The Oscar-winning Tom Cruise movie nobody knew how to handle: “How do we sell that?”
Over the years, there have been many cases in which Hollywood marketing teams have failed a project. Directors like Greta Gerwig and Damien Chazelle have spoken about their infuriating experiences of trying to convince studio executives of their commercial appeal and marketability and being told that no one will watch their films. It is particularly funny when these movies become global blockbusters and reach unprecedented success despite being told that the project will be impossible to sell and given ridiculous reasoning as to why it shouldn’t be made.
It goes to show that some of the people in power truly know nothing about movies and which stories have the power to resonate with wider audiences, with films like Barbie and La La Land going on to be defining films of this decade, regardless of how the suits initially received them. And for Tom Cruise, he had his own experience with this after starring in one of his most iconic roles, with a wave of doubt about how it would be marketed.
Cruise has a singularly unique and irreplaceable filmography, with intense performances in independent classics such as Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia, working with some of the most prolific auteurs of all time, as well as commercial projects like Top Gun and Mission: Impossible. His ability to adapt and defy the expectations of audiences is what sets him apart from so many other A-list actors, being able to challenge and entertain viewers through his assorted filmography.
However, while he has reached success with many of these films, there was one that he was initially unsure about, despite going on to become one of the most beloved movies of the decade.
Rain Man, directed by Barry Levinson in 1988, follows the relationship between a car dealer and his estranged mentally ill brother, who lives in a mental institution and has been left in charge of their father’s fortune. Determined to gain some of this money, he checks his brother out of the facility and they embark on a road trip back to Los Angeles.
The film became an immediate success, despite Cruise’s reservations about its mass appeal, saying, “Rain Man is another one, we’re like, ‘Can’t figure out a better title for the movie than Rain Man? When it came out, we’re like, ‘How are we gonna sell that? Rain Man, what’s it mean? You know, we’d be in marketing meetings, they’d go, ‘What’s it mean?’ ‘Well, you’ve gotta see the movie.’ ‘But how do we sell that?’ It’s like, ‘Well, I don’t know, that’s your job. We make the movie.’”
While this conversation sounds mildly infuriating, it is slightly entertaining to imagine these marketing executives scrambling to figure out a way to sell the film purely based on the title and without knowing what it’s about. Many projects have defied the low expectations of the people who partly decide a project’s worth, and when they get it wrong, it only proves that art and money should not be considered in the same bracket and artists should be free to create without considering the financial reward or marketability.
