Tom Cruise was the first choice for ‘Benjamin Button’
Outside of his many roles as Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise was originally in talks to play the title role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The 2008 film details the story of a man aging in reverse and starred Brad Pitt in the lead role.
When talking about the origins of the film, director Steven Spielberg mentioned Tom Cruise potentially playing the role before Pitt, telling Entertainment Weekly, “Tom and I had been friends for many, many years…personal friends. We had considered working together. Benjamin Button, we had talked about maybe doing together, long before Minority Report. But nothing quite jelled for either of us”.
The 2002 film starred Cruise acting in the adaptation of the Philip K. Dick science fiction novel. Though Spielberg may have sent him the screenplay numerous, he mentioned Cruise wanting to look at the script for Minority Report more than anything, continuing, “So when Minority Report came along, it wasn’t unusual for me to send him the screenplay. But this is the one he said, ‘Let’s do this together’”.
Pitt would eventually take the role, acting alongside Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson, which won him an Oscar in 2008 for ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’. Spielberg would also back out of the film, with directing duties going to David Fincher of Fight Club and Seven fame.
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