A movie Tom Cruise will always regret making

However, for every few great films Cruise has starred in, there are bound to be one or two he would never agree to do, and the actor once admitted that one of his 1985 films, the Ridley Scott adventure, falls firmly into the latter category .

Scott achieved widespread success in 1979. Stranger and 1982s Blade Runnerbut he seems to have gotten it all wrong in Cruise’s eyes with his dark fantasy action epic. Legendin which Cruise stars alongside Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent and Alice Playten, among several others.

It follows a “pure being” named Jack (played by Cruise) who is tasked with stopping the Lord of Dark’s plans to bring eternal night to the world. It has all kinds of fantastic imagery. Legendincluding goblins, unicorn horns, princesses, dense forests, and anything else Scott could add.

But Cruise deeply regrets his participation in the film. One reason is the way the film was marketed, which seemed to upset the actor, who said Rolling Stone“First of all, the press took it and exaggerated it. This is cinematic cinema.”

Of course, marketing is one thing, but filmmaking itself is completely different. Cruise spent a year in London playing good guy Jack Green, but delivered a performance that was completely lacking in anything remotely resembling the emotional nuances we know he’s capable of.

Cruise simply stated: “I never want to do a movie like this again.”

So why did Tom Cruise hate Legend?

Cruz’s dissatisfaction Legend This primarily stems from his disappointment with how the final film turned out after Ridley Scott radically cut the original version. The film was originally shot as an epic fantasy tale over two hours long, but Scott and the studio trimmed it down significantly—reducing character development and some deeper narrative elements in favor of a faster pace.

Cruise reportedly felt that these cuts weakened the story and reduced the emotional weight of Jack’s journey, turning what could have been a more substantial fantasy epic into a visually gorgeous but narratively thin film. He believed that Legend had the potential to be something much bigger, and the compromises made in the editing, in his opinion, did a disservice to the ambitious scope of the film and the performances of its actors.

Critics agreed too, and reviews weren’t too kind to Scott’s 1985 film, although its cinematography was admired and it later became something of a cult classic. However, one of the worst things for Cruise was that he seemed to enjoy being on set, but couldn’t see what the final product would be like.

“It’s stunning and gorgeous and poetic, and most of the time I was looking at a piece of black tape and imagining the whole thing,” he said. Clearly, the overall experience was not memorable for Cruise.

Ultimately, Legend has its flaws, but remains a compelling piece of fantasy cinema, showcasing the visual prowess of Ridley Scott and the unforgettable villainy of Tim Curry. While Cruise’s dissatisfaction with the final product is understandable given its compromised storytelling, the film nonetheless remains a cult classic. For lovers of dark visual fantasy. Legend remains a unique and exciting journey into a magical world of light and darkness.

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