Tom Hanks Turned Down A Movie That Became A Massive Tom Cruise Hit

Tom Hanks is often compared to James Stewart for his tendency to take on deeply sympathetic everyman characters, but he's also as willing as Stewart to challenge moviegoers by playing conflicted, damaged people. One of his most compelling performances is in Sam Mendes' "Road to Perdition," where he plays a ruthless mob enforcer. He's also spectacular in "Cast Away" and "Captain Phillips," two movies that put him through the emotional ringer. (His breakdown at the end of the latter is so harrowing and emotionally naked that you feel the need to look away.)

Hanks is obviously the kind of movie star screenwriters often have in mind when they sit down to tap away at their laptop. But what happens when you knock out a terrific screenplay with a main character tailor made for the star, and he passes? This is a disappointment only A-list screenwriters will ever experience, but it did happen to Cameron Crowe when he wrote "Jerry Maguire" for Hanks. The script was sensational, and the finished film wound up earning five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. But while Hanks loved Crowe's screenplay, he had another iron in the fire around that time called "That Thing You Do." This was his opportunity to direct his first feature. Fortunately for Crowe, he had a backup option in mind when Hanks turned him down (namely, Tom Cruise), and it worked out pretty well for him.

In a 2017 interview with Deadline, Crowe said Hanks' near-involvement in "Jerry Maguire" was a result of the star wanting to re-team with his "Big" producer James L. Brooks. He was also a fan of "Say Anything...," so Brooks encouraged Crowe to move forward with his screenplay about a sports agent who has a crisis of conscience. According to Crowe, "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."

But as Hanks' star kept rising and rising, Crowe found himself wondering what he'd do if his leading man backed out — even though, after a meeting between the two in New York City, Hanks seemed down to make the movie. When Crowe finished the script, he sent it to Hanks, which is where everything went south. Per Crowe:

"I went home from New York and finished the script. Then he read it, and there was a conversation where he was torn. He wanted to do 'That Thing You Do,' but was incredibly positive about this script. [...] 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."

"Jerry Maguire" with Tom Hanks would've been a completely different movie, one that I can't really envision. In any event, Cruise ended up with one of his defining roles, and the movie is now acknowledged as being a classic.