Making the right choice doesn’t always have to be made with excessive planning and possession of foresight that can outline what may transpire if that decision is taken. Even major Hollywood celebrities try to think that way while choosing their next projects, especially megastars like Tom Cruise, who have a reputation to uphold.
And while most of the intuitions have made him choose the right path to become one of the most successful film stars in the world, it doesn’t mean he has not lost those opportunities. In the past, the star almost got the chance to work with none other than prolific filmmaker Tim Burton himself, but due to differences in creative understanding, he had to reject his offer.
Tom Cruise Rejected Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands By Asking Too Many Weird Questions
Known as one of the biggest and most influential actors in the world, the journey from rags to riches was not an easy one for Tom Cruise to travel, and it didn’t just happen overnight. With the utmost precision and calculation while choosing every single role, the star managed to create a career worthy of any legend in the history of cinema. But it’s not like all the projects he rejected were bad, in fact, the star once rejected an offer by Tim Burton to play the titular character in his then-upcoming film Edward Scissorhands.
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After he was asked to play the aforementioned role, which eventually went to Johnny Depp, the Mission: Impossible star had to invest himself creatively into the project, which meant getting on the same page. Therefore, he would often ask questions that were way too difficult to answer or should not be asked at all as part of the wider narrative of the film. When screenwriter Caroline Thompson met with Cruise to discuss the character, she remembered being visibly puzzled by his continuous stream of questions, saying:
“(Cruise) wanted to know how Edward went to the bathroom, he was asking the kind of questions about the character that can’t be asked for this character! Part of the delicacy of the story was not answering questions like, ‘How does he go to the bathroom? How did he live without eating all those years?’ Tom Cruise was certainly unwilling to be in the movie without those questions being answered.”
While it may have been a letdown for his fans to not see him in the film, the end result with Depp in the picture did wonders for the film and made it another Burton classic.
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What Was Edward Scissorhands About?
In the classic Tim Burton fashion of creating some of the most macabre plots in his films, Edward Scissorhands tells the tale of a reanimated human being named Edward who was created in a lab by a scientist. But before he could finish his project, he met his demise, which left Edward with freakishly long blades for fingers, something that hindered him from doing anything. But after he is brought home by a woman named Peg, he wishes to learn how to live and love like a normal human being.
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Edward Scissorhands, streaming on Max.
Source: Dazed
