No, Rudyard Kipling is not writing Top Gun 2. Paramount and Skydance have recruited Justin Marks, the writer of Disney’s upcoming Jungle Book film, to write a new script for the sequel to the beloved Tom Cruise blockbuster.

Top Gun 2 has been in the works forever, but it really appeared as if the project had been stalled indefinitely after director Tony Scott’s shocking suicide in August 2012. In the days before his death, he was working on pre-production for the film with Cruise.

However, it appears that Paramount is onboard with finding another director. According to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported that Marks was hired, Monday’s news is jump-starting the project again.

Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the 1986 original, is producing the sequel under his new deal at Paramount. Skydance’s Dana Goldberg will executive produce.

Peter Craig, who worked with Ben Affleck on The Town, wrote the script that Scott was working with a few years ago. It’s not known if any of his work will survive the new draft or if the studio is starting from scratch.

Aside from Jon Favreau and Disney’s The Jungle Book, Marks is also working on Warner Bros.’ Federal Bureau of Physics and had worked on the Disney/Bruckheimer project War Dogs, which didn’t see the light of day.

image courtesy of Nancy Rivera/ACE/INFphoto.com