Tom Cruise became world famous in the 80s after his participation in the first installment of ‘Top Gun: idols of the air’ (1986), ‘The Color of Money’ (1986) and ‘Born on July 4’ (1989), a film for which he received his first nomination for Oscar. Due to his rapid rise in Hollywood, the most famous directors in the industry began to take an interest in him and made him a large number of proposals during the 90s. And although many of these proposals he did accept, the truth is that there was a movie that Tom Cruise turned down to star in and that ended up becoming one of the most successful movies in Johnny Depp’s filmography.
Is about ‘Edward Scissorhands‘, the film that catapulted the career of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor in 1990. This production became the beginning of his working and personal relationship with director Tim Burton and with which he earned his first Globe nomination. Prayed.
Nowadays, it’s really hard to imagine Edward Scissorhands being played by any actor other than Johnny Depp, since his impeccable acting and chemistry with Winona Ryder, with whom he was in a relationship until 1993, made this movie one of the most memorable and iconic of his career. However, even if it’s hard to even think about it, Johnny Depp may not have played Edward Scissorhands, leaving that responsibility to Tom Cruise.
According to the film’s screenwriter, Caroline Thompson, in an interview with the British magazine ‘Dazed’, Tim Burton wanted Tom Cruise to play the taciturn young man artificially created by his “father” in a gothic castle located at the top of the Lutz neighborhood in Florida, a very colorful place with kitsch architecture that did not fit Eduardo’s personality. During the conversation, Thompson assured that Depp was not “in the mind” of Tim Burton when he began looking for the ideal actor for the main character of the film. Furthermore, he revealed that Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey and even Michael Jackson were interested in that role, although Burton had a special fondness for Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise at the time.
Tom Cruise did not want to play a character “blindly”
Carolina Thompson indicated that Tom Cruise was very close to getting the role, but her curiosity was stronger and she ended up rejecting it because she could not find the answers to her questions.. “Cruise wanted to know how Eduardo was going to the bathroom”, Thompson revealed. “He was asking these kinds of questions about the character that can’t be asked! Part of the finesse of the story is not answering questions like “How did she go to the bathroom?” or How has he been able to live all these years without eating? explained the screenwriter in the interview. “Tom Cruise was not willing to be in the film if those questions were not answered.” added.
Finally, Tom Cruise was left out of the project and Tim Burton gave the opportunity to Depp, who managed to build the essence of the character perfectly and without asking so many questions.