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Johnny Depp almost got edged out of his seminal role in Edward Scissorhands by none other than Tom Cruise. Prior to starring in fantasy suburban tale Edward Scissorhands, which came out in late 1990, Depp was primarily known as a hot detective on Fox’s 21 Jump Street and had a few small film roles along with his lead performance in Cry Baby, which came out in the Spring of 1990. Producers went back and forth between Cruise and Depp, and almost gave the role to Cruise, but ultimately realized that Depp was more suited to the quirky role:
Depp shot to fame when he landed the title role in Tim Burton’s 1991 fantasy epic, but insists producers were determined to cast A-list actor Cruise in the role.
The 44-year-old was a relative unknown at the time and admits he desperately wanted the job - but he was only hired after the team began to question Cruise’s suitability for such an edgy project.
He says, “They (movie bosses) were interested in me for the part, but had someone else in mind too. A few days later, they called me to say the studio preferred the other actor.
“(It was) Tom Cruise. I was really disappointed. From the moment I read the script, I knew I had to be in it. But I understood that the studio wanted a box office superstar.
“Then a miracle happened. My agent called to say they wanted me instead.
[From WENN via Hollywood.tv]
I thought Tom Cruise could only play jocks and jerks who reach a turning point and then find themselves, and maybe the producers realized that and took a chance on a newcomer who would go on to greatness. It’s hard to know whether Edward Scissorhands would have been the hit that it was with Cruise in the role, but it’s a good thing Depp got the role and built a friendship with director Tim Burton. Can you imagine if he remained on television instead?
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Careers, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise
24 Responses to “Tom Cruise was originally wanted for Edward Scissorhands role”
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I couldn’t help it, the first thing I thought of when I saw this article was that (SNL?) bit with different actors auditioning for Star Wars rolls. Christopher Walken as Han Solo makes about as much sense at Tom Cruise as Edward Scissorhands.
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Talk about a movie dodging a bullet. Tom doesn’t have the range as an actor.Oh yeah, and I cant stand him, so I wouldn’t be able to watch the movie.
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I used to be really into Depp, but for some reason now he bores me. I don’t know why, except that he seems highly aware of his own beauty. All of his movie contracts seem to have a clause saying the camera must linger over him and adore him.
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Yawn….this was years ago. Let’s move on. As for Depp, I hope we won’t see any more of those gawd awful Pirate movies - we couldn’t even watch the last one it was so bad, no fault of Johnny’s though. And I loved him in Sweeney Todd - great acting.
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Tom Cruise never was, and never will be the actor that Johnny Depp is.
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reading a story like this almost makes me believe in god
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No Xenu?
Thank god they made the right choice. TinyTom would never have been able to pull that off
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Johnny Depp specializes in weird roles, he plays them really well. I love his work.
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Ha-Ha! With Tom Cruise in it, it would have been a laughing stock!
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Johnny Depp is the ONLY Edward Scissorhands, without him the movie would not have worked.
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Well, we all seem to agree for once. It would have been a very wrong movie with Xenu Cruise instead of Johnny.
Tom would probably have loved all the make-up sessions though…
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Would have been true and lasting proof that God hates us all, if it had come to fruition.
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The Tom Cruise Unauthorized Biography claims that Cruise was prepared to take the role, but his handlers thought it was a little too effeminate for him.
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hm… johnny depp is the best actor for the tim burton movies, he defintaely knows how to get into a character and plays the off roles very well
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Elizabeth, that’s funny. Now we have no doubt that Johnny Depp is a MAN but we aren’t totally sure what Tom Cruise is.
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Oh man, I had such a crush on Edward Scissorhand (Yes, I did… and? lol). I can’t imagine Tom Cruise as Edward.
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Now I’m imaging Tom Cruise in all Depp’s roles: Tom Cruise as Jack Sparrow. Tom Cruise as Sweeny Todd. Tom Cruise as Ed Wood . . . actually that one’s pretty believable.
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HAH! I thought I would be the only one saying there’s NO way Mr. *ahem* Cruise could have pulled off such a sweet, misunderstood character such as Edward Scissorhands. Never! Pfft Thank the gods he passed, or they passed or whatever the story is/was.
I have to wonder though…When I heard Mr *ahem* Cruise would be portaying Lestat in the Interview With A Vampire movie, I just about fainted! The story I had read and loved so many times over the years would be RUINED! Of that I was sure.
Although I kinda HAVE to admit he didn’t do as badly as I imagined it to be…I would really have loved to see a different actor there. Lestat was always described as such a stunning blonde hunk of maleness…then we get stuc with puny ol Tom Cruise and his fuzzy hair (was that a wig? If so someone ought to be ashamed of themselves for choosing it!!) But to end my post that TOTALLY seems to have wandered off topic, I will say that watching Brad Pitt with that gorgeous long hair, not to mention Antonio Banderas was more than enough to make up for the pack of eye candy for the ladies where Tom Cruise is concerned.
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I felt the same way about “Interview”, Ayla. I could barely watch the movie because I just could not agree with the casting.
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not sure how relevant this is, but johnny depp’s first movie was A Nightmare on Elm Street. his death scene is a classic, one of the all time best ones from the entire series.
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Thanks Syco. Nice to hear someone agree with me in regards to “nterview” Many of my friends (oh god, why am I admitting this?!) ARE still fans of Tom Cruise, so I usually have to watch what I say about him, in deference to my friends and their feelings (even if it totally, like, grosses me out to the max! heh)
Also, to the mysterious person who posted about Johnny’s death scene in the “Nightmare” film, I couldn’t agree more. I have always been a huge fan of good ol Freddy. Throughout the MANY sequels, they still managed to come up with all kinds of great new ways to off people. All with a twist of that sick, dark humor I adore so much…sigh…I wish Freddie would come back out of retirement sand make another…for old times sake
So yeah. Tom sucks and Johnny rules. You’ve got to know the man has a certain *something* when his posters come creeping up on your 15 year old daughters walls…He was on mine too at that age
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Tom Cruise for Interview may not have been the greatest thing, but I was far more thrown off by Stuart Townsend in Queen of the Damned. I don’t care how much eyeliner you put on a guy, skinny, geeky and desperate are not cute.
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Totally agreed on the subject of Stuart Townsend!
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Wow thank god. I can not imagine that role with anyone other than Depp. With cruise it would have been kinda ridiculous. Its a good thing that they reconsidered!
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