Guillermo del Toro is famous for his extraordinary projects ranging from comic book adaptations to historical fantasy and horror films for the big screens. Through his exceptionally fine works, he has also gotten the chance to work with several top-rated actors and actresses. But his dream of wanting to work with Tom Cruise was one that couldn’t ever be fulfilled.
In fact, Toro desperately wanted Cruise to star in his $411 million blockbuster Pacific Rim and even wrote the character with him in mind. However, that couldn’t happen, and del Toro had to settle with another Hollywood legend Idris Elba instead.
Guillermo del Toro Wanted Tom Cruise For Pacific Rim (2013)
Guillermo del Toro recently appeared in an interview with Collider following the 10th anniversary of one of his biggest blockbusters of all time, Pacific Rim. There, he shared some not-so-well-known facts like how the film was inspired by Gene Hackman‘s Hoosiers and Tom Cruise’s Top Gun. He said:
“The two models for Pacific Rim, the two models for the screenplay, are Hoosiers with Gene Hackman and Top Gun.”
However, Cruise had a deeper connection to the movie as the filmmaker had written the role of the badass leader of the military, Stacker Pentecost, for the Mission: Impossible star himself.
“So, 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.”
Since Cruise wasn’t available, del Toro switched to Idris Elba instead.
“I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s go with Idris Elba then. He’s a god.’ Obviously, I had to rewrite it for that, but I thought it was gonna be an interesting analog to do that. It would have been a lot of fun.”
Turns out Elba did an equally fine job considering the epic hit that Pacific Rim was!
Guillermo del Toro’s Other Projects With Tom Cruise Didn’t Work Either
Continuing in the interview, Guillermo del Toro shared how he had other opportunities to work with Tom Cruise as well, but none of them ever worked:
“I have developed three movies with Cruise, and none of the three times we have worked, but we have had quite a laugh, you know? I like it. My life is so weird. I’m like Forrest f****** Gump. All of a sudden, I’m in places that I don’t know how it happened, but I go, ‘Eh, I like it.’ [Laughs]”
Despite all of that, the filmmaker is just grateful for everything life throws his way.
“Honestly, I’m very grateful. There’s a saying in movies, and it’s a really great saying, they say, ‘Take the scout, don’t make the movie.’ Because 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.”
Elucidating on his comment, del Toro shared:
“My favorite part of movies, like when I planned The Devil’s Backbone, I made an itinerary through Spain where they sold the best sausages, the best asparagus. [Laughs] We were in Scotland scouting for the next movie, I was mapping where there was a good macaroni and cheese pie.”
