Tom Cruise may be the star of Hollywood boulevard with award-winning films littering the roster of films and projects ever since his big-screen break with Tony Scott’s Top Gun in 1986. The films that followed, including Rain Man (1988), Interview with the Vampire (1994), and Jerry Maguire (1996) worked toward establishing his star status and pushing him to the tier comprising A-listers and movie stars. However, not until Mission: Impossible did Cruise begin to believe whole-heartedly in his stardom even though his lifestyle began to reflect the fact already.
Tom Cruise’s A-lister Guests Panic At His Film’s Afterparty
In the aftermath of the success of A Few Good Men, Tom Cruise‘s celebratory evening at his home that brought together the cast of the movie, their families, and other Hollywood stars went sideways after a small mishap landed the group in trouble. As a member of the cast, Kevin Bacon had been invited to the party as well who arrived with his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, who at the time happened to be very pregnant. During a 2021 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress revealed:
I was pregnant, I was very pregnant, and we got invited over to dinner. We got invited over for dinner with lots of famous people like Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, because she was in [A Few Good Men]… It was one of those nights that I often don’t get invited to… There was this, like, fireplace mantle, and I was looking around and there was this little button underneath the mantel. I was like, “Oh what is that little button?” So I pressed the little button because I thought maybe something interesting will happen. Nothing happened and then I got a little nervous…
[Tom Cruise] goes, “That’s the panic button,” And so the cops came, they had to stop the screening, they had to see Tom. I think there were more than like five cop cars, it was something…
In the aftermath of the embarrassing hoopla that ensued from the accident, Sedgwick and Bacon were never invited back to another of Cruise’s parties. Kevin Bacon, in a later appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show recalled apologizing profusely to the star saying, “Oh honey, she’s so crazy. There she goes again pressing buttons.”
The Unprecedented Success of A Few Good Men
The 1992 film, A Few Good Men, has been one of the rare films to incorporate Tom Cruise in an ensemble film rather than him being the star power and the sole lead in the plot. The movie featuring stars such as Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Kevin Bacon and Aaron Sorkin had Tom Cruise tying the party together as Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a US Military lawyer who defends two US Marines charged with murder. The star-studded cast pits Nicholson as the Colonel under suspicion of planning the attack and nine other enlisted men who were involved in the act of brutality.
The film, directed by Rob Reiner, brought in $243.2 million at the box offive against a budget of $ million and holds a rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. A Few Good Men was also nominated for four Academy Awards at the 65th Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Sound, and Best Film Editing. The unprecedented success of the film would later propel the stardom of Tom Cruise further into the spotlight for holding his own against such powerhouse actors and industry veterans around him.
A Few Good Men is available for renting or buying on iTunes and Amazon.
Source: The Drew Barrymore Show
