Tom Cruise’s Rain Man was a mega-hit film, earning audience applause and gongs from award shows. But how he landed the role — he now said — was due to his little sister.
At the BFI, where the Top Gun star is set to receive the BFI Fellowship, he recalled having lunch with his sister Cass at a New York City restaurant. She spotted Dustin Hoffman, his co-star in the 1988 film, there.
“She goes, ‘There’s Dustin Hoffman.’ I looked up and there he was, in a hat — he was doing ‘Death of a Salesman’ — and he was ordering takeout,” the 62-year-old added.
He continued, “She goes, ‘You go over there and say hello to him.’ I was like, ‘I’m not going to say hello.’ She goes, ‘You know him, you know his movies.’ And she doesn’t do stuff like that. And I don’t walk up to people, but she was so pushy.”
Tom recounted that despite his hesitation, her sister doubled down on him to meet Dustin.
“If you don’t do it, I’m just going to go over there and tell him who you are.” Cruise responded, “He’s not going to know who I am, that’s going to be really humiliating!”
Cass eventually “pestered me so much,” the Mission Impossible star remembered, that he gave in. “I said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Hoffman, I’m sorry…’ And he went, ‘Cruise!’”
After the meeting, Dustin invited Tom and his sister to his show, Death of a Salesman.
“As I was leaving he said, ‘I want to make a movie with you.’ And I said, ‘That would be nice, sir,’” Tom recalled the conversation when they both were backstage. “And that’s what happened, and basically a year later he sent ‘Rain Man.’”
At the Oscars, Rain Man received eight nods, winning four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Dustin), and Best Original Screenplay.
