Rumor: Tom Cruise "in Talks" to Appear in Star Wars: Episode VII Update

[TKretts3]

One condition.
He HAS to fly an X-Wing while 'Danger Zone' plays in the background. It just has to happen.

Why?

Seriously, why? Besides his religious beliefs, do people actually affiliate Tom Cruise in any way with the science-fiction or sciennce-fantasy genres? The only way I see there being a point to this is that Abrams and Cruise are buddy-pals over the next Mission Impossible, or because they're exploiting Cruise's religious beliefs to draw people in to essentially laugh at it, which is reprehensible.

Or, you know, they think Tom Cruise is a good actor who would be a good fit for the role in question.
But hey, what are the chances of that, yeah?

 

[Coreless]

I would be ok with Cruise playing a small part as long as he is a villain and channels Vincent from Collateral:

This movie is so under-rated. And it's probably the best movie Cruise has ever been in. As for SWVII. No. Just, no. I'm already anticipating this to be a trainwreck. But seeing Action Man, the Actioniest Man that Ever Actioned, Man... pop up on screen will instantly rip me out of the movie and slam me face-first into the pavement of the real world I'm trying to watch some fun fantasy stuff to get away from for a bit.

The star-power thing works from stuff like Mission Impossible. But fantasy and sci-fi are a different kind of escapism and they work best with unknowns, lower profiles or actors that can disappear into their roles and the world of the story.

Ugh - I'm seriously considering skipping it all together.

I definitely feel you there, I have been dreading this movie since they announced JJ was working on it because I don't want to have any chance of a "better" Star Wars outside of Lucas get crushed which is looking almost inevitable now. Seeing what Abrams did with Star Trek alone pretty much guarantees this movie will be a soul-less cash grab that will be nothing but flash and no substance. If anything I expect this movie to miss completely the point of Star Wars altogether and be nothing but lens flares and blaster fire.

I can see Cruise being a problem for people since he is such a high profile actor but really there is so much room in the Star Wars universe, heck he could play an alien and have his voice altered so it more subtle. There are countless roles he could play in the movie that don't require him to be so recognizable, just give him some sith robes or put him as a Moff with a large scar on one of his eyes to hide his appearance and it could work.

 

[J Tyran]

To be fair, it would be somewhat fitting that Cruise be in a film series where its protagonists believe in weird space magic, though Scientology is more ridiculous. I'd sooner convert to believing in the Force than thetans.

People often bring up his religion but in all honesty is his religion any more/less despicable and/or laughable than any other? In a world populated with myths about magical zombie carpenters, profits[footnote]intentional misspelling[/footnote] flying to the moon on winged horses or trying to convince people that the early Judaic people lived on the North American continent all along and that Jesus was a space alien I don't see humans being the descendants of refugee space aliens being any more ridiculous.

So basically for me I don't really give a crap if thats what he believes, at least his religion hasn't sparked any genocides so far. I should add that I am not taking a dig at you for your comment here, just that a lot of people say "Tom Cruise movie Scientology hurf blurf hurf won't watch".

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Well thats is just stupid, he is way to famous to be in it. I would be thinking "wow, whats tom cruise doing on Tattoine?"

 

[Dr. Octogonopus]

Hey, Tom Cruise is actually a good actor. He's been playing a tall man for years.

*Ba-Dum-Tish*

Seriously though, no. Every movie starring Tom Cruise is just Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. Peter Serafinowicz would be a great cameo.

 

[KaZuYa]

I didn't really like Tom Cruise until I saw Tropic Thunder and when someone who' one of the spoilt Hollywood elite can be in a movie basically taking the piss out of them and play such an amazingly hilarious role won me over to team Cruise.

If you haven't seen him in it you haven't lived

 

[Frozengale]

... Yeah any and all hope I had for this film just died.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

It's good to hear they're using practical effects for the Ewoks.

*rimshot*

 

[Something Amyss]

People often bring up his religion but in all honesty is his religion any more/less despicable and/or laughable than any other? In a world populated with myths about magical zombie carpenters, profits[footnote]intentional misspelling[/footnote] flying to the moon on winged horses or trying to convince people that the early Judaic people lived on the North American continent all along and that Jesus was a space alien I don't see humans being the descendants of refugee space aliens being any more ridiculous.

I've never got that with scientologists or Mormons. Then I started watching apologetics videos, and I noticed there's this trend to "every supernatural claim but mine is bullshit." At least, with the Abrahamic religions that tend to dominate the relevant culture. I've even seen videos where asking if someone believed the claims of another major Abrahamic faith (usually Christianity or Islam) was enough to evoke accusations of "you're mocking my beliefs."

I think it seems more obvious with Scientology and Mormonism on two grounds: size and tenure. It's easy to pick on the little guys for their ideas, and it's not as ingrained into the culture. Then again, both were also founded recently enough that we know their founders well enough to determine they were con-men.

But as a rule, no, they're no more absurd and it seems weird to single them out.

A cameo is not the same thing as a real role in the film. Its a little wink to the audience. For example, take Stan Lee's cameos in many of the Marvel films. He's not really a character, just a playful wink to the audience, comic book readers in particular. If they wanted Tom Cruise to have a role, they'd give him an actual role with lots of lines and relevance to the plot.

And it's especially relevant, since Stan Lee's cameos make sense. Many of these characters were created by Lee, or with Lee's help, and he's been one of the better known faces of Marvel. Cruise....I mean, he's done some sci-fi, a fair share, but I don't really associate him specifically with it.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

this has already been disproved by tom Cruise's rep who said it's nothing more then a rumor and not true.. this is just as well considering tom cruise isn't a good actor

 

[Sniper Team 4]

One condition.
He HAS to fly an X-Wing while 'Danger Zone' plays in the background. It just has to happen.

As funny as that would be, I think I would get up and leave the theater if it happened. It would just break the immersion too much. Now if we're talking parody...

I don't have a problem with this I guess. I mean, they put Samuel L. Jackson in the prequels and he did good. I don't know if Tom Cruise should have that big of a role though. Maybe just like a squadron leader or something.

What I'm worried about is that this movie is starting to get way too crowded. Star Wars worked best when it was just about a small group of main people supported by a lot of extras and minor characters. Right now, this is shaping up to rival Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in terms of people, and that's not good for Star Wars in terms of movies.

 

[MrBaskerville]

And it's especially relevant, since Stan Lee's cameos make sense. Many of these characters were created by Lee, or with Lee's help, and he's been one of the better known faces of Marvel. Cruise....I mean, he's done some sci-fi, a fair share, but I don't really associate him specifically with it.

Same. I could only think of two sci-fi films in which he was a major actor: War of the Worlds and one that came out less than a month ago. I checked his imdb page and only found two others - Minority Report, which while a cult film, wasn't a majorly successful, barely broke even and is over a decade old, with the other film being Oblivion, which was panned by a lot of critics, and only has a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Some other films outside of the genre that he is more well-known for than any of those:

-The Last Samuraii
-Top Gun
-The Mission: Impossible series
-Jerry Maguire SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!
-Born on the Fourth of July
-Risky Business (who hasn't run around in their underwear and a t-shirt after having seen that?[footnote]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2UVsyVLLcE[/footnote])

I thought of all of those, except for Born on the Fourth of July, before checking his imdb page. I really, really don't understand how somebody older than thirteen years old could see Tom Cruise as a sci-fi movie figure, and thats only because his last two movies were sci-fi flicks.

You can add Vanilla Sky and Edge of Tomorrow (nvm, you allready mentioned that one) to that sci-fi list^^.

 

[TKretts3]

One condition.
He HAS to fly an X-Wing while 'Danger Zone' plays in the background. It just has to happen.

As funny as that would be, I think I would get up and leave the theater if it happened. It would just break the immersion too much. Now if we're talking parody...

I don't have a problem with this I guess. I mean, they put Samuel L. Jackson in the prequels and he did good. I don't know if Tom Cruise should have that big of a role though. Maybe just like a squadron leader or something.

What I'm worried about is that this movie is starting to get way too crowded. Star Wars worked best when it was just about a small group of main people supported by a lot of extras and minor characters. Right now, this is shaping up to rival Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in terms of people, and that's not good for Star Wars in terms of movies.

To be fair, we don't know what kind of role Cruise would be playing. For all we know it could be a minor role, like a squadron leader or whatnot. I severely doubt that the new movie will have as many main characters as Game of Thrones or LoTR.

 

[KaZuYa]

Actually Minority Report was a sci-fi and a pretty good film and did very well in the box office.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

To be fair, it would be somewhat fitting that Cruise be in a film series where its protagonists believe in weird space magic, though Scientology is more ridiculous. I'd sooner convert to believing in the Force than thetans.

In any case, I'm not going to jump to any conclusions until more concrete evidence surfaces.

Was sorely tempted to post this in the actual news piece, but thought it might be too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6HX3CxbzEM

That video is better than any of the new Star Wars films could ever hope to be.

 

[RicoADF]

God people are whiny now a days, the movie isn't even out and people are calling foul based on spoilers that may or may not be correct being leaked. Am I the only one who misses the days of being suprised by a movie because it wasn't ruined by online sites ahead of time?

Escapist please don't put this info into the headlines, some of us don't want to know. Say you've got info on star wars then spill the beans in the article for those that want to ruin the movie for themselves. This is why films aren't as fun anymore, I might even debate games too, far too much info ahead of time ruins it.

 

[Neverhoodian]

People often bring up his religion but in all honesty is his religion any more/less despicable and/or laughable than any other? In a world populated with myths about magical zombie carpenters, profits flying to the moon on winged horses or trying to convince people that the early Judaic people lived on the North American continent all along and that Jesus was a space alien I don't see humans being the descendants of refugee space aliens being any more ridiculous.

So basically for me I don't really give a crap if thats what he believes, at least his religion hasn't sparked any genocides so far. I should add that I am not taking a dig at you for your comment here, just that a lot of people say "Tom Cruise movie Scientology hurf blurf hurf won't watch".

While I'm normally very tolerant of other religions, I have certain...issues with Scientology. Let's just say I'm of the mindset that it's a cult that has done far more harm than good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_controversies

http://www.cracked.com/article_20869_5-ways-growing-up-inside-scientology-was-nightmare.html[footnote]Yes, I'm aware that Cracked isn't the most reputable source out there, but this particular article sums up the testimonies of many former Scientologists quite well.[/footnote]