Tropic Thunder’s Les Grossman could be making a return to the big screen
A movie centred around Les Grossman may be on the horizon, as reports state that Tom Cruise is “fixated” on the Tropic Thunder character.
The character first turned heads back in 2008, when those who went to see the satirical action film in cinemas were confronted with Tom Cruise, in full prosthetics, playing a fictional studio executive and dancing to Ludacris’ ‘Get Back’.
Although it has been over a decade since the character of Les Grossman appeared on screens, fans have consistently clamoured for more and even hoped that the character will get his own spin-off.
Now, following numerous reports over the last year, it appears that both Cruise and producer Christopher McQuarrie are also “fixated on” the character, and looking to bring him back in a new project.
First reported by Deadline last year, the two are one step closer to reviving the character for the big screen, although it may not be particularly for a ‘Les Grossman movie’. As per the report, it remains “unclear” whether Cruise and McQuarrie will “create a whole movie around Grossman, or borrow him for inclusion in either of the other vehicles”. This could include a “song and dance-style musical”.
Rumours about the comeback of the fictional evil studio executive – who pulled the strings in Tropic Thunder’s film-within-a-film – can also be traced back to three years ago, when Cruise reprised the memorable role at the 2020 MTV Movie Awards.
Following the appearance, Ben Stiller – who starred in and directed the film – made a statement joking about an upcoming Les Grossman movie. “Les Grossman’s life story is an inspiring tale of the human class struggle to achieve greatness against all odds,” he said (via Entertainment Weekly).
“[Grossman] has assured me he plans to quote ‘Fucking kill the shit out of this movie and make Citizen fucking Kane look like a piece of crap home movie by the time we are done.’ I am honoured to be working with him.”
At time of writing, there are no official plans for Cruise to revive his role as Grossman.
Back in February, Tropic Thunder again made headlines after Stiller claimed he was still “proud” of the film, despite its past controversies.
The backlash centred around the portrayal of disabled characters and use of blackface – the latter of which was depicted by Robert Downey Jr, who played an Australian method actor who undergoes “pigmentation alteration” surgery to play a black character in a war movie.
“I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that,” Stiller wrote to a fan on Twitter. “It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”