Known for doing death-defying stunts and action sequences in his movies, Tom Cruise has a massive fan following worldwide. While many appreciate his enthusiasm toward his work, others find it hard to cope with his perfectionism. And it’s not something his years of experience have taught him. The action star has been pretty precise about what he and others need to do in a film, from his initial days in the film industry, as per his co-star in the 1983 crime drama The Outsiders.
Rob Cowell, who starred alongside Cruise in Francis Ford Coppola’s coming-of-age drama, stated that he was very competitive while they were working together, as he shared that Cruise made sure that one of the scenes was included in the movie.
Tom Cruise Made Sure to Stand Out Among the Cast
Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 crime drama, The Outsiders, follows the rivalry between two gangs. It features an ensemble cast including Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise, and many others. One of the cast members, Rob Lowe, shared his experience starr ing alongside the Mission Impossible star, who at the time was making his way into Hollywood.
Lowe shared that the director of the film asked the cast to learn to do a backflip for the film. However, it was not something they found very easy for them, except Cruise. The Unstable actor shared that the Vanilla Sky star was the only one who learned the technique and was able to do the backflip.
And he was surprised to know that the filmmaker kept it in the final cut. “It is in the movie The Outsiders for no reason. He runs out of the house and does a backflip for no reason. Just to do it,” Lowe shared on Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard.
He also shared about the different altercations that happened between him and Cruise on the set. And tensions were always high as the director wanted to maintain a gang atmosphere on the set as a way of implying method acting on the film’s cast.
Tom Cruise And Rob Lowe’s On-Set Fight
The 1984 coming-of-age drama featured Tom Cruise as one of the members of Greaser Steve Randle and Rob Lowe as Sodapop Curtis. However, The Mummy star reportedly wanted to play Sodapop Curtis in the film. While practicing a fighting scene one day, Lowe accidentally struck his co-star for real, leading to an intense fight between them.
“We all beat the living sh*t out of one another,” he said. He shared that they all took chances to hit each other, and he also got “one clean shot” on Cruise. “Tom is such a competitive lunatic – which is what I love about him,” he further mentioned.
It is also claimed that Francis Ford Coppola kept the cast separated on the set as per their gangs in the movie to create a sense of tension among them. And Cruise and Lowe were not the only cast members who got involved in an intense confrontation. Matt Dillon and Diane Lane also reportedly got fought while making the movie.