunt as well as produce the project, with a view to a May 2011 release date.

Cruise and co-producer J.J. Abrams have held talks with film-makers new and old, including Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer and Edgar Wright, who helmed Shaun of the Dead.

Bird, who has never directed an action thriller, seems an odd choice but he is said to be keen on the project. THR reports he is well known for storytelling and staging thrilling action set pieces.

Film website Cinematical also reports Bird is well-known for his desire to enter the action movie arena since a San Fransisco earthquake movie titled 1906 stalled at Warner Bros.
[SOURCE]