Tom Cruise Wrecks Shrek Rumors

Sorry to disappoint you Shrek fans, but Tom Cruise won't be heading to the swamp for the next go-round in the green-guy franchise.

Despite a flurry of stories on the Web over the past two weeks, Cruise is not—repeat, not—a candidate to voice the villain in Shrek Goes Fourth for DreamWorks Animation.

"As of today, there is no truth to the Tom Cruise-Shrek 4 rumor," rep Jeff Raymond tells E! News without further explanation.

The ogre rumors went into overdrive after first surfacing Sept. 4 on the movie blog cinemablend.com, which claimed to have received an email from an unnamed studio insider stating Cruise was being considered for the role.

That report took off in the blogosphere, eventually getting picked up in mainstream publications, including one of the Los Angeles Times blogs, which gave it even more traction.

And voilà, Cruise's camp stepped up to debunk the Shrek story.

DreamWorks declined to comment.

What exactly is the Top Gunner doing next? He certainly has plenty of options.

After wrapping the World War II thriller Valkyrie, due out in December, Cruise could join Ben Stiller in The Hardy Men, a comedy envisioning the sibling sleuths all grown up.

Cruise and his United Artists also just snapped up the rights to the true-crime thriller The Monster of Florence as a possible starring vehicle. That film chronicles a three-decade serial murder spree in the Italian city.

One film he won't be doing is Edwin Salt. Cruise had been considering the film but ultimately passed on the role of a CIA officer mistaken for a president-assassinating Russian spy. The part is now reportedly being refashioned for Angelina Jolie.

As for Shrek Goes Fourth, the film will feature the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy. It's currently in the early production stages and expected to hit theaters in 2010.