Tom Cruise is known for a lot of things. He is admired for his dedication to performing the most intense stunts and delivering some of the best action films Hollywood, and the world has ever seen. Steven Spielberg even titled him as the one who saved theatrical distribution after the pandemic.
But to his co-star Rob Lowe, he was the one who was angry and didn’t want to share a room with him. That’s not all. After a rough rehearsal for their film went wrong, Tom Cruise went ballistic with murderous rage.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Insistence On Method Acting Caused A Ruckus In Tom Cruise’s Film
Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe starred in the 1983 film The Outsiders. It was about the 1950s greaser gangs and was a coming-of-age drama. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the film grossed about $25 million on a $10 million budget. Apart from Lowe and Cruise, a lot of 90s stars like Patrick Swayze got widespread recognition from that movie.
But working on the film wasn’t easy. Partly because Coppola was intent on method acting, and so he separated the actors according to the gangs they were a part of in the project. Also, he apparently made them stay in the homes of greasers. It was meant to heighten the gang rivalry and tension between the boys.
However, things became a little too intense. Multiple cast members apparently got into fights with each other. One of which involved Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise, and things got a bit out of hand.
Rob Lowe Revealed That Tom Cruise Wanted To Kill Him For A Punch
In The Outsiders, things got a little out of hand when Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise were practicing for a scene. Lowe struck the Top Gun star, and that escalated things to an unimaginable degree. The West Wing star said in an interview with The Telegraph:
“We all beat the living s–t out of one another; we really did. I got one clean shot on Tom, and Tom is such a competitive lunatic – which is what I love about him – but the next thing you know he’s ready to kill me! We were all competitive. It wasn’t just Tom. We were hardcore.”
What probably also escalated the competition was the fact that Tom Cruise wanted the role of Sodapop Curtis that Rob Lowe got. However, it’s all water under the bridge now for Lowe, who acknowledged that the Minority Report actor has gone supernova famous and has a $600 million net worth now. He also knows why Cruise is successful.
The Parks and Recreation star said it’s because Cruise was dedicated. He said:
“He (Tom Cruise) had the ability to say, ‘I’m making a movie right now, I’m playing a character, so you need to go away while I do this.’ He has that ability.”
While Lowe scratched out a good career for himself, it was marred with s*x scandals. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he lost out to Cruise in the race long ago.
The Outsiders is available on Max.
Source: The Telegraph
