Ben Stiller once cut his honeymoon short just to play stunt double in a Tom Cruise classic
Ben Stiller once left his honeymoon early to nail a Tom Cruise parody at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. A clip of the same, which recently resurfaced, shows Stiller impersonating Cruise, mimicking his every move. Dressed in a matching black outfit Stiller nailed Cruise' intense charisma. Stiller hilariously claimed they had worked together for so long that they could 'finish each other's sentences.' Cruise, always a good sport, was caught off guard but played along.
The story behind the parody is as amusing as the skit itself. In 2001, Cruise was busy promoting Mission: Impossible II and couldn’t attend the MTV Movie Awards. Producers, determined to include Cruise in some capacity, turned to Stiller to create a comedy sketch where he would play 'Tom Crooze'— Cruise’s overzealous stunt double. The timing couldn’t have been worse, however, as Stiller was on his honeymoon with Christine Taylor. But when MTV producer Joel Gallen sent him an email asking if he could cut his vacation short for the project, Stiller jumped at the chance. Gallen remarked, “I wrote Ben an e-mail: ‘I know it’s your honeymoon and everything but what if you came back two days early? What do you think?’” He and Taylor returned to the U.S. early, and the idea became a reality, as reported by Fandom Wire.
Ben Stiller pretending to be Tom Cruise’s stunt double is comedy gold pic.twitter.com/z4uWESMEvi
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In the sketch, Crooze hilariously ‘assists’ Cruise with the rock-climbing scene from Mission: Impossible II. Crooze interrupts rehearsals with absurd advice, insisting that stunt doubles must 'become one' with the actor, including mimicking their walk, and talk, and even considering legally changing their name. Interestingly, this wasn't Stiller’s first time mimicking Cruise—he had previously parodied the superstar on The Ben Stiller Show. However, doing it in front of Cruise was a unique experience.
TOM CRUISE celebrates his 61st birthday today. Probably the biggest movie star of the last 40 years, here he is being a good sport with Ben Stiller in a great comedy bit at the time of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 (2000). pic.twitter.com/rBa4S45L5j
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“I never had the experience of actually doing him to his face, and he was sitting at the monitor and he started cracking up watching and I knew it was OK. The part where we’re both laughing is kinda real because we’re both laughing at the absurdity of the moment.” Their collaboration didn’t end there. Cruise went on to make an uncredited appearance in Stiller’s 2008 film Tropic Thunder. At a time when Cruise’s career was on shaky grounds due to controversies—including his infamous couch-jumping incident on Oprah and remarks on psychiatry—he surprised audiences by playing Les Grossman, a loud-mouthed, foul-tempered studio executive in Tropic Thunder.
As per The Independent, Stiller noted, “Tom Cruise had the idea to play Les Grossman in the movie. That part did not exist. He said, ‘Well, there’s no studio executive and that would be really fun to be that guy.’ And he had this whole idea of what the guy should look like. It was his idea to dance. And I remember when we did a makeup test, someone handed him a Diet Coke and then he just started moving.” His commitment to the over-the-top character, including an unforgettable dance sequence, earned him widespread acclaim and reinvigorated his career.
