“It’s gonna happen”: the actor Steven Spielberg always knew he’d work with eventually 
As one of the Hollywood greats, Steven Spielberg has worked with many other Hollywood greats, including, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Jeff Goldblum and most notably Tom Hanks. And due to his prolific career, he can work with pretty much anyone he wants. Of course, this means the filmmaker has been able to watch some of the future greats from their very beginning, knowing that they’ll one day work together. There are some actors that just make sense.
But the actor Spielberg knew he would one day work with, would also go on to be the one he had a 20-year feud with: Tom Cruise. Speaking to JoBlo, Spielberg explained why they ended up working together, “I think we always knew we would work together cause when I first met Tom on the set of Risky Business, I knew I wanted to direct him in a movie.”
Risky Business came out 20 years before the two would eventually work together. But something about Cruise’s ability must have caught the director’s eye, which isn’t surprising really given his intense personality and unique ability. Seemingly, Cruise felt the same but they wanted to make sure it was the right film for the actor. “I just know that I was patient, and Tom was patient ’cause we knew it was inevitable. It’s gonna happen, and it’s not gonna happen cause we force it to happen. It’s gonna happen ’cause something just felt right.”
While it might have taken them 20 years together, the two did eventually collaborate on Minority Report and War of the Worlds. The former was a 2002 cyberpunk action film and the latter an adaptation of HG Wells’ science fiction classic of the same name, both commercial and critical successes. Apparently, they’d come close a few times before as well, but these two “Something happened that felt right; I felt it was right for me and Tom felt it was right for him… we felt really, really good about this one.”
But, apparently, the time wouldn’t feel right again. After a few slightly manic press tour appearances, with some controversial things posited by Cruise, for the War of the Worlds, Spielberg and Cruise haven’t worked together. Or even been associated. During the tour, Cruise famously professed his love for his girlfriend at the time, Katie Holmes, by jumping on Oprah’s couch and condemned the use of psychiatric drugs by fellow actor Brooke Shields for her post-partum depression.
Cruise also seemed to be further and further in the grips of Scientology. Not only did he manage to overshadow the release of the film, but he was also associated with a staged protest in front of the home of a psychiatrist Spielberg had praised in front of him. While the actor denied involvement, the two haven’t worked together since.
However, Spielberg has since broken his silence on the actor, praising him in 2023 for saving the movie industry. But regardless, the two had a good run, and Spielberg was clearly right in his predictions of Cruise. They successfully worked together, and Cruise has continued to be one of the highest-paid actors of his generation. And who knows what the future holds?
