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Tom Cruise Revives Hilarious 'Tropic Thunder' Character, Reveals the Secret Behind Dance Moves

Over 10 years after playing the character on screen in  Tropic Thunder , Tom Cruise brought Les Grossman back to life

Dave Quinn is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE. He has been working at the brand since 2016, and is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It.

Tom Cruise may have surprised fans at Comic-Con with the first trailer to his upcoming Top Gun sequel , but it was another movie in his illustrious catalog that Conan O’Brien asked about when Cruise appeared on the comedian’s talk show Thursday night.

In the episode, which was broadcast from the annual entertainment convention, O’Brien, 56, asked Cruise to step back into the shoes of Les Grossman — the skeevy studio executive Cruise played over a decade ago in 2008’s Tropic Thunder.

The actor, 57, was happy to oblige, showing off some of Grossman’s infamous dance moves.

Turns out, Cruise himself had pushed director Ben Stiller to incorporate those dance moves, as well as Grossman’s fat-suit, when he was first approached to play the role.

“I take classes all the time to learn things or I want to improve a skill, whether it’s singing, music — whatever subject I’m studying. So I take dance classes and I took hip-hop classes. And then what I find is, I’ll find a character to put that with,” Cruise explained on Conan, recalling how he told Stiller, ” ‘I’d love to play this character but I want to have fat hands and I’m going to dance.’ ”

“Sometimes with a character you just get an instinct about what you’re going to do,” Cruise added.

Stiller, according to Cruise, wasn’t completely on board with Cruise’s vision.

“For a couple of months he kept saying, ‘Maybe we don’t do the makeup. Maybe you just look like yourself,’ ” Cruise remembered. “And I said, ‘No, I need fat hands and I’m going to dance.’ ”

After the makeup was created, Cruise said finding Grossman was easy. “As you’re working on a character, you start becoming that character, you start discovering that character. And I just, I just started moving,” Cruise said, adding that Stiller was still confused. “There was no music. He was just looking at me like, ‘What’s happening.’ I was crushing Pepsi cans and Coke cans.”

Once Stiller added music to the scene though (specifically, Ludacris’s “Get Back”), he understood what Cruise wanted.

“He calls me the next day and cut it to that piece of music you see in the movie. And he said, ‘I get it, I get it, I get it. This is hilarious,’ ” Cruise shared.

Tropic Thunder earned Cruise a Golden Globe action nomination. The film also starred Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson.

Later on Conan , Cruise recited Grossman’s more colorful lines. “Stand back and literally f— your own face,” Cruise said, to the cheers of the crowd. “I will f— you up! I will massacre you!”

And though the next few movies Cruise has on his slate are action-based (including the aforementioned Top Gun: Maverick ), Cruise said comedy — and Les Grossman — will always have a special place in his heart.

“I love comedy,” Cruise said. “I used to write sketches when I was a little kid and would do imitations to make my mother and sisters laugh.”

“Les Grossman was a funny character,” he added. “That was a wild character. That was wild.”

Top Gun: Maverick is set for a June 26, 2020 release.

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Why Tom Cruise Demanded Dancing And Fat Fingers For Tropic Thunder

Who could forget Tom Cruise 's legendary performance as Les Grossman in 2008's Tropic Thunder ? Not only did he invent the character , but he also almost got an entire movie centering around that character. How cool would that have been? It's no wonder Grossman ranks among Cruise's best characters ever . Cruise's genius, coupled with his innate ability to feel out characters before they're even fully fleshed out, helped turn Grossman into the phenomenon he is now.

Speaking to popular late-night host Conan O'Brien during “ ConanCon ,” Tom Cruise explained how the now-famous character came to be. After Conan showed a clip of Cruise's dance performance from the film's end credits, Cruise said that learning to dance and learning comedy were among many things he wanted to perfect. In his words:

I take classes all the time to learn things or I want to improve a skill… singing, music, something I’m studying. I take dance classes and I took hip-hop classes and then I’ll find a character to put that with.

Because Tom Cruise created one of Tropic Thunder 's best characters, he demanded that his input be put in to the finished product, and he was willing to learn whatever it took to get the job done. It was, and it was glorious. Les Grossman proved so popular and so in-demand that Cruise agreed to bring him to the MTV Movie Awards back in 2010. It's amazing what hilarious mid-credits dancing can do for your career.

After that earlier tidbit, Tom Cruise circled back to Les Grossman and said what everyone in the room (and probably on the planet) wanted to hear:

I said, ‘Look, I’d love to play this character, but I want to have fat hands and I’m gonna dance.'

Man, he's good. I mean, c'mon. Who doesn't love sausage fingers and a proclivity for outrageously bad dancing? The guy has a good eye for what the audience wants, and boy, does he deliver. I'd love to see more of him if the franchise is ever revisited. Here's to hoping it is!

In the last five or so years, Cruise has taken on more serious, more action-heavy roles, some of his more recent ones being Doug Liman 's American Made and the fourth, fifth, and sixth installments in the wildly popular Mission: Impossible franchise. He has always had remarkable range as an actor, a fact that his various film roles clearly reflect.

If you're itching for a new Tom Cruise performance, you can catch him in Top Gun: Maverick when it hits theaters in June 2020. Or, you know, you could just watch him in Tropic Thunder or any of the Mission: Impossible movies for the millionth time. It really doesn't ever get old and it satisfies two very different moods.

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Why ben stiller wanted to cut tom cruise's tropic thunder dance.

Tom Cruise made a memorable appearance as a horrid movie producer in Tropic Thunder, but his famous dance scene was nearly cut by Ben Stiller.

Tom Cruise's Tropic Thunder dance is one of the most famous scenes from the movie, but director Ben Stiller had to be talked into filming it. Tropic Thunder is a 2008 all-star action-comedy, where a group of pampered movie stars making a Vietnam war movie run afoul of a drug cartel in the Golden Triangle. The movie received mostly good reviews and was a solid hit, but while it can be genuinely hilarious in its parody of Hollywood moviemaking, it attracted controversy for elements like Robert Downey Jr's character - an intense method actor - donning blackface to play a role.

Tropic Thunder  cast Tom Cruise in a surprise cameo as Les Grossman, the monstrous producer behind the movie the actors are filming. Cruise was going through something of a slow period in his career prior to Tropic Thunder , with 2006's Mission: Impossible III proving to be the lowest-grossing of the series while award baiting drama Lions For Lambs also underperformed. While Grossman is ultimately a small role, Cruise's sheer commitment to the role and endless stream of quotable dialogue made him a highlight.

Related: Edge of Tomorrow Is Tom Cruise's Best Chance At Another Mission: Impossible

Tom Cruise donned lots of prosthetics to portray Len, including a fat suit and a bald cap. Some viewers didn't even realize it was Cruise in the role until Tropic Thunder's credits, which also featured arguably the movie's comic highlight. This sees Grossman, bathing in the awards success of the movie he produced, pulling off some wicked dance moves in his office set to Ludacris’s “Get Back.” In 2019 Cruise reflected on the movie during an interview with Conan O'Brien, and revealed Ben Stiller was VERY hesitant about the dance and most of the actor's ideas for the part.

When Stiller first offered Cruise Les Grossman, it was the latter's suggestion for the character to dance and have " fat hands ." The director didn't quite gel with these ideas and asked if Cruise could just play the role looking like himself with zero dancing. Cruise followed his instincts for Tropic Thunder and decided to do a make-up test for Stiller, which included doing some dance moves. Stiller was still doubtful as he watched Cruise perform without any backing music, but afterward when took footage from this test and cut it to "Get Back," he realized he had gold.

The positive reaction to Cruise's role in Tropic Thunder almost led to the creation of a Les Grossman spinoff, but while a script was developed it yet to happen. It's strange that one of the most iconic moments in the comedy hit almost didn't happen, but it's a testament to Tom Cruise's commitment to a bit that it's still so fondly remembered.

Next: Tropic Thunder: Why RDJ's Blackface Wasn't Controversial

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Happy 10-year anniversary to Tom Cruise’s greatest role ever: Les Grossman

Tom Cruise’s long acting career boasts many celebrated roles: “Maverick” in  Top Gun , Jerry Maguire in  Jerry Maguire , Ethan Hunt in the  Mission: Impossible  series. Together, they tell the story of an artist extraordinarily committed to his craft, one who knows only one gear and that’s the highest. Tom Cruise is perhaps the last bona fide American movie star left.

And none of his roles exemplify his career in totality more than Les Grossman in  Tropic Thunder , a film that turns 10 this month.

Grossman, for the uninitiated, is merely a supporting character in the 2008 comedy starring Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. as actors in a Vietnam War film who get lost in the jungle, and are pursued by a real and very dangerous drug gang that controls the area. Grossman is the blustery, foul-mouthed, reprehensible studio executive in charge of the ill-fated action movie. Donning fake hair and gobs of prosthetics, Cruise’s famously handsome features are nearly unrecognizable.

Les Grossman is not one of Cruise’s biggest roles, nor surely his most impressive performance. (Cruise fans don’t agree on what is, though Frank Mackey in  Magnolia  and Vincent in  Collateral  are often cited among his best work.) Rather, Grossman offers audiences a microcosm of Cruise’s process, his intensity, his signature chutzpah. It’s all of Cruise’s most admirable traits as an actor, distilled into one fat suit.

The story of how Grossman came about is almost as Tom Cruise-y as the role itself. As Grantland’s 2015 oral history of Grossman pointed out, Grossman materialized during a low point both personally and professionally for Cruise. It was three years after the infamous Oprah couch debacle , and two years after his studio, Paramount, dropped him following some controversial comments the outspoken Scientologist had made about psychiatry. Cruise needed a role that would endear him to audiences—and the industry—once again.

Cruise came up with the idea for Grossman (who was not in the original script) himself. Besides the violent drug gang, Cruise thought, the film needed a second antagonist, but one back in Hollywood who’d exert pressure on the fictional movie with unhinged rants, rather than with guns. Etan Cohen, one of the film’s writers, remarked that Cruise was all systems go from the jump. “A lot of actors hold back at table readings. Tom was the opposite,” he told Grantland. “He worked insanely hard at making that character unique. You could tell that he’d never done anything like it before and was embracing it.”

Unlike some of his more energetic characters, Grossman did not require that Cruise climb the Burj Khalifa or do barrel rolls piloting a helicopter , but he did need to dance in a fat suit. Cruise was so committed to the character that he was at an actual risk for dehydration, Aida Caefer, who fashioned the suit for the movie, told Grantland. He choreographed his own dance moves, often practicing them out in the open on set. It took a 12-person team of makeup experts to design the silicone prosthetics that transformed the movie-star proportion of Cruise into the unkempt husk of the debased Hollywood mogul Grossman.

Viewers have long wondered if Grossman was meant as a caricature of anyone in particular—Harvey Weinstein comes to mind. The disgraced executive, who bears something of a physical resemblance to Grossman, was also notorious for his extreme outbursts as the head of Miramax, among the other, more criminal predilections that 87 women have now accused him of.

The character was so successful that Cruise appeared in costume at the MTV Movie Awards two years later, dancing in a skit that made fun of Cruise’s famous routine from  Risky Business ,  and again live on stage with Jennifer Lopez . Rumors were floated of a Les Grossman spinoff movie in the works in 2010, but it never materialized.

Tom Cruise is an inscrutable figure off the screen, one who’s closely associated in Scientology, with its dubious philosophies , and some of its even more dubious leaders . That has made it tough for some moviegoers to separate his on-screen persona from the man.

Les Grossman was an opportunity for Cruise, for the first and perhaps only time in his career, to poke fun at himself and his compulsion to do everything as big and as bold as it can possibly be done. As silly and grotesque as the character may be, Cruise’s performance gave us a glimpse of the man beneath the tabloid headlines. And he’s a man who likes to dance.

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Tom Cruise Tells ‘Conan’ The Secrets Behind His ‘Tropic Thunder’ Character And Dance Moves

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Tom Cruise isn’t known for comedy, but he does have it on his resume. Tonight on Conan , he resurrected his Tropic Thunder  character Les Grossman’s dance moves and colorful language.

Cruise is making the rounds after a surprise appearance at Comic-Con today, but decided to focus in his Conan segment on comedy, a lesser-known aspect of his talents.

The 2008 action-comedy Tropic Thunder , directed and starring Ben Stiller , featured Cruise along with Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson as a group of actors making a Vietnam War film. The prima donnas are dropped in the middle of a jungle and have to use their acting skills to survive.

One of the memorable moments was from Cruise, who received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his efforts in the film.

Cruise told Conan that he did imitations as a kid, but relished the chance to take on the role of Grossman, a demanding studio executive who dances during the end credits to Ludacris’s “Get Back.”

“Les Grossman is a fun character,” Cruise said, and talked about taking hip-hop classes to prepare for the role. He told Stiller that if he appeared in the film, “I’m going to dance. And I need fat hands.”

Watch the video below for more on how he stepped outside his usual acting zone.   

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Ludacris Personally Approved Tom Cruise’s ‘Get Back’ Dance in ‘Tropic Thunder’ | Video

The rapper and actor reveals how Ben Stiller privately screened the movie for him before sign-off

Ludacris answered a “Hot Ones” question that he’s never been asked before on Thursday’s episode, telling host Sean Evans how his 2004 single “Get Back” came to be featured in “Tropic Thunder” — with a Tom Cruise-in-a-fat-suit dance break no less.

Apparently, star, director and cowriter Ben Stiller hosted a private preview screening of the 2008 action comedy for Ludacris (birth name Christopher Bridges) and his management team.

“Did Ben Stiller personally seek your approval to use ‘Get Back’ at the end of ‘Tropic Thunder’ for that Tom Cruise dance scene?” Evans asked.

Ludacris was pleasantly surprised by the question.

“Yo, I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that, that’s a great question,” he said between heat levels of the talk show’s chicken wing-eating structure.

“Not only did he seek approval, respectfully, he invited us to watch the movie before it came out and it was literally just me, him and my management and we watched the whole movie,” Ludacris said. “Just to see at the end for him to ask me, ‘Is it OK to clear this?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely.’”

Turns out, the Grammy-winning rapper and actor (also known best for his work in the “Fast & Furious” film franchise) was already a fan of Stiller’s work and just excited to be in the room.

“I was more — I was such a Ben Stiller fan that I was more happy that he invited me personally to come watch the movie before it came out.”

“Tropic Thunder” starred Stiller, Jack Black and an Oscar-nominated Robert Downey Jr. as actors filming a big-budget war movie who get caught up in real military action. Tom Cruise is a slimy Hollywood producer who makes a memorable supporting turn towards the front of the film — but the real action happens towards the credits.

As the scene unforgettably goes, it’s Oscar night and war movie-within-a-movie is cleaning up with the Best Actor trophy going to Stiller’s Tugg Speedman. Cruise is watching the telecast from the comfort of his office when, to celebrate the win, he turns the lights down, turns the amps up and gyrates in celebration to Ludacris’ “Get Back.” Watch it here .

And watch Ludacris’ full “Hot Ones” interview in the video above.

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Conan : How Tom Cruise Embodied Tropic Thunder’s Les Grossman

Remember when Tom Cruise played a shystie studio executive in Tropic Thunder, but it took us all a little bit to recognize him because he was in a fat suit? All Cruise’s idea. Cruise told Conan and the San Diego Comic-Con audience that when Ben Stiller approached him for the role, he had two conditions: “I wanna have fat hands, and I’m gonna dance.” Apparently Cruise takes classes all of the time and incorporates what he learns into characters. For Grossman, Cruise brought back his old hip-hop dance training. To Stiller’s consternation, he insisted that he bring back his old hip-hop dance training. And now we have a gif that won’t die. So never doubt the instincts of Tom Cruise.

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The Truth About Tom Cruise's Character In 'Tropic Thunder'

Tom was supposed to play the leading role that Ben Stiller ended up taking.

Love him or loathe him, there's no denying that Tom Cruise basically stole Tropic Thunder. While the movie was filled with controversy, such as Robert Downey Jr.'s character's acting choices , the 2008 film remains beloved. In the film, Tom Cruise played a vile Hollywood mogul named Les Grossman. Given Tom's incredible filmography , it makes sense that he brought this character to life so well. But given Tom's recent set outburst as well as his not-so-clean reputation among some in Hollywood perhaps his casting was even more calculated. Either way, Tom Cruise absolutely knocked this role out of the park. Thanks to a fantastic article by Grantland , we now know how he was able to do this...

Tom Was Supposed To Play Ben's Role Until He Gave A Very Specific Script Note

Tom Cruise needed to repair his image in 2007. Years of conflict with marriages, jumping on couches, and squabbles with the studio making his Mission Impossible movies put him in a bad light. Ultimately, Tropic Thunder was the film that helped (momentarily) rehabilitate his image. But Tom wasn't supposed to play Les Grossman, the vicious studio executive who clearly believed actors were disposable. Actually, Tom was supposed to play the leading role that Ben Stiller ended up taking. It made sense that Ben wasn't initially interested in the lead role. After all, he was already directing it and writing it with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen.

"Justin Theroux and I had been working on the script on and off for eight years," Ben Stiller said to Grantland. "We had an outline and about half a script. I knew how it should end. Then we brought Etan on and got a full draft."

When Etan Cohen came on in 2002, he basically came up with the idea that would lead Tom Cruise to essentially create Les Grossman.

Related: Amidst The Tom Cruise Controversy, Katie Holmes Seems Unbothered And Is Focusing On Christmas

"We were still figuring out why the actors would get abandoned and no one would notice that all these stars were gone," Etan Cohen said. "So I had written this throwaway thing at the side of the document that said: 'Maybe the studio has an insurance policy on production. When the director dies they recoup all their expenses, so the studio doesn’t care about the actors.' Then we totally went away from that for years."

By that time, Tom Cruise had already read the script and claimed that there was a need for another villain. In fact, he even stated that it could use a greedy studio exec who 'represents the gross part of Hollywood'.

"His idea to show the studio head actually fixed a problem we had for a long time. We never cut back to the real world for any of the previous drafts. All the Grossman scenes totally fixed the plot holes" Ben Stiller claimed.

Related: Tom Cruise Trolled For 'Social Distancing From His Daughter' After Fiery Audio Leaks

Soon after, a new draft was written and Ben gave the role of the studio exec to Tom, who couldn't take it due to scheduling conflicts. But there was no name for the character at first. In fact, it took an entire year for 'Les Grossman' to officially be created.

"Ben decided he was going to play Speedman, and then he got a phone call from Tom, who said he just couldn’t get the script out of his mind. Tom asked, 'What else is open?' And Ben said, 'Well, we haven’t cast the Les Grossman role yet.' Tom was like, 'I’d play that,'" producer Stuart Cornfeld said.

Les Grossman's Look Was Half The Performance

While Tom brought a certain amount of energy to the role, his hair, make-up, and prosthetics were really what made the performance memorable. After all, Tom was barely recognizable.

"I was Tom’s go-to makeup person from Interview With the Vampire on. I did a lot of big, iconic looks for him," makeup designer Michèle Burke said. "I got a text saying, 'Tom wants to have hairy arms.' And I was thinking, Oh, OK, we can get hairy arms. Then they were like, 'We want him to have a hairy chest.' Then suddenly it was like he’s going to have big hands, and I’m sitting there thinking, This is getting bigger than I expected. Then they started sending me pictures of other people who looked a bit like this. You know, with the gold jewelry, the hairy chest. I thought, OK, now I’m beginning to get the picture, this is full-on."

Then, of course, there was the fat suit which was a bunch of custom pads made out of foam and beading from the inside of a pillow. This beading accurately mimicked the jiggle that human fat makes when it moves; something that was vital for the dance number...

All About Tom Cruise Dancing

"We’re doing the makeup test and it’s the first time Tom’s in the Les Grossman outfit. He stops and says, 'Maybe I should dance in this. You know, I haven’t danced in a movie in a long time,'" producer Stuart Cornfeld said.

The Mission Impossible and Eye Wide Shut star ended up choreographing all of his own dance moves which just made everyone on the set burst out laughing.

"I remember him standing off in a corner just working on his moves," co-star Bill Hader explained.

The outrageous costume, hair, and make-up, the hilarious lines (mostly written by Justin Theroux), as well as the performance and energy that Tom Cruise brought to the role, ended up creating a truly memorable character.

Next: Why Did Tom Cruise Agree To A Cameo In 'Austin Powers'?

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Tom Cruise Revives Hilarious Tropic Thunder Character, Reveals the Secret Behind Dance Moves

Tom Cruise may have surprised fans at Comic-Con with the first trailer to his upcoming Top Gun sequel , but it was another movie in his illustrious catalog that Conan O’Brien asked about when Cruise appeared on the comedian’s talk show Thursday night.

In the episode, which was broadcast from the annual entertainment convention, O’Brien, 56, asked Cruise to step back into the shoes of Les Grossman — the skeevy studio executive Cruise played over a decade ago in 2008’s Tropic Thunder.

The actor, 57, was happy to oblige, showing off some of Grossman’s infamous dance moves.

RELATED: Miles Teller Admits He’s ‘Trying’ to Keep Up with Tom Cruise in Top Gun 2 : ‘It Is Difficult’

Turns out, Cruise himself had pushed director Ben Stiller to incorporate those dance moves, as well as Grossman’s fat-suit, when he was first approached to play the role.

“I take classes all the time to learn things or I want to improve a skill, whether it’s singing, music — whatever subject I’m studying. So I take dance classes and I took hip-hop classes. And then what I find is, I’ll find a character to put that with,” Cruise explained on Conan, recalling how he told Stiller, ” ‘I’d love to play this character but I want to have fat hands and I’m going to dance.’ “

“Sometimes with a character you just get an instinct about what you’re going to do,” Cruise added.

RELATED: Tom Cruise Surprises Fans at Comic-Con and Debuts the First Trailer for Top Gun: Maverick

Stiller, according to Cruise, wasn’t completely on board with Cruise’s vision.

“For a couple of months he kept saying, ‘Maybe we don’t do the makeup. Maybe you just look like yourself,’ ” Cruise remembered. “And I said, ‘No, I need fat hands and I’m going to dance.’ “

After the makeup was created, Cruise said finding Grossman was easy. “As you’re working on a character, you start becoming that character, you start discovering that character. And I just, I just started moving,” Cruise said, adding that Stiller was still confused. “There was no music. He was just looking at me like, ‘What’s happening.’ I was crushing Pepsi cans and Coke cans.”

Once Stiller added music to the scene though (specifically, Ludacris’s “Get Back”), he understood what Cruise wanted.

“He calls me the next day and cut it to that piece of music you see in the movie. And he said, ‘I get it, I get it, I get it. This is hilarious,’ ” Cruise shared.

Tropic Thunder earned Cruise a Golden Globe action nomination. The film also starred Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson.

Later on Conan , Cruise recited Grossman’s more colorful lines. “Stand back and literally f— your own face,” Cruise said, to the cheers of the crowd. “I will f— you up! I will massacre you!”

And though the next few movies Cruise has on his slate are action-based (including the aforementioned Top Gun: Maverick ), Cruise said comedy — and Les Grossman — will always have a special place in his heart.

“I love comedy,” Cruise said. “I used to write sketches when I was a little kid and would do imitations to make my mother and sisters laugh.”

“Les Grossman was a funny character,” he added. “That was a wild character. That was wild.”

Top Gun: Maverick is set for a June 26, 2020 release.

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15 years ago, Tom Cruise revived his career with an uncredited role in Tropic Thunder

After a string of controversies and a split from longtime studio paramount, cruise was slipping out of favour with hollywood. that was, until he suggested the character of a diet coke-guzzling terror of a movie producer for his friend ben stiller’s new film, article bookmarked.

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Fifteen years ago, Tom Cruise took on a role that has since been credited for reviving his career. Now, with the latest Mission: Impossible film just released and Cruise enjoying his time as one of the top 10 highest-grossing lead actors of all time, it’s hard to imagine. But back then, he was falling out of favour due to a spate of controversial public behaviour.

In 2006, Cruise was a PR nightmare dominating headlines for all the wrong reasons. The previous year, he’d caused uproar with his notorious couch-jumping stunt during an interview with Oprah. He was supposed to be promoting Steven Spielberg ’s movie War of the Worlds , but instead decided to declare his love for fellow actor Katie Holmes , in the most over-enthusiastic manner possible.

The clip was viewed millions of times around the world thanks to a new website called YouTube, sparking a reported feud with Spielberg, who apparently believed that Cruise’s behaviour had damaged War of the Worlds ’ success at the box office. (Cruise would later tell Oprah in a 2015 interview that the moment was “real” for him and he was unsure if he’d take it back.)

That same year, Cruise was heavily criticised for his remarks about Brooke Shields, where he accused her of spreading “irresponsible misinformation” about antidepressants. Shields, who struggled with conception, revealed in her book Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, that she’d taken medication to help treat her condition.

In a heated discussion on The Today Show, Cruise told then-host Matt Lauer that Shields “didn’t understand the history of psychiatry”, and went so far as to brand her “dangerous”. Shields then wrote a New York Times op-ed, in which she suggested Cruise “stick to fighting aliens”. He was also criticised by medical experts who warned that he risked increasing the stigma surrounding mental illness.

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Shields said that Cruise apologised for his remarks in person, and that she’d been impressed by his apology, during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “He apologised for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened,” she said.

“And through it all, I was so impressed with how heartfelt it was. And I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it.”

By 2006, Cruise was rapidly falling out of favour with Hollywood, even as he was ranked as the world’s most powerful celebrity by Forbes . His influence and box-office success were indisputable, of course, but industry figures – and the public – appeared to be growing tired of his highly publicised antics.

Evidence of this emerged when Paramount Studios cut ties with Cruise after a 14-year relationship, and Sumner Redstone, then-chairman of the studio’s parent company, Viacom, cited the actor’s public behaviour as one of the reasons behind the decision.

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“It’s nothing to do with his acting ability, he’s a terrific actor,” Redstone said at the time. “But we don’t think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot.”

This shocking upset, which landed after years of success since Cruise first starred in Top Gun in 1986, caused many Hollywood critics to wonder if this was the end of his career. That was, until 2008, when Cruise showed up in a cameo role in his friend Ben Stiller ’s box office hit, Tropic Thunder – about a cast of prima donna actors shooting a movie in Vietnam – as the balding, Diet Coke-guzzling, expletive-uttering movie executive Les Grossman.

Opening up about Cruise’s role in an Esquire interview, director Stiller revealed that it was actually his friend’s idea to play Les. “Tom Cruise had the idea to play Les Grossman in the movie,” Stiller says. “That part did not exist. He said, ‘Well, there’s no studio executive and that would be really fun to be that guy.’ And he had this whole idea of what the guy should look like. It was his idea to dance. And I remember when we did a makeup test, someone handed him a Diet Coke and then he just started moving.”

Cruise certainly committed to the role. In a 2019 interview with Conan O’Brien, he recalled that his two stipulations for the role were that he wanted “fat hands”, and he wanted to dance. Wearing a fat suit, prosthetic hands and a bald cap, he was virtually unrecognisable as the suave Hollywood star the world knew, dancing to Ludacris’s “Get Back” one moment, screaming at a film crew the next (OK, the latter sounds more familiar after his notorious Mission Impossible diatribe in 2020 ). For many watching Tropic Thunder at the cinema, it wasn’t apparent that Cruise was behind the character until the end credits began to roll.

The film itself was controversial, not least for Robert Downey Jr’s performance, which involved wearing blackface to play method-loving Australian actor, Kirk Lazarus. Cruise’s character was also scrutinised: the New York Times noted how Grossman was “heavily and heavy-handedly coded as Jewish…the character is murderous, repellent and fascinating, a grotesque from his swollen fingers to the heavy gold dollar sign nestled on his yeti-furred chest”.

Yet audiences adored Cruise in the movie, and in the years since, his performance in Tropic Thunde r has been widely credited for “resurrecting” his career, along with proving he could do comedy, as well as action. Since then, fans have been begging Cruise to reprise the role, and it seems they might actually get their wish. Last year, in a Deadline report about him and his regular collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, it was claimed that the duo are “fixated” on the character of Les Grossman, and are working out how best to bring him back.

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Tom Cruise: Les Grossman dance in ‘Tropic Thunder’ 2008 movie

Tom cruise les grossman dance | tropic thunder 2008 movie..

Watch Tom Cruise’s iconic dance as Les Grossman in the finale of Tropic Thunder (2008) comedy movie.

Song: ‘Get Back’ by Ludacris

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Tom Cruise break dancing at Victoria Beckham’s 50th party to recreate famous movie move has fans ‘dumbfounded’

• Claudia Trotman , Entertainment Reporter
• Published : 7:30 ET, Apr 24 2024
• Updated : 18:36 ET, Apr 24 2024
• Published : Invalid Date,

TOM Cruise took to the dance floor at a star-studded party over the weekend, reenacting his famous scene from the movie Risky Business.

The 61-year-old Top Gun actor took to London to celebrate Victoria Beckham 's 50th birthday party over the weekend.

Tom was already in London to film his current movie, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part Two .

The star has supposedly been friends with the Spice Girl for over 20 years and David Beckham is said to "idolize," Tom.

The star-studded event featured many stars and a Spice Girls reunion after the friends gathered at a private member's club in the big city.

Guests were treated to a formal sit-down dinner before they were encouraged onto the dance floor, according to the Daily Mail .

Read more on Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise looks terrified as he films Mission Impossible scenes in London

Tom Cruise runs through London covered in blood as MI8 filming shuts down city

Tom was said to be the first one up and gave 120 onlookers a break dance.

The Eyes Wide Shut actor looked smart as he dressed in formal clothes for the Mayfair party.

He donned a black three-piece suit which he completed with black dress shoes and a bowtie.

Despite his tight clothes, the star gave a huge routine and finished by breaking into the splits.

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"People were absolutely dumbfounded," said one party guest after the event.

He was thought to recreate the scene from his 1983 comedy movie, Risky Business.

In the iconic movie, Tom slides across his home wearing just a shirt and his socks and dances to Old Time Rock n Roll.

He also sang into a candle holder while rocking out to the track.

More recently, Tom has danced in Get Back by Ludacris when he played a producer in Tropic Thunder.

FEELING TIRED?

No cameras were allowed into Posh Spice's birthday party, but reports say Tom left the event in the early hours.

He was said to look tired and dishevelled, but left the event and signed autographs for fans waiting outside.

Tom was also said to be smiling widely on the streets as well.

People were absolutely dumbfounded. Party guest Daily Mail

Victoria was said to be "elated," at the turnout for the event, which included huge stars such as Gordon Ramsay , Eva Longoria and Jennifer Lopez ' ex, Marc Anthony.

Tom's birthday appearance came after he seemed to ignore his daughter Suri's 18th .

WHERE'S DAD?

Tom's ex, Katie Holmes ,  gained sole custody of Suri  after the 2012 split, along with a generous settlement that saw Tom paying a reported $400,000 a year for his daughter’s care.

As rumors swirled about the cause of the split — with the finger pointed firmly at Tom’s association with the religion Scientology — Suri and Katie went off the radar for years, rebuilding their lives in  New York , 2,400 miles away from  Los Angeles -based Tom.

Read More on The US Sun

Charles won’t ever let Prince Harry back as part-time royal, says expert

Mary Jo Eustace does not engage with ex Dean adding 'I thought he was homeless'

Under the watchful eye of her protective mum, she hasn’t spoken to or seen her movie-star dad since Christmas 2013.

The young star recently celebrated her 18th with her friends in New York, but neither of her parents seemed to attend.

• The Beckhams

From Tom Cruise breakdancing to Spice Girls reuniting, reports from Victoria Beckham's bash capture imagination

Tom Cruise breakdancing, a Spice Girls reunion and tons of A-list celebrities gathering in one location have social media and the general public in awe over Victoria Beckham's 50th birthday party.

Beckham, who celebrated half a century over the weekend, posted about the luxurious soiree Sunday on Instagram.

But some of the most buzzworthy moments went intentionally unrecorded.

"I don’t think I’ve ever felt as loved as I did last night," Beckham's post said. "Thank you all for coming from near and so far!! X"

In the post, Beckham shared pictures of her with actor Eva Longoria, celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay, her husband, soccer star David Beckham and some of the couple's children.

In another Instagram post, Beckham shared a picture of her and the four other members of the English pop group, the Spice Girls.

"The best gift to be reunited!! Thank you to all my friends and family for celebrating with me. Kisses! xxx," Beckham's post about the Spice Girls said.

Guests 'absolutely dumbfounded' by Tom Cruise's dancing, reports say

Not included in either post were other famous attendees who came to celebrate with the Beckhams at Oswald’s, a private member’s club owned by Robin Birley in London's Mayfair district.

Oswald's is strict about taking photos and allowing social media within the venue , according to the club's member's privacy notice.

Actors Tom Cruise and Salma Hayek both made an appearance at Beckham's party and while one left an impression with their outfit, the other left it all on the dance floor, the Daily Mail reported.

Cruise, who turned 61 in July 2023, stunned guests when he began demonstrating "a series of breakdancing moves, culminating in splits," the outlet said.

"People were absolutely dumbfounded," one guest told the Daily Mail.

Social media reacts to Tom Cruise's 'split mania' and not receiving an invite to Victoria Beckham's party

While no photos or videos of Cruise dancing exist online, social media users continue to poke fun at the expense of the "Mission Impossible" movie star. An X user who goes by @Douggernaut_2 posted a clip of actor Mike Myers dancing in the film "Austin Powers" and said, "Tom Cruise arriving at Victoria Beckham's bday."

Several social media users hearkened back to when Cruise played the Les Grossman character in the 2008 comedy movie "Tropic Thunder." Cruise would hilariously reprise the character during the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and dance to rapper Ludacris' song "Get Back."

"Remember when Tom Cruise did this," X user @charletty_ said Monday in a post reacting to the video of Cruise's full dance routine at the awards show.

During the routine with singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, Cruise does a split on stage. X user @danilo_parks said Monday in a post, "It's real Tom Cruise does the splits mania out there today."

In addition to seeing Cruise do splits and the Spice Girls perform, guests also received goody bags full of Beckham's branded products, including a candle and a fragrance, the Telegraph reported.

All the fun has people wondering where their invite was to Beckham's birthday party, including X user @StaceyVaselaney who said, "I’m sitting here shaking my head wondering why wasn’t I invited to Victoria Beckham’s 50th birthday party."

Tom Cruise Surprises Guests with Impromptu Breakdance at Victoria Beckham’s Lavish 50th Celebration

Attendees at Victoria Beckham’s birthday bash were left astounded by Tom Cruise’s unexpected dance performance.

The Hollywood icon, age 61, flew into London to join the festivities of Victoria Beckham’s 50th birthday extravaganza during the weekend.

In the British capital for the filming of his upcoming movie, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part Two, the actor joined the ex-Spice Girl, who he has known for over two decades. David Beckham, Victoria’s husband, is reportedly an admirer of Tom Cruise.

The starry event included a highly anticipated Spice Girls reunion, held at an exclusive members’ club in London.

Following a formal sit-down dinner, guests took to the dance floor, as reported by the Daily Mail . Tom was reportedly among the first to initiate the dance with a breakdance performance for the 120 guests present.

Dressed sharply for the Mayfair event, the Eyes Wide Shut actor made a statement in his black three-piece suit and bowtie. His formal attire did not hamper his energy, as he delivered a dynamic performance and stunned everyone by landing into the splits.

According to one attendee, “People were absolutely dumbfounded.” It’s believed he was paying homage to his famous 1983 movie, Risky Business, where he performs a dance in just a shirt and socks.

More recently, Cruise was seen dancing to Get Back by Ludacris in his role as a producer in Tropic Thunder.

A Night to Remember?

No photography was permitted inside the event, but it’s said that Tom Cruise exited the venue early in the morning, appearing fatigued yet accommodating fans by signing autographs.

Despite the late hour, it is reported that he still maintained a broad smile.

“People were absolutely dumbfounded” Party guest Daily Mail

Victoria Beckham was reportedly thrilled with the turnout at her event, which was graced by celebrities like Gordon Ramsay, Eva Longoria, and singer Marc Anthony.

Tom Cruise’s attendance at the party comes amidst reports of his absence from his daughter Suri’s recent 18th birthday.

Parental Presence?

Since his 2012 split from Katie Holmes, who obtained sole custody of their daughter Suri, the two have reportedly been distanced. Based in New York, Suri has been out of the spotlight, and she celebrated her 18th with friends, seemingly without her parents.

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Why Tom Cruise ‘absolutely dumbfounded’ guests at Victoria Beckham’s star-studded 50th birthday party

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Tom Cruise brought down the house at Victoria Beckham’s star-studded 50th birthday party .

The “Top Gun: Maverick” star, 61, “absolutely dumbfounded” guests Saturday night by breakdancing and doing splits, a fellow partygoer told the Daily Mail Monday.

Cruise, who has known Victoria and her husband, David Beckham, for nearly two decades, has been living in the UK while filming “Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two,” which is expected to hit theaters next year.

The “Risky Business” star was dressed to the nines for the occasion in a classic black tuxedo with a bow tie and shiny black shoes.

Cruise was far from the only A-lister who attended Victoria’s grand fête in London.

All of the fashion designer’s fellow Spice Girls — Melanie “Mel C” Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and Melanie “Mel B” Brown — also showed up for the festivities.

The girl group even staged an impromptu reunion to perform their 1997 hit song “Stop” for the attendees.

Victoria had her party at the private members’ club Oswald’s and stunned in a celestial sheer mint gown featuring ruffled details along the hem.

The guest of honor arrived on crutches after breaking her foot during a workout earlier this year, but she did not let the injury stop her from going all out for her milestone birthday.

She was joined by her athlete husband, who was dressed in a tux, as well as their four children: sons Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 21, and Cruz, 19, and daughter Harper, 12.

Other stars at the soirée included Gordon Ramsay and Eva Longoria.

Notably absent from the momentous occasion was Brooklyn’s wife, Nicola Peltz, who instead spent time with her grandmother .

The “Bates Motel” actress, 29, shared a photo with her grandma on her Instagram Story but also made sure to send her mother-in-law some birthday love.

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“Happy Birthday to my beautiful MIL @victoriabeckham,” she wrote in another Instagram Story. “I’m so sad I’m not there to celebrate you and hug you! Sending all my love from me and Naunni.”

Peltz and Victoria were rumored to have feuded during the former’s 2022 wedding to Brooklyn .

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They allegedly butted heads over wedding planning, and tensions were also high after the bride decided to wear a wedding gown not made by Victoria’s fashion house.

However, Peltz denied she had any beef with the former pop star and explained that she could not wear a dress by Victoria’s eponymous brand due to timing issues.

“I was going to and I really wanted to, and then a few months down the line, she realized that her atelier couldn’t do it, so then I had to pick another dress,” she  told Variety  at the time.

“She didn’t say ‘you can’t wear it;’ I didn’t say I didn’t want to wear it. That’s where it started, and then they ran with that.”

Brooklyn also  denied there was any bad blood between his wife and mom.

Victoria and Peltz appear to have mended their relationship, as they have posted sweet messages about each other on social media numerous times since.

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