The classic Tom Cruise role originally written for Tom Hanks: “I should be doing that instead of this”
There was a certain time during the early 1990s when Hollywood just couldn’t get enough of Tom Hanks. The hugely popular films Big, Punchline, and Sleepless In Seattle put the actor on the map, and by the end of the era, Hanks had become a reliable asset, ensuring that any movie he starred in would become a box office hit. However, during his prestigious career, there was one role that Hanks turned down, which became a classic, and the role was taken on by another massive star.
In the lead-up to 1996, writer and director Cameron Crowe was preparing to make his sports comedy-drama Jerry Maguire, the story of an athlete and sports agent who gets fired from his job for exposing the corruption within his industry and goes on to start his own agency.
Crowe, when writing the script, had Hanks in mind to take the lead role in the picture. The director’s vision was close to coming to fruition, as the pair even met to discuss the project. Crowe discussed the meeting with the star in an interview with NBC Sports. “It was originally written with Tom Hanks in mind,” he explained.
Adding: “I had this wonderful conversation with Tom Hanks, and people were waiting in the next room for the answer. And Tom Hanks was so complimentary and so great and said, ‘I’d love to do this, but I’m doing That Thing You Do! and I should be doing that instead of this movie. But good luck.’ I was so high on the Tom Hanks personality charisma that I walked into the next room like ‘I just had the greatest conversation with Tom Hanks.’”
The movie that Hanks is referring to in the conversation with Crowe, That Thing You Do!, was Hanks’ directorial debut, so it’s unsurprising that his focus at that time was aligned elsewhere. But it is also easy to see why, looking back, the picture might be considered less of an interest in comparison. The stars didn’t align for the director and actor; however, Crowe did go on to cast another huge actor in the role at the time.
Crowe eventually cast Tom Cruise for the part, with Cuba Gooding Jr in a supporting role alongside him. Jerry Maguire went on to be a massive success at the box office and was nominated for a number of Academy awards, with Gooding Jr winning ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his performance.
Jerry Maguire is seen as many as a turning point for Cruise. It allowed him to move between comedy and drama with ease, flexing his acting muscles more prominently than ever before. But what it really nailed was showing what a heartthrob Cruise had become. There could be no doubt about it, Cruise was a box office shoo-in. Few movies showed this more clearly than the rom-com drama, Jerry Maguire.
With a career as long and esteemed as Hanks’, I’m sure he’s come to terms with the missed opportunity to star in another classic from the era. That said, it’s fun to learn about the close calls that happen in the movie business and how different some of the most beloved films would be if things had worked out slightly differently.
