Actors Who Refused Roles In Tom Cruise Movies

There are few actors who have dominated the screen for as long as Tom Cruise, who has been among Hollywood's biggest leading men for nearly 40 years. The fact that he's as recognizable an action hero to kids of the 2020s as he is to children of the '80s is perhaps his greatest feat.

With such a long and impressive filmography though, Cruise has had the pleasure of acting alongside greats from multiple eras of Hollywood. From elder statesmen like '60s screen legend Paul Newman in "The Color of Money" to today's hottest young rising stars like Monica Barbaro in "Top Gun: Maverick." Even with so many movies across parts of five decades, there are still plenty of stars that Cruise hasn't gotten a chance to work with. But a few came pretty close.

Whether it was because of a scheduling conflict with another film they were making, a lack of interest in the particular project, or even an objection to the script, there are quite a few big names that turned down offers to star with the great Tom Cruise. Some regret it, and some might not, but was it a mistake to pass up the opportunity? Read on and judge for yourself.

Basketball star Dennis Rodman was at the height of his fame playing alongside NBA legend Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls when he attempted a big-time Hollywood career. He wound up starring in a few major films, including "Double Team" in 1997 alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme and "Simon Sez" two years later, but never quite found the big screen fame he was looking for. But it all could have gone down very differently had he not turned down an offer to star opposite Cruise in the 1996 sports comedy, "Jerry Maguire."

The film stars Cruise as a sports agent who starts his own firm, which struggles to survive with one complicated superstar client, Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. But during a 2019 episode of the "The Dan Patrick Show," ESPN host Roy Firestone — who played himself in the film — made a surprising reveal about director Cameron Crowe's original ideas for the film's cast. "Originally Rodman was going to be Rod Tidwell, people don't know that ... he turned down the role."

Firestone didn't divulge why exactly Rodman passed — it could very well have been a scheduling conflict with his NBA duties — but missing out on what turned out to be an Oscar-winning role for Cuba Gooding Jr. may be one of the biggest mistakes he made in Hollywood.

Imagine "Ghostbusters" star Bill Murray playing Bill Harford, a psychiatrist who discovers a hidden world of sexual hedonism in the Stanley Kubrick film, "Eyes Wide Shut." In the 2020-released book, "Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker," it's revealed that Murray was on the filmmaker's short list of casting choices when he was planning the movie in the 1980s before the role went to Cruise in 1999 (via the Independent). But that's not the role we're here to discuss  – because about a decade earlier, Murray was offered a role opposite Cruise in the 1988 drama, "Rain Man."

In a 2018 interview with Yahoo, the film's screenwriter Barry Morrow talked about how the movie was cast. "Dustin was the first person to commit to the project," he said. "[The script] was sent to him and Bill Murray simultaneously by Mike Ovitz at CAA ... I think what I heard was that Bill Murray just didn't read the script and Dustin did." Clearly, Murray wasn't very interested in the project, passing by default as Hoffman got the coveted role that would earn him an Academy Award for best actor. "Dustin called and marked his territory," Morrow concluded.

Don't feel too bad for Murray though. After turning down a chance to star alongside Cruise, the former "Saturday Night Live" star turned his attention to "Scrooged" which has gone on to become an iconic Christmas classic and one of his most celebrated roles.

Val Kilmer is probably best known for starring in "Top Gun," in which he plays Maverick's rival and eventual wingman Lt. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. Ironically enough, he initially turned down the part, telling Entertainment Weekly in 2022 that it took Cruise cajoling him to accept the role. He'd reprise the part more than 35 years later in the legacy sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick," where he was brought back together with Cruise for the first time since the original film. But the on-screen reunion between the actors almost took place 18 years earlier when he was offered a role in the 2004 thriller, "Collateral."

Directed by Michael Mann, the film follows an unwitting taxi cab driver (Jamie Foxx) who is forced to play driver to a deadly hit man (Cruise). Initially, Kilmer was announced to star in the film in an undisclosed role, as noted by Variety in a 2003 report that also announced the addition of Jada Pinkett Smith to the cast. But within weeks, it was reported that Kilmer had departed the film (via MovieWeb), as the shooting schedule came into conflict with Oliver Stone's "Alexander," which he was already well into filming.

According to the report, Kilmer was never actually signed on but was deep in talks to join the film alongside his old friend. Though it's never been confirmed what role Kilmer would have held, it's likely it was Detective Fanning, a part held by then lesser-known Mark Ruffalo.

Imagine, if you will, an Oscar-nominated actor has signed up for a movie opposite Cruise, but at the last minute wants to drop out to pursue a different role in another project. You might think that a superstar like Cruise would be furious to lose an actor who could very well help make or break his film and perhaps even be insulted that they wanted out of being his co-star. But when that very scenario played out around the casting of the 2013 film "Oblivion," Cruise did the unexpected: in a testament to his strong character, the Hollywood legend actually helped Jessica Chastain wiggle out of her commitment to the film so she could star in another movie.

The year was 2012, and Chastain was all lined up to play the role of Julia (ultimately portrayed by Olga Kurylenko) when she was given an offer by director Kathryn Bigelow to star in the military thriller, "Zero Dark Thirty." Mesmerized by the script, she went to Cruise himself with the news, and to her surprise, he not only gave his blessing but talked to the studio himself about letting Chastain out of her contract. "Someone contacted him from my agency and said, 'Listen, she wants to work with you. And she would love to, but there is this other film, and it's so important,'" Chastain told Vanity Fair in 2017. "And with his support, I was able to do this movie. He's a pretty incredible human."

It was first announced in January 2019 that director Christopher McQuarrie would return to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise for not just his third directorial effort in the series but his fourth as well. The two films would comprise the final entries in the entire saga, and send Cruise's Ethan Hunt out in a two-part bang titled "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning." A sprawling cast would include returning stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby, with Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Rob Delaney, Cary Elwes, Esai Morales, and Nick Offerman joining across the two films. But "Mad Max: Fury Road" star Nicholas Hoult was almost a member too.

In a 2021 profile of the actor in The Hollywood Reporter, it was revealed that Hoult declined a role offered to him personally by Cruise after passing a fight choreography test with flying colors. The part would have been for one of the film's main villains which ultimately went to Morales. But the real reason he declined isn't what you'd expect. As mentioned by THR, the ongoing situation with the COVID-19 pandemic led to repeated delays and production problems on "Dead Reckoning," which wound up creating problems for Hoult. Already booked with other projects — including the "Dracula" spin-off "Renfield" directed by Chris McKay — Hoult had to bow out, despite the personal invitation and all the physical prep work.

Incredibly, "Top Gun" might have actually been the second collaboration between Cruise and Val Kilmer had it not been for Kilmer turning down a starring role in the 1983 drama, "The Outsiders." But it shouldn't come as a surprise to hear that he auditioned for the Francis Ford Coppola film, as star Rob Lowe once said that "every actor in Hollywood under the age of 35" had come in to try out.

In addition to Kilmer, auditions included the likes of Mickey Rourke, Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, and Helen Slater, on top of the actors who wound up starring: Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, C. Thomas Howell, and Lowe. It was Howell who would play the role of Ponyboy, the film's narrator and lead protagonist, but the actor was apparently not Coppola's first choice. As noted in his 2022-released memoir, "I'm Your Huckleberry," Kilmer was initially picked to play Ponyboy. 

Despite being given the rare opportunity to take the starring role in a project helmed by one of Hollywood's most celebrated directors, Kilmer passed on the offer. According to his book, the actor declined because he was prepping for a run on Broadway in a play titled "Slab Boys," and in hindsight, it might have been the wrong move. As noted by Variety, the play ran for just six weeks, and the addition of Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn to the cast saw Kilmer bumped down to a supporting role.