Tom Cruise is still on course to play his Tropic Thunder character in a spin-off movie, the film's writer has confirmed.

The Hollywood A-lister starred as hip-hop dancing studio boss Les Grossman in the 2008 movie and in 2010 it was reported that he would reprise the attention-grabbing role for a new film.

Since then, little has been heard about the project, but screenwriter Michael Bacall has now told Collider that plans are under way.

He said: "It's actually a pretty heartfelt story. I had a lot of meetings with Mr Cruise and Mr (Ben) Stiller and it was crazy, it was a blast. I think we came up with some really fun stuff to give you an insight into who the guy is, so I'm hopeful that that'll get up and running soon."

Bacall suggested that the Mission Impossible star's schedule will affect the timing of the eagerly anticipated project.

"Paramount has the draft and I gather that they're pretty happy with it. I think Tom Cruise probably has a lot of stuff on his plate right now and I think it'll be a schedule thing more than anything," he said.

It won't be the first time Cruise has dressed up as Grossman since the movie. The 49-year-old stole the show when he donned the fatsuit and danced with Jennifer Lopez on stage at the MTV Movie Awards in 2010.