It’s been a long time since we have witnessed Tom Cruise making headlines for his appearance in projects other than the Mission Impossible and Top Gun franchises. But there was a time when Cruise appeared and enjoyed his time in his friend Ben Stiller’s box office hit, Tropic Thunder.
In 2008, Tom Cruise took on the extremely secret role of Les Grossman in Ben Stiller’s movie. Having a brief cameo, the actor played the role of a balding, Diet Coke-guzzling, expletive-uttering movie executive. However, Cruise wanted his cameo in the movie to be top secret, and thus he went out of his way to keep it that way, until the film’s release.
Also read: One of the Rare Box Office Bombs of Tom Cruise Put His Acting Career in Serious Jeopardy
Tom Cruise’s Super Secret Cameo in Tropic Thunder
Following the success of his movie Top Gun in 1986, Tom Cruise cemented his career in Hollywood and was later offered the role of Ethan Hunt in his Mission Impossible movies. But gradually by 2006, the actor began rapidly falling out of favor with Hollywood. Despite being ranked as the world’s most powerful celebrity and being influential, Cruise started to lose his aura.
Later on, even Paramount Studios cut ties with Tom Cruise after a 14-year relationship, and the actor’s public behavior began making his fans worried. But the shock lasted until 2008 when Cruise appeared in a cameo role in his friend Ben Stiller’s hit movie, Tropic Thunder. Yet again working under the banner of Paramount Pictures, Cruise picked up his pace.
But this cameo in Tropic Thunder was something that Tom Cruise was highly excited about. Playing the role of the blading movie executive Les Grossman with fat hands, Cruise wanted to surprise his audiences. That’s why the actor maintained ultimate secrecy throughout filming. Even Paramount Pictures refrained from releasing any images of the actor in the movie.
Tom Cruise Hired Lawyers to Maintain Secrecy
However, despite trying to maintain utmost secrecy about his role in Ben Stiller’s 2008 movie, a few images of Tom Cruise in prosthetics leaked from the set. Pictures popped up online of the actor in a fat suit, prosthetic hands, and a bald cap that almost made him appear unrecognizable.
Nonetheless, according to YardBarker, Tom Cruise was so committed to his role in Tropic Thunder and was so adamant on maintaining secrecy, that he hired lawyers and professionals to tackle the situation. Cruise’s lawyer simply sprung into action and took the matters in their hands. Soon enough the leaked photos were completely erased from the internet.
It was as if they never existed. Cruise’s lawyers worked wonders and took down all images of Tom Cruise from the film set in his costume. That’s how the actor maintained top-level secrecy and went ahead to shoot the film. Right after the movie was released it turned into a box office hit and made $195.7M against its $92M estimated budget.
