can tom cruise song

Rock of Ages first listen: Can Tom Cruise actually sing?

Critics get a taste of the actor's take on Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" in the upcoming rock musical — and they aren't so sweet on it

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The audio: Tom Cruise is, apparently, "hot sticky sweet." But can he sing? Ever since the Mission: Impossible star was cast in the upcoming musical Rock of Ages , based on the jukebox Broadway show of the same name, critics wondered whether he had the vocal chops to pull off the role. In the film, out June 15, Cruise plays Stacee Jaxx, a bare-chested, chaps-wearing rocker in the mold of Poison's Bret Michaels, who is tasked with belting out rock and roll classics like "Paradise City" and "Wanted Dead or Alive." The first audio clip of the actor singing the Def Leppard track "Pour Some Sugar On Me" was released Tuesday. (Listen to it below.) Cruise claims that the hair band already gave his performance its stamp of approval .

The reaction: Cruise may look the part of the long-haired, tatted-up rocker in the preview images we've seen, says Mary Ouellette at Loudwire , but his vocals are too Broadway. He lacks Def Leppard's "imperfections and reckless abandon," and sounds "more like he's singing a showtune than a rock anthem." What vocals? says Billy Dukes at Ultimate Classic Rock . He's drowned out by the ramped-up background production. While Cruise's version will bring the classic track to a new audience, "it fails to separate itself form the original in any remarkable way." He sounds fine, says Katey Rich at Cinema Blend . Cruise "always seemed like one of those people who can do just about everything well." The true test, though, will be whether he can pull off those crazy '80s dance moves. Listen to Cruise's "Sugar" rendition:

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Tom Cruise Cries in Lady Gaga’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Music Video for ‘Hold My Hand’ Ballad

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The loss of Goose (Anthony Edwards) still haunts the “Top Gun” films, despite Pete “Maverick” Mitchell ( Tom Cruise ) flying high once more.

Oscar winner Lady Gaga announced original song “Hold My Hand” for “ Top Gun: Maverick ,” the sequel to the hit 1986 film, in theaters May 27. The “House of Gucci” star released the emotional music video for the ballad on May 6, ahead of the “Top Gun: Maverick” premiere at Cannes in a few weeks.

Director Joseph Kosinski filmed Gaga belting the moving single while at an airfield in the desert. Flashbacks to the original film, helmed by Tony Scott, revisit Goose’s heartbreaking death as Cruise’s Maverick holds him. The follow-up film is set 30 years after the original, with Maverick now training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates, including Goose’s son Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller) aka Rooster, for a dangerous, specialized mission.

The lyrics for “Hold My Hand” include: “I see that you’re bleeding / You don’t need to show me again. But if you decide to, I’ll ride in this life with you / I won’t let go ’til the end.”

“When I wrote this song for ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ I didn’t even realize the multiple layers it spanned across the film’s heart, my own psyche, and the nature of the world we’ve been living in,” Gaga, who also contributed to the “Top Gun: Maverick” score along with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe, and Harold Faltermeyer, tweeted .

The “A Star Is Born” Academy Award winner continued, “I wanted to make music into a song where we share our deep need to both be understood and try to understand each other — a longing to be close when we feel so far away and an ability to celebrate life’s heroes…This song is a love letter to the world during and after a very hard time.”

Lead star Cruise praised Gaga’s dedication to the film while on “ The Late Late Show ,” saying that the song “opened up the whole movie” and grounded the “emotional core” of the epic film.

“The song she’d written just fell right in and became, really, the underlying score and the heartbeat of our film,” Cruise said.

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Guitar Hero: Tom Cruise

Rock of Ages star Tom Cruise is strumming his way to the hall of fame.

It’s a Thursday afternoon in a studio in Los Angeles, and Tom Cruise, dressed in jeans and an untucked white button-down shirt, is ­belting out “Paradise City.” He’s performing the Guns N’ Roses song—which he sings during the opening credits of his new movie, Rock of Ages —in character, as Stacee Jaxx, a fading rock god from the eighties. Sitting in front of the glass-enclosed recording booth are Cruise’s music advisers, including Ron Anderson, formerly a vocal coach for Axl Rose, whose trademark screech Cruise has perfected. When Cruise started this project more than a year ago, he didn’t know whether he could really sing. “Adam Shankman, the director, asked me if I could carry a tune,” Cruise tells me later. “I said, ‘We’ll see, won’t we? This is either going to work or it’s going to be dreadful.’ ”

Throughout his career, Cruise has assessed roles by their degree of difficulty. He loves a challenge—especially if it involves mastering some new skill. Cruise has tossed bottles ( Cocktail ), flown fighter jets (Top Gun), hustled pool ( The Color of Money ), learned to live life as a Nazi with one arm and an eye patch ( Valkyrie ), raced cars ( Days of Thunder ), and, most recently, rappelled down the face of the tallest building in the world ( Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol ). He always works from the outside in: Even in his serious, Academy Award–nominated roles for Born on the Fourth of July (in which he was wheelchair-bound) and Magnolia (where he played a sex guru), his way into a character is through the physical. With Stacee Jaxx, he began with the mundane rock-star requirements—honing his newly discovered four-octave range and learning to play the guitar—but the physical soon gave way to the emotional. While everyone else in Rock of Ages is either ridiculous or playing their part with a wink (Alec Baldwin in a wig!), Cruise seems to actually be living in Stacee’s leather pants. He is alone inside another, much more interesting movie; there is a melancholic undertow to Stacee Jaxx—he’s only truly alive when he’s onstage, and he knows that his time there is nearly over.

Cruise’s personal sense of character complication may have something to do with timing: Though the actor looks easily 15 years younger, he will be 50 in July. When he signed on to Rock of Ages , he was at a career crossroads—the rambling, not-fun Knight and Day , a big action movie, had not scored at the box office, and negative rumors had plagued MI4. True to his nature, Cruise concentrated on the work—specifically, the jump off the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. “I look at cities and architecture and I’m always thinking, I want to jump off that building,” Cruise says. “I’m inspired by Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton or Charlie ­Chaplin. I think, We’re going to get this on camera, and it’s going to be in IMAX—that will be something for an audience.”

The jump worked: Last Christmas, MI4 was an enormous hit, making $693 million and putting Cruise back on top. “We were finishing Mission,” he recalls. “I’d go down the front of the building and then get on the phone with Adam Shankman and say, ‘What’s the voice of Stacee Jaxx?’ This movie was, for me, like training for anything: You have to learn how to use your muscles. And then you start thinking, What story do I want to tell?”

When W photographed Cruise in the penthouse of the Raleigh ­Hotel in Miami Beach several months before our meeting in Los Angeles, he was completely immersed in Stacee’s story. Rock of Ages was filming in Miami, and Cruise was sporting long hair extensions and tattoos. Playing the character took some courage: If he didn’t approach the role with sincerity and intensity, Cruise could easily look like a joke. “Stacee Jaxx had to be real,” he said during the shoot. “I didn’t want to imitate all these other rock stars. He had to be unique. If the audience doesn’t immediately buy into his absolute greatness, there’s no movie journey. Without that, you have nothing.”

Back in the studio, Cruise lets out a pitch-perfect scream. “My throat is gone,” he says, sounding hoarse. “That’s all I’ve got.” Cruise says his goodbyes to the Rock of Ages crew and leaves the room. I follow him into another recording studio to talk. “After four hours of singing,” Cruise begins, “I sound like Donald Duck. No more rock star.”

As a kid, did you sing around the house? You know what? I did the scene from Risky Business around the house. I would sing Bob Seger—my mother worked, my sisters were out, and I’d turn the music up. I learned how to dance watching Soul Train . I noticed that if a guy could dance, he’d get a lot of attention and girls would want to dance with him. I worked very hard at imitating those moves.

Were you ever in a school musical? In my senior year I was in Guys and Dolls . I was Nathan Detroit—the Sinatra part. I wish I’d had Ron Anderson back then. He would have made a big difference.

Why did you want to do a musical now? Kate [Holmes, Cruise’s wife] loves musicals. She sings and dances, and we kind of went through the history of musicals together. And Suri loved Hairspray . With kids, you watch everything over and over; I watched Hairspray 15 times with Suri. I thought Adam Shankman did a great job directing the movie, so I arranged to meet him and said, “Where’s our musical?” He came back and said, “ Rock of Ages .” We went and saw it in L.A., and for me…I didn’t know how to play the character like that. I had to find my own Stacee Jaxx.

You began training. I needed to find out if I could really sing! Ron came in and worked with me. And then I had to learn how to play guitar. I’m very good at air guitar—and air drums—but I had never played an actual guitar. After working for weeks on Stacee’s technical skills, I was thinking about the character, and I said, “You know what? I need a monkey.” Adam said, “What the fuck are you talking about?” And I said, “I’m serious—I need a monkey” [ laughs ]. When Stacee’s not onstage, he’s kind of sad. And I thought, This guy has to have a monkey that’s his best friend. Adam found this baboon. He sent me the baboon’s audition tape, and I said, “The baboon’s name has to be Hey Man” [ laughs ]. Stacee Jaxx doesn’t work without Hey Man.

There are a lot of sexy scenes in this movie: At one point you’re climbing a stripper pole; in another scene, you’re grinding up against a ­ Rolling Stone reporter, played by Malin Akerman. I knew we had to push the sexuality because of the nature of the character and the songs. He’s singing, “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Adam has a sweetness with this stuff, so you can push things pretty hard. With Malin, I thought of Susan Sarandon in The Rocky Horror Picture Show —incredibly sexy and very sweet.

It’s hard to get that balance. When you read a lot of rock biographies, you find that when these musicians are doing their work and it’s going well, that’s when they’re really alive. It’s all the other stuff—the noise and complications—that gets them into devilish behavior. Stacee is kind of floating until he comes onstage. That’s where he’s at home. Everything else is kind of a mess.

Was your goal to show something intimate? Yes. It’s a little uncomfortable at times. But funny. Uncomfortable and funny: That was the goal.

Cruise wears Rita Ryack leather pants. Accessories and jewelry styled by costume designer Rita Ryack.

Models, from left: True Religion black leather shorts. Michael Spirito cuff; Alexis Bittar rings; Burberry belt; models own nipple ring. Emilio Pucci black and white Lycra swimsuit. Eddie Borgo cone bracelet, Tom Ford cuff (from left); Sequin ring. Cruise wears Rita Ryack snakeskin pants. Accessories and jewelry styled by costume designer Rita Ryack.

Beauty note: Pump up any hairstyle with a flash of Borghese Milan Volumizing Mousse.

Models, from left: 3.1 Phillip Lim silk blazer. Hervé Léger by Max Azria polyester bathing suit. Sequin ring. Eddie Borgo black rings; Assad Mounser dangling earring; LaCrasia Gloves gloves; model’s own cross and stud earrings. Cruise wears Rita Ryack leather pants. Accessories and jewelry all styled by costume designer Rita Ryack.

Cruise: Hair by Michael White; makeup and tattoo design: Michele Burke. Models: Hair by Recine; makeup by Aaron de Mey at Art Partner; manicures by Champagne Satayakul. Models: Abbey Lee Kershaw at Next; Edita Vilkeviciute at DNA New York.

Fashion on models, from left: Versace cotton raffia top. Hervé Léger by Max Azria polyester-blend swimwear bottoms. Eddie Borgo earrings and choker; Michael Schmidt Swarovski Elements spiked cuff, Chrome Hearts 22k gold and diamond bracelet (from left); Chanel gloves; Double Happiness Jewelry 14k gold and tourmaline ring. 3.1 Phillip Lim silk-blend bralette. Salvatore Ferragamo beaded silk jacket. Barbara Bui cotton shorts. Venus by Maria Tash nose ring; Assad Mounser earring; Michael Schmidt mesh bracelet; Solange Azagury-Partridge 18k blackened-white-gold and diamond ring; her own earrings. Cruise wears Rita Ryack leather pants. Accessories and jewelry styled by costume designer Rita Ryack.

Beauty: On Cruise: Smashbox Limitless Eye Liner in Smoke. On models, from left: Smashbox High Definition foundation in Light L3; Photo Op Eye Shadow Trio in Screenshot; Lash DNA mascara in Jet Black; Blush Rush in Gingersnap; Limitless Lip Stain in Guava. Studio Skin foundation in 2.3; Smokebox Palette; Hyperlash Mascara in Blackout; Blush Rush in Paradise; Lip Enhancing Gloss in Tease.

Cruise: Hair by Michael White; makeup and tattoo design: Michele Burke. Models: Hair by Recine; makeup by Aaron de Mey at Art Partner; manicures by Champagne Satayakul. Models: Abbey Lee Kershaw at Next; Edita Vilkeviciute at DNA New York. Production by Select Services. Special thanks to the Raleigh Hotel. Digital technician: Xanny Handfield. Photography assistants: Lars Beaulieu, Johnny Vicari, Javier Villegas. Fashion assistants: Katy Younger-Hadwiger, Megan Kelley.

Tom Cruise Is Planning to Sing and Dance in an Original Movie Musical

He is also keen to revive his 'Tropic Thunder' character Les Grossman.

At the top of the list is an "original song and dance-style musical" which they will write as a starring vehicle for Cruise. While audiences might associate Cruise primarily with dramatic action roles, he has sang on-screen before. And no, that's not a reference to the terrible lullaby scene from the middling War of the Worlds remake. He was critically lauded for his pipes in the 2012 adaptation of the Broadway show Rock of Ages , in which he played a washed-up musician and performed impressive renditions of some hair rock anthems, including "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard and "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi.

No plot details have been announced about this new musical, although given Cruise's propensity for throwing himself into life-threatening stuntwork, it's likely he will train like a professional tap-dancer to get the moves right.

And speaking of stunts, another one of Cruise and McQuarrie's pending projects is the eighth Mission: Impossible movie, which will see Cruise "speed flying." They're also keen to create a brand new action franchise together. Most bafflingly though, they are reportedly excited about the prospect of bringing back Les Grossman, Cruise's scene-stealing character from the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder .

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TV & Film

When Tom Cruise sang on live TV and he was amazing

5 August 2022, 15:47

By Tom Eames

Tom Cruise is one of the world's greatest film stars, and it turns out he's a fantastic live performer too.

In 2015, the Top Gun: Maverick actor appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in the States, and shocked the audience with his impressive command of the stage.

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OK, he wasn't actually singing, but rather taking part in the Lip Sync Battle segment of the show, miming along with The Weeknd's 'Can't Feel My Face', but he was particularly great at it.

Watch the clip below:

Tom Cruise, Jimmy Fallon do lip sync battle | 'Can’t Feel My Face' & 'That Lovin Feelin'

Tom impressed the audience and Jimmy with his performance, which he followed up by lip-syncing to Meat Loaf 's 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light'.

Even The Weeknd himself was amazed, tweeting about the show afterwards:

can't believe @TomCruise is singing my song. @jimmyfallon *** you're the MAN for this one. #tomcruisetomcruise ||| https://t.co/xVFZSkYCCx — The Weeknd (@theweeknd) July 28, 2015

But it's not like Tom can't sing at all. He's belted out the likes of 'Great Balls of Fire' in Top Gun , 'Free Fallin'' in Jerry Maguire and 'Addicted to Love' in Cocktail .

And of course, in 2012, he starred as stadium rock legend Stacy Jaxx in the musical Rock of Ages , where he convincingly performed various '80s anthems like 'Wanted Dead or Alive' and 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'.

Tom Cruise has just experienced the most successful film of his career, with Top Gun: Maverick grossing over $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office.

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Top songs: a guide to Tom Cruise singing cheesy tunes in movies

Might as well face it, Tom Cruise is addicted to belting out an off-key classic in his films. Here's a quick guide to some of his most memorable – and more forgettable – moments on the mic

Photos: Alamy/Collage: The Big Issue

Ace fighter pilot, champion stock car racer, secret agent extraordinaire, barman at TGI Fridays: Tom Cruise has lived exciting lives which we mere mortals can only dream of through his blockbuster acting roles. And yet, from watching the vertically challenged sexy scientologist’s movies over the years, I can’t help but sense that his greatest ambition in life has never been fully realised.

I still haven’t seen Top Gun: Maverick – and I understand he judiciously leaves the theme song to Lady Gaga – but if it doesn’t feature a scene in which Cruise wonkily if gamely sings his little heart out to some sort of vintage rock’n’roll tune then he is selling us all and indeed himself short. The man clearly just wants to sing!

Not content merely packing the soundtracks of his movies with hit songs that can have taken anywhere between three and seven minutes to write – be it Take a Look Around , Limp Bizkit’s butthurt riff on a Lalo Schifrin TV theme classic from 2000’s Mission: Impossible 2 , or Paul McCartney’s fantastically lazy Vanilla Sky from 2001’s film of the same name (sample lyric: “Tonight you fly so high up/In the vanilla sky” ) – Cruise has on many a memorable occasion grabbed the mic himself, only rarely crashing and burning in the process. Shake your nerves and rattle your brain, with a short history of Tom Cruise singing in films. 

Great Balls of Fire  – Top Gun (1986)

Whether it’s spectacular aerial dogfights or a very homoerotic beach volleyball match, Cruise’s breakout action classic is full of memorable scenes, including not just one but two where he sings. The best is of course when Mav and Goose and their respective better halves are drunk in a bar, and Goose is banging away at an upright piano with his young son perched on top, and the two BFFs are going ballistic howling Jerry Lee Lewis’s horndog anthem like a right pair of flaming testes. Unbearably wholesome content.

Addicted to Love  – Cocktail (1988)

It’s hard to believe it happened not long after Top Gun , but Cruise’s arguably worst-ever film saw him play a flair bartender at a MOR American chain restaurant, serving up extravagantly made boozes with often sexy results. His credentials as the money-maker shakin’ lothario who can also do you a decent margarita are burnished by a scene in which the erotic mixologist starts ad-libbing to Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love behind the bar while a woman stares at him longingly, whether smitten or perhaps just wondering when the hell she’s getting her drink. 

Free Fallin’  – Jerry Maguire (1996)

He’s a cocky American sports agent just been binned from his job, she’s a naive and let’s face it desperate secretary and single mum (played by the future multiple Oscar-winning Renée Zellweger). Their relationship makes no sense whatsoever and is actually quite tragic. But watch this much-overrated romcom anyway for the always enjoyable scene where Jerry’s driving off from doing what he thinks is a career-saving deal, searching the radio for a song to match his ecstatic mood, before finally settling on Tom Petty’s 1989 classic Free Fallin’ . Cue Cruise frantically car singing along at the top of his voice with no-one’s-listening aplomb. 

Little Deuce Coupe  – War of the Worlds (2005)

“The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, but still they come!” OK, so sadly Cruise didn’t have a go at singing Jeff Wayne’s 1978 funky prog-rock opera based on HG Wells’ Victorian era proto-sci-fi frightener. But in playing the unlikely part of the deadbeat dad in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 blockbuster movie adaptation, he does have a pretty sweet moment when, searching his mind in vain for a lullaby to sing his terrified daughter, from somewhere he comes up with The Beach Boys’ 1963 hot-rod rock ode, sung in a fragile reedy voice with tears in his eyes. 

Various songs  – Rock of Ages (2012) 

Perhaps we should be more careful what we wish for. Back in 2012, Cruise really did get to fulfil many of his obvious rock star fantasies by joining the ensemble cast of a film based on a popular glam-rock Broadway jukebox musical. The actor took lessons with Axl Rose’s vocal coach to get up to scratch for his role as brooding superstar Stacey Jaxx, and ended up singing surprisingly passable lead vocals on various songs including Guns N’ Roses’ Paradise City , Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive and Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar on Me . Luckily the film tanked at the box office, and music’s loss remains acting’s gain.

Malcolm Jack is a freelance journalist

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Tom Cruise Revives Hilarious 'Tropic Thunder' Character, Reveals the Secret Behind Dance Moves

Over 10 years after playing the character on screen in  Tropic Thunder , Tom Cruise brought Les Grossman back to life

Dave Quinn is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE. He has been working at the brand since 2016, and is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It.

Tom Cruise may have surprised fans at Comic-Con with the first trailer to his upcoming Top Gun sequel , but it was another movie in his illustrious catalog that Conan O’Brien asked about when Cruise appeared on the comedian’s talk show Thursday night.

In the episode, which was broadcast from the annual entertainment convention, O’Brien, 56, asked Cruise to step back into the shoes of Les Grossman — the skeevy studio executive Cruise played over a decade ago in 2008’s Tropic Thunder.

The actor, 57, was happy to oblige, showing off some of Grossman’s infamous dance moves.

Turns out, Cruise himself had pushed director Ben Stiller to incorporate those dance moves, as well as Grossman’s fat-suit, when he was first approached to play the role.

“I take classes all the time to learn things or I want to improve a skill, whether it’s singing, music — whatever subject I’m studying. So I take dance classes and I took hip-hop classes. And then what I find is, I’ll find a character to put that with,” Cruise explained on Conan, recalling how he told Stiller, ” ‘I’d love to play this character but I want to have fat hands and I’m going to dance.’ ”

“Sometimes with a character you just get an instinct about what you’re going to do,” Cruise added.

Stiller, according to Cruise, wasn’t completely on board with Cruise’s vision.

“For a couple of months he kept saying, ‘Maybe we don’t do the makeup. Maybe you just look like yourself,’ ” Cruise remembered. “And I said, ‘No, I need fat hands and I’m going to dance.’ ”

After the makeup was created, Cruise said finding Grossman was easy. “As you’re working on a character, you start becoming that character, you start discovering that character. And I just, I just started moving,” Cruise said, adding that Stiller was still confused. “There was no music. He was just looking at me like, ‘What’s happening.’ I was crushing Pepsi cans and Coke cans.”

Once Stiller added music to the scene though (specifically, Ludacris’s “Get Back”), he understood what Cruise wanted.

“He calls me the next day and cut it to that piece of music you see in the movie. And he said, ‘I get it, I get it, I get it. This is hilarious,’ ” Cruise shared.

Tropic Thunder earned Cruise a Golden Globe action nomination. The film also starred Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson.

Later on Conan , Cruise recited Grossman’s more colorful lines. “Stand back and literally f— your own face,” Cruise said, to the cheers of the crowd. “I will f— you up! I will massacre you!”

And though the next few movies Cruise has on his slate are action-based (including the aforementioned Top Gun: Maverick ), Cruise said comedy — and Les Grossman — will always have a special place in his heart.

“I love comedy,” Cruise said. “I used to write sketches when I was a little kid and would do imitations to make my mother and sisters laugh.”

“Les Grossman was a funny character,” he added. “That was a wild character. That was wild.”

Top Gun: Maverick is set for a June 26, 2020 release.

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Ride Like the Wind

Christopher Cross and Chuck Sabatino

After June takes Roy from the hospital and drives him to the beach. She hums and sings to it along the way.

Black Eyed Peas

End of movie. Song during end credits.

An Ass Model Named Lavitka

Harry Gregson-Williams

Add scene description

Tales of Old Street Fighters

Workin' All Night

Hot Toothpaste

L'Amour D'un Jour

Jose Reyes y Los Reyes

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5 years ago

Last scène going on vacation

what is the song playing in the car radio in the very last scene?

What was the music approximately at the time 48:25 minutes of the movie? Please reply anyone.

song playing wgen cameron diaz us in gas station and tom cruise is fetting gas

6 years ago

Latin song in the movie when june says to roy : put some tunes on the radio mr dj

manojkumar.mkv

12 years ago

whats the song(music) playing on 37min of the movie, when Roy enters the cars and June stare at him after he says "with me, without me...."?? null

clever_klever

What is a song on 37 min of movie? There is no song on 37 min of movie in this tracklist=((((( This is a moment in filling. Please help me and answer!

John Powell

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“He invited us to watch the movie”: Tom Cruise’s Arguably Boldest Role in His Life Required Permission from a Fast and Furious Star to Make it Happen

T om Cruise’s status as a bonafide action star means most of his roles require a certain boldness from the actor. However, Cruise’s performance in the 2008 satirical comedy film Tropic Thunder is arguably his boldest role precisely because it goes against his star persona. In the film, Cruise plays the role of a goofy studio executive Les Grossman.

One of the funniest scenes in the film depicts Grossman dancing to a hip tune. However, for Cruise to execute this scene, it required the permission of a Fast & Furious star. Given the popularity of Cruise’s role, particularly his dance routine in the film, viewers must be curious to learn why the action star required the permission of another star, and here is everything you need to know.

Tom Cruise’s Tropic Thunder Role Required Permission From Fast & Furious Star Ludacris

Tom Cruise ’s performance as studio executive Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder is one of the actor’s most understated roles as it goes against his image as an action star. However, Cruise delivers a memorable performance winning over viewers with the idiosyncrasies of a character who is despicable on paper.

One of the best examples of Cruise making the character likable is his dance routine to the tune of the song Get Back by Fast & Furious star Ludacris. However, to use the song in the film’s closing sequence, director Ben Stiller personally sought Ludacris’ permission.

During an appearance on the First We Feast YouTube channel’s Hot Ones show, Ludacris revealed the following:

“Not only did he seek approval, respectfully, he invited us to watch the movie before it came out and it was literally just me, him, and my management and we watched the whole movie.”

“The right man for the right role”: Keanu Reeves Replaces Tom Cruise in The Mummy Fanmade Trailer and It Certainly Looks Promising

Ludacris added that he was moved by Stiller’s gesture to screen the film for him. As a result, it is safe to say that one of the most iconic and hilarious scenes from the film featuring Cruise’s Grossman showing off his dance moves would not have materialized without Ludacris’ blessing.

How Tom Cruise Came Up With His Hilarious Tropic Thunder Role

During a separate interview with Esquire , director Ben Stiller opened up about how the character of Les Grossman came to be. Stiller revealed that Cruise came up with the character himself as he felt the plot needed a studio executive as the primary antagonist. He said:

“Tom Cruise had the idea to play Les Grossman in the movie. That part did not exist. He said, well, there’s no studio executive and that would be really fun to be that guy.”

Stiller also credited Cruise with coming up with the character’s looks and dance moves which are among the character’s most memorable traits. In a separate interview , Cruise himself confirmed that it was his idea to add a studio executive character to the script.

“That was what Katie wanted”: Upsetting Report on Tom Cruise’s Relationship With Daughter Suri Cruise Will Break Your Heart

In 2022, it was revealed that Cruise and frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie were reportedly working on a spin-off that would bring back the Les Grossman character. However, since then there have been no updates regarding the project. Cruise is currently busy with the eighth installment in his Mission: Impossible franchise so it will be interesting to see if he revisits one of his boldest roles in the future.

Tropic Thunder is streaming on Peacock.

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Tom cruise’s latest appearance may show his feud with the beckhams is over.

by Delilah Gray

Delilah Gray

Trending News Editor

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Seriously, when did this happen?! This appearance came out of nowhere, and it shows that he may have made up with one of, if not both, of the Beckhams. We hope Victoria’s birthday bash was as fun as can be, and we can imagine the conversations that may have happened between Cruise and them.

Now, if you need a recap, we’ve got you.

It’s unclear when this reported fallout happened, but it was allegedly because Cruise tried to sway them into Scientology , which they refused and allegedly distanced themselves from him for. He allegedly took it to heart, and thus, a feud began.

As we said, they were seen together back in 2013, but this party invite came as a shock to so many.

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Tom Cruise Is a London Boy

Sometimes when God closes a door (Taylor Swift says “So long” ), She opens a window (Tom Cruise does the splits). Cruise is living that life in London, and for him that means break-dancing, doing the splits, and watching the British absolutely lose their crumpets. Cruise has lived in London since 2021 and has, in that time, been at the former queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the British Grand Prix, according to the Mercury News . And now he has attended the most British event of all: Posh Spice’s birthday party. Fortunately, he still has the American propensity to do the most. While at the party, Cruise began break-dancing and ended his routine by doing the splits, according to the Daily Mail . “People were absolutely dumbfounded,” a source mentioned. All we’ll say about that is that if there’s one thing the Mission: Impossible franchise could do to s ecure those Imax screens , it just might be a (gay?) club scene in which Cruise distracts the bad guys by jumping into the splits like a Drag Race contestant. Just an idea.

• victoria beckham
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