THE OUTSIDERS
When Francis Ford Coppola adapted the S.E. Hinton novel The Outsiders, he wound up with a cast lled with the most promising young actors in the business, from Patrick Swayze to Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio and C. Thomas Howell. Cruise’s role was smaller by comparison, but Coppola had an inkling he might be special based on how the rest of the cast buzzed about how it was Cruise who got the starring role in Risky Business, while the rest of them were confined to ensemble work.
“It’s hard for me to remember that time since I was so focused on casting all of the boys’ roles, of which there were many,” Coppola says. “In those days, I was very experimental about the way I handled auditions. I felt strongly that everyone who showed up be given a chance to show their strengths, so we held them in an open arena where everyone was able to watch the other actors’ auditions for the same roles. The method was as new to them as it was for me. Through that process, I discovered a wealth of talent from which to choose. It’s the luck of the draw I guess, but certainly Tom more than justified his promise. Risky Business was a great showcase for him, and as I recall, he left our set a few days early in order to begin production on that lm.”
What stood out to Coppola was the young actor’s openness to messing with what would become his signature thousand-watt smile, to t the character.
“I was impressed by his willingness to go to extremes in creating a character,” Coppola says. “If the role called for a chipped tooth, he would willingly chip his tooth. He is also very athletic, which you can clearly see in the scene where he backflips o a car. He did not go light or easy in his commitment. I liked his look, and I liked his performance in Taps. He might have been suitable for the older brother role, except he was a little young compared to Patrick Swayze.
“I can’t say that I would have predicted [what was to come for Cruise] at the time, but back when we worked together, he did impress me as a very committed actor with many gifts. Certainly, the incident of the self-inflicted chip in his tooth is an example of his whole-hearted commitment to character.”
“I was impressed by his willingness to go to extremes in creating a character. If the role called for a chipped tooth, he would willingly chip his tooth. He did not go light or easy in his commitment.” —FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA