Tom Cruise “very serious” about ‘Tropic Thunder’ spin-off with Les Grossman
Tom Cruise is reportedly “very serious” about making a Tropic Thunder spin-off centring around Les Grossman.
The fan-favourite first appeared in the 2008 comedy starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr., which followed a group of actors whose war film production in a jungle goes awry. Played by Cruise, Grossman was the obnoxious producer of the titular film, and was characterised by his short temper, giant hands, and unforgettable closing dance scene.
Now, according to comments made by Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie, there is a chance that the character could be getting his own movie.
Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused Podcast, the director opened up about his time working with the action star for the final Mission: Impossible film, and said that the two of them would frequently talk about how a Les Grossman film would look.
“The conversations we’ve had about Les Grossman are so fucking funny,” he said. “[Cruise and I are] talking about it, we’re having very serious conversations about it, and how best to do it. It ultimately comes down to what that character is.”
He continued, sharing that their discussions about a Tropic Thunder spin-off soon turned into a way for them to unwind during the filming of Final Reckoning.
“We don’t even think about the structure, we play with scenes,” he explained. “Just to be sitting at a breakfast table, not talking about the movie we’re making for a minute, is such decompression.
“And just riffing with Tom playing Les Grossman at the table, 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.”
While a new project centred on Les Grossman is on the cards, at the end of last year Ben Stiller looked back at the comedy and said he was uncertain whether the film could have been released today. “I doubt it,” he said. “Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do. Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business.”
One of the most controversial aspects in the film related to Downey Jr.’s character, Kirk Lazarus – an Australian method actor who goes to extremes for his role, including undergoing “pigmentation alteration” surgery to closely resemble the African-American staff sergeant he intends to portray.
Earlier in 2024, Downey Jr. defended the ‘blackface’ used by his character in the film, claiming it “railed against tropes that were not right”.
As for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the franchise’s eighth instalment grossed $63million (£46.6m) over the opening weekend, making it the best-performing film in the series (via Variety).
It was also given a four-star review from NME, which read: “Away from the stunts, a character returning from the first Mission: Impossible and a montage of key moments from other films in the series will delight fans, while a small role for Severance star Tramell Tillman as a submarine commander is an unexpected highlight.
“There’s ultimately lots to love about Final Reckoning and if this is the end, Cruise and Co are finishing on a high.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
