“Keeps me on the right track”: Tom Cruise’s Co-Star Was Horrified After Actor Disguised His Alleged Womanizing Behavior With Bible Study While Filming Risky Business
Paul Brickman, who made his directorial debut with Risky Business, wrote the screenplay and directed the 1983 film starring Rebecca DeMornay and Tom Cruise. The plot of the film, which is widely regarded as Tom Cruise’s breakthrough film, centers on the s**ual escapades of a high school senior while on his parents’ vacation.
Although the actor has been in the business for a long time and has appeared in some of the biggest blockbuster films, his performance in Risky Business is still cherished by fans, particularly his pantless dance number. The film has just celebrated its 40th anniversary. In his memoir, Cruise’s co-star Curtis Armstrong shared some startling information from the film set.
Curtis Armstrong notes Risky Business was the last time Tom Cruise was just Tom
In his memoir Revenge of the Nerd which came out in 2017, actor Curtis Armstrong, who appeared as Miles Dalby in Risky Business along with Tom Cruise, goes ahead to reveal a lot of sordid secrets from the backstage shenanigans between the lead actor and actress Rebecca De Mornay.
The Hollywood Reporter published the excerpt from Armstrong’s memoir which noted that, looking at the star Cruise now, it’s hard to recall a time when he was just a kind of goofy, slightly awkward, and insecure kid who was starting his career and saying yes to any young roles that he thought he could play. Armstrong said,
“I think I’m safe in saying that Risky Business was the last time he was just “Tom.”
Armstrong also noted the first time he met Cruise at the production office, stating that he called him out with his character’s name and smiled at him.
Curtis Armstrong writes about the affair between Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay
The actor in his memoir had mentioned about the perpetual rumors about Tom Cruise’s s**ual orientation that were utterly mystifying to him, adding that there was no question on which side of the fence Cruise stood. He wrote,
“It’s no secret that Tom engaged in an intense affair during the shooting with De Mornay — who, at 23, managed to maintain her inaccessible, s**ual mysteriousness under any circumstances, unless you could catch her in a joke, at which point her mask would drop as her eyes lit up and she would burst into a full-throated laugh.”
However, the actress was involved with Harry Dean Stanton who, according to Armstrong, stayed behind and spent his days swimming in the hotel pool while she worked. The actor said that Harry Dean’s presence did bother Cruise but he was good at keeping himself busy with work, adding that as an actor, Tom Cruise was disciplined and serious about his work and how he was going to shape his career. He wrote in his memoir,
“When I think about it now, Tom may have been the first person I ever knew who possessed an absolute and voracious ambition. There was an aura around this good-looking but otherwise unremarkable teen that suggested that anyone who stood in his way, or underestimated him in any way, did so at his or her own peril.”
Curtis Armstrong describes Tom Cruise as an interesting character
Armstrong mentioned in his memoir’s excerpt published by THR back in 2017, that since the actress was not accessible to the star, he self-identified as a born-again Christian and noted that there were rumors that Cruise had considered shepherding souls for a living. He said whenever he asked Cruise to have a drink with him, he would tell him that he was going to study his lines and read the Bible before bed.
Armstrong wrote he said to him, “A little bit of the Good Book before bedtime, eh?” to which Cruise replied, “Yeah, Just a little at night. Keeps me on the right track, you know?” But then he spotted three or four girls in their late teens lined up in the hall outside Tom Cruise’s room.
Towards the end of the excerpt he said,
“This was a young man who knew something about time management and understood how to successfully juggle Bible study and b*** jobs. I went to bed alone that night thinking it served me right for not being religious.”
Armstrong wrote that he recorded his impression of Tom Cruise that night and said that he is an interesting character and he cannot make him out and he would appear to have a great career, but when it comes to doing things socially or professionally with him, Cruise is not reliable, as he is, late, very casual with other people’s time but it’s difficult not to like him.
Risky Business can be watched on Paramount Plus.
Source: THR
