Tom Cruise Is ‘Very Serious’ About Les Grossman Movie After Tropic Thunder

Christopher McQuarrie, the co-writer and director of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, revealed during a new interview that Tom Cruise is “very serious” about a Les Grossman movie. Portrayed by Cruise, Grossman was a character in 2008’s Tropic Thunder. Conversations about a potential spin-off with Grossman have been around since the early 2010s.

Christopher McQuarrie teases serious talks about Tom Cruise’s Les Grossman return

Christopher McQuarrie discussed the potential Les Grossman spin-off during his interview with Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, revealing that he has had “very serious” talks about it with Cruise. “The conversations we’ve had about Les Grossman are so f—— funny. [Cruise and I are] talking about it, we’re having very serious conversations about it, and how best to do it. It ultimately comes down to what that character is,” the filmmaker said.

When asked whether Cruise would be the lead of the project as Grossman, given how well he worked as a side character in the original movie, McQuarrie responded, “You hit the nail right on the head,” adding, “Tom Cruise would tell you a leading man has different responsibilities.”

McQuarrie mentioned that he and Cruise didn’t think about the structure but just played with scenes on the breakfast table. He said that they didn’t speak about their current projects and used Grossman to decompress.

Reports about a potential Les Grossman spin-off to Tropic Thunder have been going around for a while. After Tropic Thunder, Cruise played the character again at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.

Various outlets reported in 2012 that Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) had joined the project as screenwriter. In 2022, it was reported that McQuarrie and Cruise were interested in Grossman. However, it was unclear even then whether they wanted Grossman to lead a project or appear as a supporting character.

Notably, Tropic Thunder co-writer and director Ben Stiller previously stated that Grossman didn’t exist before Cruise suggested that the story needed a studio executive (via Esquire). According to Stiller, it was also Cruise who came up with Grossman’s appearance and his dancing habits. This effectively confirmed what Cruise said in an earlier interview with BBC Radio 1.

Source: Comingsoon.net