‘Tropic Thunder’ Character Les Grossman Set for Possible Solo Film with Tom Cruise
Tropic Thunder: Tom Cruise is reportedly in “very serious conversations” with director Christopher McQuarrie about developing a spin-off film centered on the foul-mouthed producer Les Grossman, a character Cruise famously portrayed in the 2008 satirical action comedy Tropic Thunder.
McQuarrie, who directed Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and has been involved with the project since 2022, revealed in a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Cruise is eager to continue Les Grossman’s story in his own movie. “The conversations we’ve had about Les Grossman are so f****** funny. We’re talking about it, we’re having very serious conversations about it, and how best to do it,” McQuarrie said.
He added that the creative discussions began during the production of the latest Mission: Impossible film, describing moments of lighthearted brainstorming where Tom Cruise would “riff” as Les Grossman. “It was one of the real joys of making this movie. It was all the stuff we were doing, planning the future while slugging out the present,” McQuarrie explained.
Talk of a Les Grossman spin-off has circulated for years. Ben Stiller, who directed and starred as Tugg Speedman in Tropic Thunder, has confirmed prior discussions with Cruise about the concept. “There have been some interchanges about it over the years,” Stiller said. “Tom Cruise – one of my favourite human beings, one of our great movie stars of all time — it would be fun, but there is nothing in the works.”
Tropic Thunder — which also starred Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and Steve Coogan — follows a group of pampered actors filming a war movie who find themselves in real danger when mistaken for soldiers. The film is widely remembered for its edgy humor and controversial elements, particularly Downey Jr.’s character Kirk Lazarus, a white actor undergoing skin pigmentation alteration to play an African American role.
Stiller acknowledged that today, the film’s provocative themes might not make it past the script stage. “Somebody should be making movies that are that out-there… but now, in this environment, I don’t even know if I would have ventured to do it,” he said candidly.
As Tom Cruise continues work on Mission: Impossible 8, fans may soon see a new side of the iconic actor in this unexpected but highly anticipated spin-off.
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