Tom Cruise likes to take risks with the stunt sequences in his recent films, but there was a time when he took a big acting risk in a role. Cruise landed the role of Frank T.J. Mackey in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia after approaching the director for a role. He had become a fan of Anderson’s work after watching Boogie Nights.
Anderson sent him the script, which included the character of a motivational speaker and pickup artist. Anderson based the role on the real-life character Ross Jeffries, whom he had only heard about from a secondary source. It turned out that Jeffries was reportedly just a persona created by another man.
Tom Cruise Believed That His Character In Magnolia Was Based On A Real Person
After being impressed with Boogie Nights, Tom Cruise asked Paul Thomas Anderson to keep him in mind for his next film. Anderson was developing Magnolia at the time and wrote the character of Frank Mackey for Cruise. He sent the script to Cruise, who called him to share that he was interested but also nervous about the role.
Cruise felt the role was risky but was convinced by Anderson who met him with the then-boss of New Line Cinema, Michael De Luca. Anderson told Cruise that the character was based on a real-life character Ross Jeffries, who conducted s*x seminars for men and talked trash about women (via Creative Screenwriting). The role was played to perfection by Cruise in the film.
Anderson’s inspiration ‘Ross Jeffries’ had a website that spread all kinds of misogynistic views about women. In 2015, a man named Paul Ross came forward with the claim that Ross Jeffries doesn’t exist. He shared with Uproxx that Jeffries was a character that he had created, making him “a loudmouth, obnoxious, larger than life, sort of a bit of a showman.”
Ross shared that Anderson and Cruise were fooled into thinking that they were portraying a real person. He added that the Mission: Impossible actor had studied and created a character that was based on another character. He made it clear that his work no longer reflects the obnoxious claims of his character. Paul Ross shared with Uproxx:
Here’s the interesting thing: Paul Thomas Anderson thought that they were going to portray a real person. They didn’t realize they were portraying a character created by an actor. Tom Cruise didn’t realize that he was studying a character. He thought he was studying a person. He created a character based on a character.
Interestingly, Ross shared that Cruise’s character in the film, Frank Mackey, was far more manic and misogynistic than Jeffries. He commented that there were several things in the movie that were wrongly depicted about the character he had created.
Real-Life Character Or Not, Tom Cruise Killed It As Frank Mackey and Deserved an Oscar
In Magnolia, Tom Cruise risked his good boy image by playing the misogynistic pickup artist Mackey. He shows off his seduction skills to a bunch of men while treating women like an object in the film. He could’ve been easily hated, but Cruise added another layer to the character with his performance.
When confronted with the truth that he took care of his dying mother after his father left, viewers could only see a vulnerable young man. He later gets his redemption arc as he visits his dying father and later his stepmother in the hospital. It was easily the most nuanced performance in Cruise’s repertoire. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role but didn’t win.
He won the award at the Golden Globes that year and many critics consider it to be his best performance to date.
Magnolia is now available for streaming on Paramount+.
