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Tom Cruise finds plenty to like in Jerry Maguire

Tom Cruise

December 14, 1996
Web posted at: 9:15 a.m. EST

From Correspondent Bill Tush

(CNN) -- It was 13 years ago when a relatively unknown 19-year-old actor named Tom Cruise burst onto the big screen in a film called "Risky Business."

Since then Cruise has cut a wide swath in Hollywood with films such as "Cocktail," "Rain Man," "Interview with a Vampire," "A Few Good Men" and "Mission: Impossible," to name a few.

Yet even though Cruise has become one of the world's best-known film stars, he still comes across in an interview as a regular guy who obviously has never lost his edge.

"I'm nervous before I work," Cruise says. "You want the movie to make its money back, and I'm nervous because I want to make a great movie."

Jerry Maguire

This time around Cruise is hoping the winning streak continues with "Jerry Maguire," in which Cruise plays a big time sports agent who is unceremoniously dumped. Cruise's Maguire does everything he can to hang on to his only client, an egotistical second-string pro football player played by Cuba Gooding Jr.


movie icon (760 K / 20 sec. Jerry Maguire fun clip QuickTime movie)
(5.1 MB / 2:27 min. Jerry Maguire trailer QuickTime movie)

But there's more to Maguire than sports and money.

"I like watching sports, but I'm not interested in making a movie about sports," Cruise says. "You could have taken this guy and put him in any field. I like the people in it. I like the relationship with the girl. There are so many levels to this film."

"Jerry Maguire" was written and directed by Cameron Crowe, who had a few things to think about when Cruise agreed to do the picture.

Crowe said one of his biggest nightmares while doing the film was dropping "the golden egg," a reference to Cruise.

"You know, I think he's tremendous," Cruise responds. "He'd worked (on the film) for four years. And for me, I just didn't want to choke on his character, really, because I just didn't want to ruin his script."

Judging from the early reviews of "Jerry Maguire," Cruise and Crowe have nothing to worry about.

 
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