The Time Tom Hanks Passed on 'Jerry Maguire'—and How Tom Cruise Saved the Day

When you sit down to write a screenplay, they say it can help to envision the actors you want saying the lines. And it would be hard to pick a better person to say the lines in your script than one of the Toms -- either Hanks or Cruise.

And that's how it felt for two decades, where they became the biggest acting stars on the planet.

But what happens when you knock out a terrific, tailor-made screenplay for a star of that magnitude, and he politely passes?

Well, you just go to the other Tom.

This is precisely what happened to Cameron Crowe with his 1996 classic, Jerry Maguire.

Let's dive in.

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The Tom Hanks Role That Never Happened

In a 2017 interview with Deadline, Cameron Crowe detailed how Jerry Maguire got started with a potential Hanks and his Big producer James L. Brooks.

At the time, Crowe knew he needed a star to make the movie happen. And in his mind, that star was Tom Hanks. But Tom Hanks was having a crazy '90s, with back-to-back Academy Awards and getting sent every offer in town.

As Crowe put it, "The idea was, let’s not be slaves to writing this as a Tom Hanks in capital letters movie, but let’s have Tom Hanks on our minds as a guy who would play Jerry Maguire. So we were kind of developing it for him, based on us knowing he really wanted to do something with us. But as Hanks got more and more into that white hot heat of super stardom, I always did think, well, if Tom Hanks doesn’t do this, who would be the dream Jerry Maguire?"

They went out to Tom Hanks for the role, but he turned down the role in the nicest way possible. He was, according to Crowe, "incredibly positive about this script," but had another passion project on his mind: directing his first feature, That Thing You Do!

Crowe described the conversation as so positive that it was confusing:

We had a really great conversation, and hung up. Everybody was in Jim’s office, waiting to hear. Was Tom Hanks in or out? I walked in, said I had the greatest conversation with Tom Hanks. So, in? I say, no. Which means the Tom Hanks elixir was so strong I didn’t even realize he passed until after I’d hung up, basically.

Tom Cruise Steps Up

While Hanks passed, Crowe had Tom Cruise in his mind as a backup option. That's a pretty great backup!

Crowe said,

"I was on my own little mission for Tom. We sent the script to him, and he reacted immediately. He was excited about the sports angle, the idea of playing an agent. I had never worked with anybody in that stratosphere, and friends of mine would say, watch out, they change your stuff. They’re really demanding. But my first conversation with Tom after he read the script, he said, I’ll fly out there. I’ll sit down. I’ll read for you. You tell me if you think I’m right for the part. He asked to audition. He came out, we sat and talked, and he said, well, let’s read this thing."

Well, as you can imagine, that meeting went great, and Cruise was cast.

For him, it was one of those roles that showcased his range and likability. It put Cruise in yet another stratosphere, and the movie became a massive hit.

And a lot of it was Crowe being willing to be flexible with who could play the lead role, and then Cruise, despite being a massive star, being interested enough to work with the writer/director to make sure it all fit.

Summing It All Up

Jerry Maguire with Tom Hanks would have been a completely different movie, but it’s impossible to argue with the result.

Cruise ended up with one of his defining roles, and the film has since been cemented as a true Hollywood classic.

The lesson here is to be flexible as a filmmaker and to always have a contingency plan. It might not be as airtight as Tom Hanks for Tom Cruise, but to get your projects done, you have to be flexible.

Let me know what you think in the comments.