“Why should he be below the title?”: Paramount’s Deal With Tom Cruise Led His Co-star to Remove His Name from $270M Film Poster Entirely

Tom Cruise has built himself as a brand thanks to his daring roles that keep on challenging him to surpass himself. From intense acting to mind-blowing action sequences, he has touched almost everything, thus settling down for the action genre, which absolutely is a blessing for our eyes.

Also Read: “I woke up that morning and just wanted to vomit”: Mission Impossible 7 Director Made a Major Change to $291M Tom Cruise Movie After Receiving a Brutal Reality Check from Close Friend

However, this legacy took years to finally get to the top. Having kicked off his acting journey in the 80s, he established himself as a leading star in the 1990s with his commercially successful projects. It was the time when he led Paramount’s The Firm. But not everyone was happy in the film.

Gene Hackman Was Nowhere on Tom Cruise’s The Firm Poster 

Also Read: “It’s an ambitious f**king movie”: Barbie Star Margot Robbie’s $80M Failure With Brad Pitt Crushed Paramount Chief’s Soul as Studio Deals With Tom Cruise’s MI7 Box-Office Disappointment

With a career spanning over six decades, Gene Hackman has impressed the audience by presenting several roles including his work in the Superman franchise. He was also a crucial cast in Tom Cruise‘s 1993 film, The Firm. However, many might be surprised to know that his name was nowhere to be found on the film poster.

It all started with Paramount Pictures’s contract with the Top Gun actor which clearly mentioned that only his name would be appeared above the title. Due to that, the studio planned its entire marketing strategy by putting Cruise in the front or around him.

As to why Hackman took such a big step to entirely exclude his name from the promotional poster, it all lies in another contract, which the studio had with the Unforgiven actor. As per his contract, his name was to appear before the title as well but since Cruise got the ultimate privilege, he decided to cut himself off from the promotional materials completely.

Their decision in giving preference to Cruise over the former led the former to remove his name from the promotional poster entirely. His spokesperson told Los Angeles Times,

“This is a town of precedents and (Hackman is) so firmly established above the title, why should he be below the title?”

However, in the on-screen credits at the start of the movie, his name comes right after the action star.

Gene Hackman’s Late Joining Contributed to The Issue

Also Read: “It was very, very risky”: Mission: Impossible 7 Director Deleted One Key Scene After Making Tom Cruise and Co-Stars Risk Their Lives to Avoid Jack Reacher Mistake

There was another reason for his contract to get second preference, which was his late joining in the project. Based on John Grisham’s novel of the same name, his character Avery became a topic of discussion among producers who wanted to change the character to female. For the same reason, they even considered Meryl Streep for the female part, but the author refuted which eventually led the former to join the film.

Not to forget, Cruise received a gigantic paycheck of $12 million meanwhile the former was paid only $2 million for his role. It surely made a whole lot of difference why the studio decided to keep the marketing around the Mission: Impossible star. The film went on to become one of the most successful projects of that time grossing $270 million.

Source: Los Angeles Times