Tim Robbins (Mystic River) and Miranda Otto (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) are in talks to join Tom Cruise in director Steven Spielberg’s The War of the Worlds for Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, reports Variety.

Dakota Fanning will portray the daughter of Cruise’s character. Production is being fast-tracked to start shooting in November for a June 29 release.

Based on H.G. Wells’ legendary science fiction classic, “The War of the Worlds” (published in 1898), the film is a modern day version of what many critics agree is the definitive model for alien invasion stories. David Koepp wrote the film’s script