Because Tom Cruise owes a lot to his sister (who one evening changed his life)

Tom Cruise He owes his younger sister one of the most important roles of his career. It was thanks to Cass, in fact, if he got the part in Rain Manthe four Oscar winning film that saw him starring next to Dustin Hoffman.

He said it himself in a long interview with Sight and soundretracing his beginnings and an anecdote that today sounds almost legendary. It was 1984 and Cruise, then twenty -one -year -old and with just six films behind him, was shooting LegendRidley Scott’s fantasy dark. One evening, for dinner out with her sister, Cass notes Dustin Hoffman on the other side of the restaurant. “It makes me:” There is Dustin Hoffman, go to greet him “,” recalls the actor. Cruise, at the time still far from Superstar status, hesitates: “I said to her:” I don’t even think about it “. But Cass insists: “If you don’t go there, I go there” ». At that point, to avoid embarrassment, he gets up and approaches him.

The surprise comes immediately. “He greeted me by name. He knew who I was. He shocked me, “says Cruise, still surprised since that moment. Hoffman not only proves cordial, but invites the two brothers to the theater to see Death of a travelerwhere he recited at that time, and welcomes them in the backstage after the show. Then, before greeting them, he says something that Cruise will no longer forget: “You and I, one day, will make a film together”.

Two years later, that sentence becomes reality. The script of Rain Man. The rest is history: the film, directed by Barry Levinson, becomes a cultwins the Oscar As the best film in 1989, and marks a turning point for the actor, who shows an unpublished depth in the role of Charlie Babatt, a young man forced to deal with a brother whose existence he ignored, played by Hoffman.

That experience also marks Cruise from a professional point of view. «With Dustin I worked for two years. He taught me a lot, “he says. One of the most important lessons comes from the stories about Kramer against Kramer: Hoffman explains to him how he built the scenes taking into account the talent of the co -star boy, adapting direction and rhythm in his time.

A lesson that Cruise will bring with him to his future works, especially when he finds himself acting with young actors, such as Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the vampire or Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire. «When I work with children, I assure myself that the set does not break their creative flow. They are professional, they know that it is a job and they are proud of it. I respect them deeply, as respects every actor and every member of the crew ».