One of the bigger “pleasant surprise” films of 2008 for me was Tropic Thunder. Yeah most people thought it looked good, but it really exceeded my expectations. One of the biggest reasons I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would was the performance of Tom Cruise of all people. When he came on scree for the first time as Les Grossman I nearly fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. I also had to stay in my seat the entire time the credits rolled just to watch him dance around. Some of the funniest stuff on screen this year.
Cruise even just got nominated for best supporting actor nod for the Golden Globes.
I don’t know that you can do a sequel to Tropic Thunder… it was pretty much a one shot movie. However, I think there is LOADS of stuff you could do with Les Grossman. Could there be a Les Grosman movie in the future? In an interview with MTV, Tome Cruise said this:
He confirmed that “Ben [Stiller] and I are always talking about what we can do with Les.” He then wondered aloud, “Do we do some viral video with Les?”
Ok, now notice that he didn’t say anything about a potential movie. Still… I’ve got to believe that if Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise are talking about Les Grossman, then the idea of a Grossman movie must have come up at least once in the conversation.
I don’t know that this will ever happen. All I can tell you is that if they did in fact end up doing a Les Grossman movie, I would be buying my ticket well in advance and be there opening night. What about you? Did you like Cruise in the flick? Would you be interested in seeing a Les Grossman movie?
Oh… and this isn’t the right music… but here’s Tom at his best as Les. I almost laughed myself sick when I saw this in the theater:
