i want you to hit me as hard as you can
welcome to the newest series here at the joe blow movie network where we delve into little-known
facts about some of the entertainment industries biggest names for our inaugural episode we decided
to kick things off with one of the biggest movie stars in the history of movie stardom a man whose
name alone on the marquee can still draw masses to the theaters so pop some of that corn and sip
on some of that soda drink grab some of those nachos with that plastic cheese and sit back
as we reveal 22 things you didn't know about tom cruise because 22 is a it's a good number
so without further ado here are 22 things you didn't know about the one
the only tom cruise number one while he famously starred in oliver stones born on the 4th of july
cruz himself almost shares a birthday with the real life figure he's playing ron kovic cruz was
born on the 3rd of july so close number 2 did you ever watch aladdin and think to yourself wow that
character looks so familiar well it's because the animators used tom cruise as their inspiration for
the character's look feeling that the likeness to crews would make the character more likeable
and it worked everybody likes aladdin number three fans of the show lost may recognize this man his
name is william mathather and if you thought those chiseled cheekbones and that million dollar smile
were just good luck they're actually good genes as he is tom cruise's younger cousin on his father's
side tom cruise's birth name is thomas cruz mappather the fourth number four if you happen
to be in japan on october 10th you can celebrate tom cruise day this holiday began in 2006 when it
was reported that tom cruise had visited the country more than any other hollywood actor
number five cruz doesn't just play a hero on the screen he is one in real life as well in 1996 he
witnessed a woman get hit by a car where most people would simply call the police and give
a statement tom cruise took the woman to the hospital and when he learned that the woman
had no health insurance he paid the entire bill on the spot in 1998 he heard the screams of his
then neighbor in london and proceeded to chase down thieves who had stolen over 150 thousand
dollars worth of jewelry from the woman with no regard for his own safety just instinct and it
was recently revealed after saving the life of a cameraman on the set of his new mission impossible
film when he nearly fell off a moving train during a stunt that tom cruise had also saved the life of
his cocktail co-star elizabeth shue after filming a scene from a helicopter on the beach where shu
and crews were riding horses the helicopter landed with cameraman bill bennett still in the passenger
seat he invited the actors to come watch the playback of the scene that they had just shot
elizabeth shu began walking straight back toward the tail rotor which was still going full speed
making it virtually invisible cruz who is a pilot and familiar with the aspects of the helicopter
immediately jumped out and sprinted at shoe diving only able to grab her feet which made her fall to
the ground narrowly avoiding the deadly encounter with the blade and saving her life number six cruz
originally had no interest in acting in high school he was a wrestler but one fateful day he
injured his knee which meant he could no longer wrestle this led crews to go across the hall
in audition for the school's production of guys and dolls number seven cruz's love life has been
splashed around the tabloids for the better part of 30 years so much so that crews had made quite
a pretty penny suing some of those publications please don't sue us mr cruz thank you but did you
know that there is one pretty odd coincidence that all of his former wives have in common mimi rogers
nicole kidman and katie holmes were all 33 years old when tom cruise divorced them 33 that's also
an interesting number that's the age that jesus was when he died it's also a very important number
amongst the freemasons just saying and it's also the age that that i am is this all a coincidence i
think not speaking of mimi rogers even though tom cruise has emerged as the most famous
scientologist ever it was actually his first wife mimi rogers who introduced him to the religion
cruz was a young star on the rise when he met rogers who was a second generation scientologist
he met her at a dinner party in 1985. it is believed that tom cruise is currently an ot7 or
operating thetan level seven within the church of scientology and even with his status this
is not the highest level that you can reach that would be level eight just one more level to go tom
you can do it speaking of level eight let's go to number eight if you enjoy your 700 pair of ray-ban
sunglasses you can thank tom cruise for reviving the brand as when they were making risky business
ray-ban was on the verge of bankruptcy and paid to have their glasses worn by tom cruise in the film
that genius move of product placement saved the company number nine cruz had a rough childhood his
family did not have money because his father would jump around from job to job often in different
cities leading to crews attending 15 different schools in 12 years his father was also abusive
which led to his mother packing up the car and taking the children away one early morning while
his father slept cruz would only see his father a handful of times over the next several years
until one day he received a call saying that his father had been diagnosed with cancer
and didn't have much time left cruz made the trip to see his father one last time saying that when
he saw his father lying in the hospital in pain he thought to himself what a lonely life it was sad
and this just makes that father death bed confrontation scene in magnolia
all the more moving doesn't it no wonder cruz was nominated for an oscar
number 10 cruz was the first actor to ever appear in five consecutive 100 million
dollar grossing films in north america a few good men the firm interview with a vampire
mission impossible and jerry maguire number 11 cruz nearly died while filming the last samurai
when a mechanical horse malfunctioned causing his co-star to violently swing his sword forward
which he was able to stop just shy of tom cruise's neck saving him from decapitation number 12. as is
the case with all actors tom cruise has come close to starring in several big name films like iron
man cruz was originally set to play tony stark in iron man but in early meetings cruz wanted to
produce the film as well giving him more creative control over the project which marvel did not want
leading them to part ways and robert downey jr stepped into the now iconic role another iconic
role he almost played was edward scissorhands that's right before tim burton got his way and
cast johnny depp in the film the studio was trying to force burton to hire tom cruise as the titular
edward scissorhands reportedly burton and cruz met to discuss the project where burton was allegedly
put off by just how many questions tom cruise was asking such as how does he use the bathroom
which is a really good question actually and yeah it's perfectly normal for an actor to want to know
everything about the character they're playing but burton said that the character was meant to
be more ambiguous cruz also reportedly wanted to make the ending a little more of a happy one
obviously cruz did not take the role and the rest they say is history oh yanni was almost in the
shawshank redemption after making a few good men rob reiner reportedly offered frank darabont who
held the rights to stephen king's novel a crap ton of money because rob reiner wanted to make
the shawshank redemption with tom cruise starring as andy but frank darabont declined the offer and
went on to cast tim robbins in the role and they went on to make one of the greatest movies ever
made in the process other roles crews could have landed include salt once upon a time in hollywood
and many more it turns out when you're the biggest star in the world people want you in their movies
but you can't do them all number 13. tom cruise struck up a strong friendship with fellow movie
icon paul newman on the set of the color of money the older actor encouraged the younger
one to push himself as an actor and to try car racing both pieces of advice had huge impacts on
his career with him starring and born on the 4th of july to counter his pretty boy image
and starring in days of thunder to pay tribute to his passion for auto racing number 14 speaking of
days of thunder the film was considered a box office disappointment despite relatively big
numbers at the box office for the sole reason that it did not live up to top gun however it did have
a huge impact on his personal life as the young australian actress they hired to play the leading
lady was none other than nicole kidman one famous fan of the film is director quentin tarantino
who said it's the movie driving classics le mans and grand prix wanted to be number 15. tom cruise
has had a pretty amazing working relationship with christopher mcqueary it began when mcquarrie wrote
valkyrie accumulating with him both writing and directing cruz's jack reacher movie since then he
has had at least writing credits on most of cruz's films in addition to directing mission impossible
rogue nation and fallout and the now untitled seventh film with an eighth one to come number 16
tom cruise basically had to take two whole years off from his career just to make eyes wide shut he
was so eager to work with stanley kubrick that he was willing to make that sacrifice but it turned
out to be a much larger commitment than anyone could have foreseen due to kubrick's perfectionism
filming started in november of 1996 and didn't rap until june of 1998. cruz who is virtually in
every scene of the film essentially had to move to london for two years tom cruise's then wife nicole
kidman was the second lead but her time commitment wasn't quite as intense and she was able to leave
the film and make a few other movies as the shoot went on due to the fact that she's off screen for
most of the second act sadly stanley kubrick would die before the film would get released but cruz
always maintained that despite essentially losing two years of his career he has no regrets number
17 tom cruise is very protective of his image so much so that he actually forbids his likeness to
be used in video games or on toys ever wonder why they've never made a mission impossible video game
well now you know number 18 cruz has remained close friends with many of his former child
co-stars little jonathan lipnicky not a little anymore said that after once cold
calling his office for career advice cruz immediately invited him over to his house
for a private sit down to talk shop apparently even the kid that lip nicki beat out for the role
in jerry maguire remains close friends with tom cruise while dakota fanning of war of the worlds
says that she's gotten a birthday gift from tom cruise every year since she was 11. number 19.
for a while tom cruise and his former producing partner paula wagner ran united artists the move
came after the paramount chairman sumner redstone reportedly banned cruz from paramount pictures
after mission impossible 3's soft box office the results were mixed with the flop lions for lambs
directed by robert redford and co-starring meryl streep his first star vehicle for the company was
valkyrie and that was a bigger success but in time tom cruise was welcomed back to paramount with
open arms with him still making blockbusters for them to this day number 20 while at this
point everyone knows tom cruise is only about five seven so am i but the man himself doesn't seem to
get too hung up on it in fact he has a well-known preference for taller women with all three of his
former wives being taller than him mimi rogers was 5-8 katie holmes was nine while nicole kidman was
a whopping five eleven towering over him in heels twenty-one while filming mission impossible rogue
nation tom cruise performed one of his most daring stunts ever holding his breath underwater for a
whole six minutes on the movie's blu-ray there is a special feature that goes into tom cruise's
preparation for the stunt which involved a lot of training there were also safety officers on set
at all times because tom cruise didn't have any oxygen and oxygen i hear he's important 22.
speaking of stunts while we all know cruz for his death-defying antics back in his early days
he wasn't quite the badass he is now while he famously delayed top gun maverick so that he could
learn to fly jets for real on the original top gun he was taken up as a passenger on
three test flights to simulate flying conditions by a pilot named bozo when crews had to throw up
in the middle of a flight bozo had a little fun with his famous passenger i said bozo
what's didn't you see i like you get a check you didn't tell me you were going
to do that my head was like what he says yeah they don't call me bozo for nothing
so there you have it some lesser known facts about one of the biggest stars in
the world he's a guy who came from very humble beginnings and just never gave up
but he has remained one of the biggest stars in hollywood for nearly 40 years for a reason because
he has a dedication to his films that many others don't he will gladly climb the tallest building
in the world or hang from an airplane as it takes off simply to appease his audience not to say hey
look at me i'm tom cruise doing these stunts but to say hey look at ethan hunt isn't he a badass
and that is true pure cinema sure sometimes his private life dominates the news but that's only
because he's tom [ __ ] cruise but even with some of that personal baggage which we all
have the fact remains that tom cruise is and will always be one of the biggest best movie stars to
ever grace the silver screen and one who's famously gracious to all of his fans
in fact here at joeblow.com some of us not me had the pleasure of meeting him on the red carpet of
jack reacher never go back and i hear that the man himself couldn't have been
cooler even when managing editor chris bombre basically lost his [ __ ] over meeting his idol
so cool so in the end we here at joe blow remain huge fans of the legend that is
tom cruise and we hope that he keeps thrilling us for decades to come thanks tom
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