Guillermo del Toro has been celebrating the 10th anniversary of Pacific Rim, the fan-favorite Kaiju film that starred Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, and more. While chatting about the film with Collider, del Toro revealed another famous actor was almost cast in the movie. According to the Oscar-winning director, Mission: Impossible star Tom Cruise was considered for the role of Stacker Pentecost, which ultimately went to Elba.
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“Oh yeah. The two models for Pacific Rim, the two models for the screenplay, are Hoosiers with Gene Hackman and Top Gun. So, the part that Idris Elba plays, Tom Cruise was gonna do it, and I even had a karaoke. The deal couldn’t be made. He wanted to do it. We were developing stuff, and he couldn’t do it. I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s go with Idris Elba then. He’s a god.’ Obviously, I had to rewrite it for that, but I thought it was gonna be an interesting analog to do that. It would have been a lot of fun.”
“I have developed three movies with Cruise, and none of the three times we have worked, but we have had quite a laugh, you know? I like it. My life is so weird,” the director continued. “I’m like Forrest f*cking Gump. All of a sudden, I’m in places that I don’t know how it happened, but I go, ‘Eh, I like it.’ [Laughs] Honestly, I’m very grateful. There’s a saying in movies, and it’s a really great saying, they say, ‘Take the scout, don’t make the movie.’ Because when you’re scouting, you are in basically a bus trip with a bunch of people eating in great places and having a great time. My favorite part of movies, like when I planned The Devil’s Backbone, I made an itinerary through Spain where they sold the best sausages, the best asparagus. [Laughs] We were in Scotland scouting for the next movie, I was mapping where there was a good macaroni and cheese pie.”ย
What Is Guillermo del Toro’s Next Movie?
Earlier this year, it was announced that del Toro would be making his own version of Frankensteinย that will starย Moon Knight‘s Oscar Isaac, Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, andย Pearlย star Mia Goth.ย This week,ย Colliderย shared another exciting update. It looks like Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) will be a part of the star-studded cast, and the film is set to go into production in February.ย
“I’m doing Frankenstein,” Del Toro told the outlet. “We’re working on it. We start shooting in February, and it’s a movie I have been wanting to do for 50 years since I saw the firstย Frankenstein. I had an epiphany, and it’s basically a movie that required a lot of growth and a lot of tools that I couldn’t have done 10 years ago. Now I’m brave or crazy enough or something, and we’re gonna tackle it. It’s Oscar Isaac, Andrew Garfield, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, and we’re working on it.”
Are you surprised Tom Cruise was almost in Pacific Rim? Tell us in the comments!ย
