Tom Cruise has Scripts Tailored to fit his Specifications
Comments(10)
- By drvenkman
Say what you will about Tom Crusie’s beliefs, but the guy has made some excellent movies, and has proven he can act. Not everything he does is great, but you can’t deny the guy has had his moments. On top of that he is one of the nicest actors I have met. There is a interesting article at Variety that focuses on Tom Cruise and how the studios are willing to bend over backwards for the guy and spend ridiculous amounts of money on script rewrites to customize the story and character to fit him in hopes he will star in a movie for them. Why would they do such a thing? Because Cruise is still a bankable actor, and his name attached to a movie will fill the theater seats. Here are the details of how Cruise works with writers and what his next film projects are.
Tom Cruise is narrowing the prospects for his next film, but no matter which he chooses, he has single-handedly propped up the script doctoring biz: Studios have spent millions of dollars in rewrite fees to custom-tailor projects for the star.
When you are a mega star I guess you can do whatever the hell you want. I wonder how many other actors do the same thing, because it can’t just be Tom Cruise.
The frontrunners for his next film appear to be the DreamWorks drama “Motorcade,” to be directed by Len Wiseman, followed by Spyglass remake “The Tourist” (with Charlize Theron), to be helmed by Bharat Nalluri, and Fox action comedy “Wichita” (with Cameron Diaz), which James Mangold will direct. Also still in the mix is MGM’s “The Matarese Circle,” which potentially matches Cruise with Denzel Washington and helmer David Cronenberg.
While screenwriters all over town have been taking haircuts on every deal, the script doctors in the Cruise derby have been making as much as $250,000 a week, for two to six weeks, as they hone projects with notes from Cruise. Those writers include Scott Frank, who has been revising the action comedy “Wichita” for Cruise to play an action hero; Richard Curtis, who beefed up “Lost for Words”; and Paul Attanasio, who is now rewriting the rewrite that “Matarese Circle” director Cronenberg delivered.
Now that would be a great gig! $250,000 for a weeks worth of work!? Where do I sign up?
Meanwhile, Billy Ray continues to hone “Motorcade” with notes from Cruise. Christopher McQuarrie is doing the same on “The Tourist,” which the writer is also producing. (Ray and McQuarrie are not technically script doctors because they’ve been writing these projects for months.) And Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci also did some reworking of “28th Amendment,” which they originally sold as a spec script in 1999.
What are your thoughts on Tom Cruise having scripts changed to fit what he wants to do in a movie? Does this ruin the integrity of the story?
Source: Variety
My knee jerk reaction to this is “What a jerk” and after sitting and thinking about it, my reaction remains the same. I was under the impression that ideally an actor would choose a project based on a great idea or script that they really want to bring to life and here he is, saying “Oh ok, I’ll be in your movie but only if I get to make it ‘better’” I think as a writer i would be outright insulted if I was told that Tom Cruise would only portray my character if the character was changed from my original imagining.
I’m idealistic.
If there is something wrong with the original source material, why the hell is he agreeing to do it? Since when did actors get to dictate the work of others?
I can understand re-writes to fix factual or continuity errors but to suit the ego of an actor? I call ‘Bullshit’ and hope someone smacks that little midget on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.
“Does this ruin the integrity of the story?”
I agree with Shelle:
BULLSHIT!
Truthfully, I consider any Tom Cruise movie I see to have it’s integrity already suspect. The only movie of his that I have ever enjoyed was Vanilla Sky, and that’s because of Cameron Crowe’s excellent directing.
Tom Cruise can suck one. I don’t go into any Cruise movie expecting integrity. The same goes for John Travolta.
They’re wackos.
Wow, such hate for an “actor”, but have you all forgotten that he’s also a Producer?! And since when does millions of movie goers go to a film to see the work of the writer? Shelle & Mike? When was the last time you’ve seen a Cruise film flop? It’s about money and entertainment people thats all! I don’t care about Toms beliefs thats on him not me just give me some worth while entertainment, I for one loved Valkerie! and damn near everyone of T.C.s films, the guy knows what the buying public likes…period, Understand something, He’s not my fav actor, but he is one of my favorite entertainers/actors, he can act very well with the right script i.e. Magnolia, Vanilla Sky, A Few Good Men, But he can throw one helluva movie with plenty of eye candy, except for M.I.2 lol!
Tom cruise is a hack and a shitty actor. I’ve never paid for a tom cruise movie and i never will. This IS an insult to writers in my opinion. Every movie you see him starring in, youre just going to a movie where Tom Cruise plays himself, but in another time era or costume.
with the exception of his minor performance in Tropical Thunder, and i enjoyed this only because it was MINOR, tom cruise is just a moron.
I understand what you are all saying. But Azreal71 brings up a great point. Tom is a producer on all of his films. Every film has a producer. One of the producers main duty is to make notes on how the script needs to be adjusted or what needs to be changed. I would say 98% of the scripts that get submitted and are greenlit go through changes like this, even while the movie is already shooting. They probably focused on Tom because he is a good target and it looks like he pays his writers well.
Thanks Dr. V, Now to point out something to Nats, Nats you say you liked him in T.T. right? Guess who else liked him? A certain awards(Golden Globes) show that nominated him or rather his peers nominated him, You really cant tell me why you hate him, was it because of his views on drugs? who cares?!
As a producer, or an actor, or a director, or a friggin’ space alien, he can do whatever he wants. That doesn’t mean he has integrity.
Just because he pays for the movie, does that mean he can choose to do whatever he wants with it?
Maybe.
I can choose the think it sucks balls.
nats is right on. With Tom Cruise and John Travolta and Nicholas Cage, if you go to see their movies, you are going to see Tom Cruise or John Travolta or Nicholas Cage. They are performers. Not actors. They play parts. They don’t become characters.
Sorry guys but to speak about the integrity of a Hollywood writer really is a joke. My opinion comes from the fact I’m more a business guy than an artist but I’d rather bend my story to fit into a product someone will buy than be proud and poor. Honestly, who got the better hand from Watchmen? Moore or Gibbons? Moore has his pride and basically comes off like a self-righteous a-hole while Gibbons has his pride and big freaking paycheck.
If you want a job where you can hold your head high knowing you never sold out, don’t plan to get rich and don’t go into a field where your work has to be altered to fit someone else’s idea.
—Torch
T.T. that was possibly the first role ive ever seen him play an actual character. Drugs? wtf are you talking about, i don’t the man because he’s made millions off of playing himself. Golden Globes? really? thats like saying you believe everything everyone tells you. the only way i’d respect the man is the fact that he’s bullshitted millions and made money from it.
You can like him, I’m not trying to change your opinion. I’m simply putting out my opinion.
Wow, I’m sensing a bit of hostility.
I don’t see any problem with Cruise asking for re-writes mainly because 1) film is a communal art form. The script is going to be adjusted for many many reasons ranging from budgetary to an actor’s whim. Up until it’s shot it’s a conversation ideally between the screenwriter and whomever is trying to influence the story for whatever reason. Hopefully, the good screenwriters can adapt to the notes and still retain the integrity of the story. Hopefully Cruise, or whomever will listen to the writer when he or she says “y’know that part where you wanted the X character to be a secret pineapple juggler? Okay, that’s dumb, but this is what you were going for so maybe we can achieve the same thing in a way that’s not…oh, insane.
The second reason, as Azreal71 pointed out, he’s generally a producer on his films and if Producer’s can’t ask for rewrites, then who can? Unfortunately, this is simply the nature of the beast when screenwriters don’t own their own work. Hopefully, this love-child of the filmmaker/writer union ends up being better than the original script, but we all know that often, this isn’t the case.