Tom Cruise is excited about his role in The War of the Worlds, he says in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Cruise tells the magazine that a discussion between director Steven Spielberg and himself provided the inspiration for the project.

"We were just releasing Minority Report and Steven and I were looking for films to make together," he explains.

"I visited him on Catch Me If You Can and we were talking about a couple of things and he says, 'You know what? I think we should do 'War of the Worlds' together.' I just looked at him and said, 'Oh my God'.

"I was so excited. I've never made a sci-fi movie like this before."

He continues, "It's going to be exciting, it's going to be really scary, and it's going to maintain the tone of H.G. Wells' book. These guys are coming to dominate Earth."

"We're just in the dream stage," he adds. "We haven't even cast it yet."

Filming will start in November.