Tom Cruise wants his Tropic Thunder character to get a spinoff movie. The original satirical comedy movie came out in 2008, and focused on a group of actors filming a high-budget movie who are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying in the war film. Tropic Thunder‘s star-studded cast includes Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, and Cruise. The film is directed by Stiller and based on a script by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen.
Speaking with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie reveals that Cruise wants to make a spinoff movie of his Tropic Thunder character. The director did say that the discourse surrounding making a Les Grossman-based spinoff are “so f***ing funny.” But at the same time, he and Cruise are “having very serious conversations about it and how best to do it” if they were to make a Tropic Thunder spinoff. Check out the full quote from McQuarrie below:
“The conversations we’ve had about Les Grossman are so f***ing funny. We’re talking about it now. We’re having very serious conversations about it and how best to do it and what it ultimately comes down to is what that character is.”
What This Means For Tom Cruise
Cruise Likes Revisiting Past Work
Les Grossman, Cruise’s character in Tropic Thunder, serves as the movie’s main antagonist. He is the movie studio executive who is producing the film within the film, and arguably pushes the cast and crew too far. Aided by hair and makeup, Cruise transformed his physical appearance to play Grossman. He wore fake large hands, a fatsuit, and a bald cap, shifting his look away from how many people were used to seeing him. Overbearing movie producers are still a relevant industry trend, so making a satirical and ridiculous Les Grossman spinoff could still feel relevant.
It is also not unlike Cruise to revisit his past work. In 2022, he made an incredibly successful sequel film with Top Gun: Maverick, which came out decades after the original film. Even the Mission: Impossible series, which just concluded with The Final Reckoning, is a long-standing series that shows Cruise playing the same character over an extended period of time. Playing Les Grossman again would be a little different from these projects, as Tropic Thunder is not an existing franchise, but it would still be a way for Cruise to honor other movies in his career and continue their stories.
Our Take On The Potential Tropic Thunder Spinoff
Cruise Has A Busy Schedule
The biggest barrier in the way of making this Tropic Thunder spinoff is Cruise’s schedule. Cruise has a deal with Warner Bros., and is actively involved in multiple projects both in and out of that deal. He revealed recently that he had just finished filming on the untitled new film by Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. He is also working on Top Gun 3, which McQuarrie is writing and producing, which will be a big-scale production that will take up time. So, while a Tropic Thunder spinoff is exciting, it may not come for a while, if at all.
Source: Happy Sad Confused