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It is hard to quantify how impactful Tom Cruise‘s cameo as Les Grossman was in 2008’s Tropic Thunder where he played the studio head and completely stole every scene he was in while acting with the fiery intensity of a thousand suns. Cruise’s cultural cachet had been waiting since his 2005 interview with Oprah Winfrey where he jumped around on a couch like a mad man and the public wasn’t quite sure what to make of him for a brief while after that.
Then he showed up on the big screen in Tropic Thunder in 2008 with Robert Downey Jr., Ben Stiller (who directed the film), Jack Black, and others and completely stole the show with his masterful performance as Les Grossman. Conan O’Brien asked Ben Stiller about the Les Grossman role recently on his show and Ben Stiller revealed Tom Cruise’s two conditions for playing the part.
Those conditions were basically that Tom Cruise‘s character got to have big bulging forearms and that he had to be able to dance. Ben Stiller had a good laugh while recounting Tom’s demands with Conan:
Not for nothing, in the lead up to Season 2 of Severance Ben Stiller said that Tropic Thunder likely couldn’t be made today. He said “edgier comedy is just harder” to do in this era.
Sadly, that’s true, but not in the sense that many might perceive it. There are still plenty of profoundly hilarious and equally dicey jokes to be made. Look no further than Shane Gillis for proof of that. He’s on top of the world these days.
But Stiller’s words are true in the sense that studios aren’t willing to throw huge budgets at comedy projects anymore that may or may not work. Hollywood doesn’t take chances with Comedy like it used to and instead relies on (Netflix) algorithms to churn out potential hits.
Ben Stiller went on to say that he had met Tom Cruise a couple of times prior to pitching him on Tropic Thunder but had a great time working on MTV Movie Awards bit where stiller played a stuntman. Once they finally had a script he’d discussed it with Tom Cruise and says he originally wanted Tom to play his own part of Tugg Speedman but he was too nervous to ask.
Saying he didn’t want to bother Cruise with the part, Ben eventually sent Tom over the Tropic Thunder script. Tom responded by saying he’d love to be a part of the film in some way and then came up with the idea of Les Grossman himself, saying there was no studio exec character in the film.