Tom Cruise Almost Starred In Guillermo Del Toro’s Biggest Movie
Sometimes filmmakers have to make the best of a scheduling conflict, and not go with their first choice for a lead role. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim is a perfect example when a scheduling conflict worked out on all fronts. According to a recent interview with Collider, Del Toro mentioned that Tom Cruise was originally the first choice for the lead role of commanding officer Marshal Stacker Pentecost, a role that was ultimately given to the legendary Idris Elba instead.
The reason Tom Cruise didn’t end up starring in Pacific Rim was because he was already preparing to star in 2013’s Oblivion. In other words, the Mission: Impossible star simply couldn’t be in two places at once, even if he wanted to.
Tom Cruise was the first choice to play Marshal Stacker Pentecost in Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim.
In his interview with Collider, Del Toro said, “The part that Idris Elba plays, Tom Cruise was gonna do it, and I even had a karaoke. The deal couldn’t be made. He wanted to do it. We were developing stuff, and he couldn’t do it. I thought, “You know what? Let’s go with Idris Elba then. He’s a god.”
But things worked out for the best because Idris Elba was born to play the role of Pentecost with his portrayal of an over-stressed but stoic commanding officer with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Not only did Pacific Rim go on to be Del Toro’s most commercially successful film, earning $411 million at the global box office against its reported budget of $200 million, but Tom Cruise went on to star in Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow, both of which went on to be commercially successful films.
Not only was Tom Cruise unable to star in Pacific Rim, Del Toro mentions that there have been three other attempts to work with the legendary actor. But given how busy Tom Cruise has been over the past decade, it’s evident that the stars have not quite aligned for the collaboration that we’d love to see.
“The part that Idris Elba plays, Tom Cruise was gonna do it, and I even had a karaoke. The deal couldn’t be made. He wanted to do it. We were developing stuff, and he couldn’t do it. I thought, “You know what? Let’s go with Idris Elba then. He’s a god.”
Guillermo Del Toro
Commenting on the development process, the Nightmare Alley director alludes to the fact that this kind of conflict is more common than you would think, and sometimes you just need to enjoy the process rather than the outcome. Though his plans to give Tom Cruise top billing have not been successful up to this point, Del Toro still enjoys the scouting process for a number of reasons.
In the director’s own words, he said, “When you’re scouting, you are in basically a bus trip with a bunch of people eating in great places and having a great time.” Though Del Toro successfully found the best sausages in Spain while working on The Devil’s Backbone, he has yet to find the perfect lead role for Tom Cruise.
Not only was Tom Cruise unable to star in Pacific Rim, Del Toro mentions that there have been three other attempts to work with the legendary actor.
Despite all of the scheduling conflicts, we’re happy with the way things have shaken out over the years. Tom Cruise and Guillermo Del Toro are still very active in their respective careers, and there may be a time in the future when the iconic director and actor collaborate on the perfect film together. The odds may be more in our favor now that Cruise has reportedly retired from the Mission: Impossible movie franchise, but as of this writing, nothing is currently in the works.
No matter what the outcome may be, we can only hope that Tom Cruise will still get that karaoke scene under the direction of Guillermo Del Toro in a different context, because that’s something that we’d all be willing to pay for.
