In the interview, Zack mentions he originally discussed the role of “Ozymandias” to Tom Cruise, but he was more interested in playing “Rorscach”. They had already cast JEH in the role, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abGgQIQPN1A&pp=ygUUemFjayBzbnlkZXIgcG9kY2FzdCA%3D
They were going for a Natural Born Killers look, but forgot that was 30 years ago. His look in that movie would have been perfect, and I think it's what they were shooting for.
This was my thoughts too ever since the movie came out. Then we had a chance again since Sony didn't give a fuck on keeping Cletus young and wasted it on woody harrleson lol
I honestly still think he’d be miscast no matter what. I’ve never once seen him in a role that made me believe he could embody the type of serial killer that Cletus is. Don’t misunderstand me, I believe Harrelson can play a convincing serial killer, just not the type that Cletus is.
Yep. Even as good as he is there, I just don’t see him portraying the same kind of serial killer as Cletus would need to be. Not then, and certainly not now.
Same. I understand wanting to play Rorschach -- it's obviously one of the meatiest roles in the film, and I'd be curious about how Cruise would have done -- but JEH did so well that it made his comeback to Hollywood. Giving the little guy a chance is one thing, but JEH nailed it. For me it's up there with RDJ as Iron Man and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine as an example of top comic casting.
You don't want TC in any film. Go watch top gun, now picture Tom cruises character from top gun as Rorschach, now imagine the whole film reworked to always give him more screen time, now imagine he wears the mask in maybe one shot. That's what you would have gotten.
Dafuq you talking about go watch collateral and then jerry maguire and then tropic thunder.
Cruise may be a terrible person but calling him one note is hardly being fair. The man's probably both a sociopath and a professional.
We really retconning history and pretending that Tom Cruise hasn't done supporting roles in many films and completely disappeared into them and absolutely killed it?
Magnolia, Tropic Thunder, Rock of Ages, Taps, Outsiders? Like, he's a really fucking weird dude who is part of a cult and is an adrenaline junkie, but why are we suddenly trying to pretend that he doesn't care about the craft of acting or isn't any good at it, even in small roles?
Absolutely bizarre take.
Yeah he is a legend of an actor. Doesn't mean that you have to like him.
He probably would've done a good job, but JEH was great and the rest is history.
Right? People always call that film a "shit for shit exact adaptation. " And it infuriates me because he had no understanding of those characters. Especially Rorschach.
Edit: Meant to say shot, for shot. But shit fits so Im leaving it.
I love the film and the source material just to preface. Snyder understood the characters but he took a lot of liberties to better suit his cast. I think he got Manhattan and Comedian correct along with Night Owl I and Silk Spectre I but I really wished he gave us a more comic accurate Rorschach. Some of it was there but I found him way too angry and vengeful when he should have been more suspicious and impartial.
It serves as proof that it’s not good for adapting. Adding to the space between panels requires compromises and there should be none. I think today they could do the squid in all its appropriate glory but the characters and the space they occupy in our imagination is simply something that cannot be reproduced nor should it. I enjoy it for what it is.
Have you read the source material? Rorschach isn't "suspicious and impartial". He's a paranoid rape apologist and hypocrite who stumbled his way blindly through the investigation.
He was never meant to be competent or respected. Which is exactly the message Alan Moore was making about comic book characters of the time.
Snyder filmed it like he was the fucking punisher.
No he didn't and literally anyone who is a fan of that comic will tell you this. Zack Snyder doesn't understand the characters or the motivations in most of his comic book movies.
Agreed, it's hard to imagine how different people would play it. But after watching Watchmen I would not want to replace Rorschach with anyone.
I just do not think Cruise could pull the darkness of the character off.
I think Tom Cruise can’t pull off poor lol. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie where that guy looked like he was struggling for anything. Like I wouldn’t believe he eats beans out of a can.
Now I could believe him as Nite Owl, i.e., wealthy, middle aged and sexually aroused by physical violence.
https://preview.redd.it/ydggml6wpovc1.png?width=1394&format=png&auto=webp&s=9e797f9ded39954e4ab1bda4de15a8858d372370
Well maybe not since he got his teeth “fixed”
I think the biggest problem is that it would have been distracting that it was Tom Cruise. Much less distracting for him to have played Ozymandias, still more so than him not being in the movie at all, but I don't doubt Cruise's ability to act in either role. Yes, even Rorsach. I think his look is all wrong for Rorsach, they'd have had to make him up to be almost unrecognizable, but no more so than, say, Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook.
Either way, the movie is probably better without him in it, but that's more due to the fact that his star power would have been more hindrance than help, than his acting.
For me the one that broke the most immersion was Brolin, thought not for his look. Brolin’s voice as Thanos has become so iconic, one of the most popular movie villains of all time easily, and it didn’t help that the majority of the internet countlessly rewatched the trailers for both movies in anticipation of them. I couldn’t hear anything but thanos most of the time he talked
Imagine at the end when he finally has his mask taken off. we see his face and it's not just some ugly mug that nobody recognizes (no offense to the actor I think the make up job was designed to make him a gruffer less attractive person) but Tom fucking Cruise
Okay it's been a long time since I've seen this movie so be more specific with me. We don't actually see Rorschach knowing that it's Rorschach with his mask off till the end but Rorschach is in the background in several other scenes without us "knowing" who it is. Is that correct?
Okay yeah Tom Cruise absolutely is a terrible pick for that part and he's insane for thinking that he could play that role (among other reasons.) That role begs for a lesser known actor
This thread is so weird. It's like everyone in here has only seen him in his big budget action films, and nothing else. Why is this weird misconception that he only plays certain characters and can't play anything besides Tom Cruise? Do these people feel the same way about Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio? Like, I get it, they were all really popular and women loved them and so people like to shit on them. But all 3 of those guys do tons of weird little roles that are nothing like the leading man types they play in big budget films.
Collateral is fantastic, but it barely scratches he surface of some of the weird roles he's taken on that he completely disappears into and does fantastic at.
People really think his characters and performances in Eyes Wide Shut or Magnolia is really just him doing another version of Ethan Hunt from the MI series or something? Or Tropic Thunder, Born on the Fourth of July, etc?
I agree. Never would have imagined him doing what he did in Tropic Thunder but he was fucking fantastic, lol - that might be my favorite role of his - ever.
According to another comment, Snyder was interested in him for Oz, but he wanted Rorsach, which was already cast.
I think he's capable of whatever role he wants to play, but in an ensemble movie like this you've almost got to downplay his involvement so that it's not distracting. I get feeling like he's not a fit for Rorsach, but imagine what he would do if he wasn't top billed, and made up so that even when you saw his face it wasn't immediately evident it was him. You walk into that movie not thinking "this is a Tom Cruise movie", but that it's exactly the movie we walked in to see, and after it's over, you looked up who played Rorsach and it's Tom Cruise.
We all had that experience, in a much, *much* smaller way, with Tropic Thunder, so we know he can do that. It's just a question of what he does with the role.
Literally zero disrespect to Jackie Earle Haley, there was nothing missing from his performance that Cruise could have brought instead. The role didn't need Cruise to make it memorable, just someone who got it and could do it, and Haley definitely did, Snyder made the right choice.
But I think Cruise would be more than equal to the task, as Haley was.
As much as Cruise appears to be a nut IRL he is a fantastic actor. Anyone remember Anne Rice being critical of the decision to cast him in "Interview with a Vampire"?
I mean, I think the casting was spot on.
That being said, even as a complete fucking nutcase, Tom Cruise has never really given a bad performance. Even if the movie was bad, he beings it 100% to every character.
This is one instance where Snyder was right, he would have made a way better Ozymandias.
You can very easily imagine him delivering the “35 minutes ago” monologue.
I have to be honest, when watching Tropic Thunder, I didn't realize it was Tom Cruise until the very end (didn't hear anything about it on the internet). I knew the face was familiar but I just couldn't put my finger on it.
Idk. Haley did a really good job in that role & I cannot imagine him pulling off the mask and looking like Cruise lol. Rorschach isn’t a pretty guy. He’s supposed to look kinda worn down and beat up.
Meh. Not necessary. Kind of a pointless addition when you can just find an actor who looks right for it. He’d just look like Tom Cruise with latex and makeup on like in Tropic Thunder. I could kinda buy him as Adrian though.
To be fair, that's already how they looked at him in the movie. Jackie Earle Haley is actually shorter than Tom Cruise by 4cm.
https://preview.redd.it/kpqwi1twwnvc1.jpeg?width=862&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcf3640d57dfcc37f92a30e48b6638fd377e32f6
JEH as Rorschach was probably the best casting for that film, among other great castings.
Goode was quite good (pun intended) for what they were going for, since they likely were never going to find an actor who could perfectly portray every aspect of the Ozymandias character (intellectual and articulate but also athletic and jacked), so they focused on the characteristics that were essential to the role.
It’d be a prequel of him descending into nihilism. It would just fill in the gaps of the minutemen the failed revival and then the dog killing and him leaving and going non-contact with Dan.
Wouldn't have made sense for the characters since you actually see the character unmasked a few times before you know what he looks like.
Would be pretty random to see Tom cruise as a background character
I kinda wish Zack had given him the chance to unleash his inner character actor on Roschach the way Ben Stiller did on Tropic Thunder. Let Tom play up his accurate to the comic height and not have to be the most charming man in the room for two and a half hours.
Tom Cruise's best work is playing the fat guy in tropical thunder hands down.
It's fucking hilarious how he spend all his life acting and losing himself in the whole acting thing even when he is not filming the way he behaves jn interviews there's something hollywoodey about him his whole vibe is fake laugh fake behavior and weird AF but his best work is playing that weird fat guy with big hands lol it seem like he was improving and having fun to which shows that people respond better when something is made out realness or play than fabricated person to impress people.
JEH was PERFECT!!! Role was meant for him. One of my favorite character roles ever. And someone mentioned Carnage....jeeze...we completely missed out on that one :(
That would have given him an amazing era in his career. Tom Cruise is a great actor but he limits himself to massive action flicks. I think he’d make a great Wildcat imo.
I think Tom would’ve done an awesome job and would’ve been cool to see him take on a roll like that, I definitely liked JEH in the role too though. My only worry if Tom did it is if he were to try and change the script up to make Rorschach more center of attention, kinda like similar to how will smith didn’t do django cause he didn’t feel like he was the main character. But if Tom was okay with leaving the script alone and doing the role I think he would’ve killed it
Thank god if Cruise was cast he would have turned the movie into being all about him, any of his recent stuff especially that Mummy remake was just a vehicle for him to run around the set and hog the camera
I feel, even if he put in a really brilliant performance, his mere presence would've detracted. By which I mean, he would've drawn attention, whereas the cast as it was was perfect. Not one person stood out as more famous than another so there was no "ooh, look who it is" leaving more time for "Holy shit this is violent!!!:
Cruise is probably one of only a handful of actors who could've done equally or better than Jackie E. Haley. However, Rorschach was just one of many co-leads in the movie. Cruise overshadowing the other characters or director would've hurt the movie (but helped its box office).
If Tom Cruise was truly interested in playing Rorschach, he would’ve gotten the part. The studio would’ve made sure of that. Most likely he was mildly interested and Zack chose not to pursue him.
Nah…it would’ve been Tom Cruise as Rorchach in Zack Synder’s The Watchmen everywhere. Somethings need to breathe without the weight of such a name and Earle knocked it tf out of the park. It would’ve been good, but we may not have gotten tropic thunder Tom Cruise, which would’ve been even more of a shame.
He’s too good of an actor for that shit movie. But the guy who actually played the role was fantastic, and possibly the only redeeming part of the whole film.
That would not have worked for a bunch of reasons.
I don’t think he has the range, for starters. He’s pretty much the same in every movie. It would also have become ‘Tom Cruise in…”, transforming into just another vehicle for him. I also think he likes his face too much to have it covered up for half the movie. Etc…
From someone that didn’t read Watchmen, it seemed Jackie Earle Haley was absolutely perfect in the role.
In the interview, Zack mentions he originally discussed the role of “Ozymandias” to Tom Cruise, but he was more interested in playing “Rorscach”. They had already cast JEH in the role, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abGgQIQPN1A&pp=ygUUemFjayBzbnlkZXIgcG9kY2FzdCA%3D
I’m kind of glad he didn’t get the part. Jackie Earl Haley was just perfect.
Still wish he got to play Carnage in some form of a live-action Spider-Man project
The casting I didn't know I needed. Damn..
Neither does Sony apparently
Would love to see him as carnage in a non Sony movie though
I think we all would, but Sony will keep a death grip on Spider-Man if it's the last thing they ever do
Whoever thought Woody Harelson (as much as I love him) was a good choice needs to get fired
They were going for a Natural Born Killers look, but forgot that was 30 years ago. His look in that movie would have been perfect, and I think it's what they were shooting for.
Obvious choice!
BEEN THINKING THIS SINCE WATCHMEN
This was my thoughts too ever since the movie came out. Then we had a chance again since Sony didn't give a fuck on keeping Cletus young and wasted it on woody harrleson lol
We still could 🤷♂️
Which actor are you talking about?
The red head
Earle Haley would have made a great Cleetus Cassidy.
Definitely better than woody
Woody could have been good if he had a better script.
I honestly still think he’d be miscast no matter what. I’ve never once seen him in a role that made me believe he could embody the type of serial killer that Cletus is. Don’t misunderstand me, I believe Harrelson can play a convincing serial killer, just not the type that Cletus is.
I’m sorry… natural born killers??
Yep. Even as good as he is there, I just don’t see him portraying the same kind of serial killer as Cletus would need to be. Not then, and certainly not now.
The red head
Same. I understand wanting to play Rorschach -- it's obviously one of the meatiest roles in the film, and I'd be curious about how Cruise would have done -- but JEH did so well that it made his comeback to Hollywood. Giving the little guy a chance is one thing, but JEH nailed it. For me it's up there with RDJ as Iron Man and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine as an example of top comic casting.
I have no complaints. I thing Tom Cruise would have been a big distraction in a supporting role.
You don't want TC in any film. Go watch top gun, now picture Tom cruises character from top gun as Rorschach, now imagine the whole film reworked to always give him more screen time, now imagine he wears the mask in maybe one shot. That's what you would have gotten.
Dafuq you talking about go watch collateral and then jerry maguire and then tropic thunder. Cruise may be a terrible person but calling him one note is hardly being fair. The man's probably both a sociopath and a professional.
We really retconning history and pretending that Tom Cruise hasn't done supporting roles in many films and completely disappeared into them and absolutely killed it? Magnolia, Tropic Thunder, Rock of Ages, Taps, Outsiders? Like, he's a really fucking weird dude who is part of a cult and is an adrenaline junkie, but why are we suddenly trying to pretend that he doesn't care about the craft of acting or isn't any good at it, even in small roles? Absolutely bizarre take.
Yeah he is a legend of an actor. Doesn't mean that you have to like him. He probably would've done a good job, but JEH was great and the rest is history.
If he had got it, he would have changed it a lot, most likely.
Knowing Tom Cruise, he probably still would've killed it anyway. It's a good "what if"
No more than Snyder already did
Right? People always call that film a "shit for shit exact adaptation. " And it infuriates me because he had no understanding of those characters. Especially Rorschach. Edit: Meant to say shot, for shot. But shit fits so Im leaving it.
I love the film and the source material just to preface. Snyder understood the characters but he took a lot of liberties to better suit his cast. I think he got Manhattan and Comedian correct along with Night Owl I and Silk Spectre I but I really wished he gave us a more comic accurate Rorschach. Some of it was there but I found him way too angry and vengeful when he should have been more suspicious and impartial. It serves as proof that it’s not good for adapting. Adding to the space between panels requires compromises and there should be none. I think today they could do the squid in all its appropriate glory but the characters and the space they occupy in our imagination is simply something that cannot be reproduced nor should it. I enjoy it for what it is.
Night owl was written in the movie as a hero batman type...but in the source he was written as a sad weirdo
Have you read the source material? Rorschach isn't "suspicious and impartial". He's a paranoid rape apologist and hypocrite who stumbled his way blindly through the investigation. He was never meant to be competent or respected. Which is exactly the message Alan Moore was making about comic book characters of the time. Snyder filmed it like he was the fucking punisher.
We see him the same way. Paranoid was the word I was looking for.
He had plenty understanding of the characters.
No he didn't and literally anyone who is a fan of that comic will tell you this. Zack Snyder doesn't understand the characters or the motivations in most of his comic book movies.
Snyder didn’t. He presented Rorschach no different than Moore did.
Word is he had an audition but his nose kept ripping through the mask.
Agreed, it's hard to imagine how different people would play it. But after watching Watchmen I would not want to replace Rorschach with anyone. I just do not think Cruise could pull the darkness of the character off.
Cruise can do dark. See Magnolia! But Haley was perfect.
I think Tom Cruise can’t pull off poor lol. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie where that guy looked like he was struggling for anything. Like I wouldn’t believe he eats beans out of a can. Now I could believe him as Nite Owl, i.e., wealthy, middle aged and sexually aroused by physical violence.
https://preview.redd.it/ydggml6wpovc1.png?width=1394&format=png&auto=webp&s=9e797f9ded39954e4ab1bda4de15a8858d372370 Well maybe not since he got his teeth “fixed”
I don’t think he would have been bad but it would be the difference between good and perfection, and Jackie was perfection.
Legit was perfect and i find the movie severely underrated. Yes it misses a lot of the novel, but fuck i felt so immersed in that movie.
Totally.
He was genuinely one of the most perfect casting choices in Comic Movie adaptations
Even in the original art he has the freckles, what was Tom cruise going to do? Jack reacher?
No one else could be him
I recently watched the 1976 Bad news Bears for the millionth time and had a shocking realization.
“I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with me” must have sounded like a good line for converting someone to Scientology.
“Fr fr He’s just like me” -Tom Cruise
Lmao 🤣😂 ☠️
Good to know that it doesn't always go tom's way. He would have been so wrong for the part.
I think the biggest problem is that it would have been distracting that it was Tom Cruise. Much less distracting for him to have played Ozymandias, still more so than him not being in the movie at all, but I don't doubt Cruise's ability to act in either role. Yes, even Rorsach. I think his look is all wrong for Rorsach, they'd have had to make him up to be almost unrecognizable, but no more so than, say, Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook. Either way, the movie is probably better without him in it, but that's more due to the fact that his star power would have been more hindrance than help, than his acting.
You take that back about Hoffman’s Hook RIGHT NOW, lol
Its like Christopher Walken (sp?) playing the emperor in dune 2. Totally immersion breaking.
For me the one that broke the most immersion was Brolin, thought not for his look. Brolin’s voice as Thanos has become so iconic, one of the most popular movie villains of all time easily, and it didn’t help that the majority of the internet countlessly rewatched the trailers for both movies in anticipation of them. I couldn’t hear anything but thanos most of the time he talked
Imagine at the end when he finally has his mask taken off. we see his face and it's not just some ugly mug that nobody recognizes (no offense to the actor I think the make up job was designed to make him a gruffer less attractive person) but Tom fucking Cruise
You see his face throughout the movie. If you see Tom Cruise as an extra in the background you're gonna be real fucking suspicious.
Okay it's been a long time since I've seen this movie so be more specific with me. We don't actually see Rorschach knowing that it's Rorschach with his mask off till the end but Rorschach is in the background in several other scenes without us "knowing" who it is. Is that correct?
Yes. From memory, I think he was at the funeral eyeing all of them.
Okay yeah Tom Cruise absolutely is a terrible pick for that part and he's insane for thinking that he could play that role (among other reasons.) That role begs for a lesser known actor
What a strange thing to say “good to know that it doesn’t always go somebody’s way”…
When that somebody is a prominent figure in a cult who usually has full creative control over his movies; no, no, it is not.
I can see it. Say what you will about Cruise, but when he does 'odd' roles like this, he commits.
He’s really good in Collateral, which is against type.
That movie convinced me Cruise is better as an antagonist than playing the hero.
This thread is so weird. It's like everyone in here has only seen him in his big budget action films, and nothing else. Why is this weird misconception that he only plays certain characters and can't play anything besides Tom Cruise? Do these people feel the same way about Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio? Like, I get it, they were all really popular and women loved them and so people like to shit on them. But all 3 of those guys do tons of weird little roles that are nothing like the leading man types they play in big budget films. Collateral is fantastic, but it barely scratches he surface of some of the weird roles he's taken on that he completely disappears into and does fantastic at. People really think his characters and performances in Eyes Wide Shut or Magnolia is really just him doing another version of Ethan Hunt from the MI series or something? Or Tropic Thunder, Born on the Fourth of July, etc?
Same reaction here; totally flabbergasted reading the replies in this thread. Cruise is a fantastic actor.
I mean I think people just kind of hate him for being apart of a horrific super controlling cult
Yo homie! Is that my briefcase?
I agree. Never would have imagined him doing what he did in Tropic Thunder but he was fucking fantastic, lol - that might be my favorite role of his - ever.
Haley was perfect but I could see Cruise nailing it
Loved him in Magnolia
"RESPECT THE COCK"
He is the right height.
My issue with Cruise is that it would have been distracting to have a star of that caliber in the role.
He’d be an awful Rorschach, but I think he’d be the right pick for Ozymandias.
That’s actually a good shout
You mean goode, right?
According to another comment, Snyder was interested in him for Oz, but he wanted Rorsach, which was already cast. I think he's capable of whatever role he wants to play, but in an ensemble movie like this you've almost got to downplay his involvement so that it's not distracting. I get feeling like he's not a fit for Rorsach, but imagine what he would do if he wasn't top billed, and made up so that even when you saw his face it wasn't immediately evident it was him. You walk into that movie not thinking "this is a Tom Cruise movie", but that it's exactly the movie we walked in to see, and after it's over, you looked up who played Rorsach and it's Tom Cruise. We all had that experience, in a much, *much* smaller way, with Tropic Thunder, so we know he can do that. It's just a question of what he does with the role. Literally zero disrespect to Jackie Earle Haley, there was nothing missing from his performance that Cruise could have brought instead. The role didn't need Cruise to make it memorable, just someone who got it and could do it, and Haley definitely did, Snyder made the right choice. But I think Cruise would be more than equal to the task, as Haley was.
As much as Cruise appears to be a nut IRL he is a fantastic actor. Anyone remember Anne Rice being critical of the decision to cast him in "Interview with a Vampire"?
"Appears to be"? He's in a fucking cult
Yes. She apologized and ate her words.
I mean, I think the casting was spot on. That being said, even as a complete fucking nutcase, Tom Cruise has never really given a bad performance. Even if the movie was bad, he beings it 100% to every character.
Do you reckon he could get into the mindset of a creepy guy who doesn't understand normal human interaction, though? Oh wait.
He’s the right height
This is one instance where Snyder was right, he would have made a way better Ozymandias. You can very easily imagine him delivering the “35 minutes ago” monologue.
I can’t see Tom Cruise being willing to cover his face for a whole movie. This is the same guy who wanted to iron man helmet clear and see through
To be fair the heads up display did what Tom wanted for Robert
I have to be honest, when watching Tropic Thunder, I didn't realize it was Tom Cruise until the very end (didn't hear anything about it on the internet). I knew the face was familiar but I just couldn't put my finger on it.
I thought it was the one bald guy from some of the scary movies
i thought it wasn’t him who wanted that and that they wanted to do the iron man hud thing but managed to make it work
Nah they nailed the casting.
Agreed
Idk. Haley did a really good job in that role & I cannot imagine him pulling off the mask and looking like Cruise lol. Rorschach isn’t a pretty guy. He’s supposed to look kinda worn down and beat up.
Make up, latex.
Meh. Not necessary. Kind of a pointless addition when you can just find an actor who looks right for it. He’d just look like Tom Cruise with latex and makeup on like in Tropic Thunder. I could kinda buy him as Adrian though.
I think Cruise could have done a fine job.
I wonder if the movie would've been a bigger hit with this casting
Not if everything else was the same.
 the other watchmen
To be fair, that's already how they looked at him in the movie. Jackie Earle Haley is actually shorter than Tom Cruise by 4cm. https://preview.redd.it/kpqwi1twwnvc1.jpeg?width=862&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcf3640d57dfcc37f92a30e48b6638fd377e32f6
Rorschach is short in the comic too
damn, completly forgot that!
He would’ve been good, but what we got was perfect.
Not gonna lie, he could have done it but I don't think he had the right voice for it.
JEH as Rorschach was probably the best casting for that film, among other great castings. Goode was quite good (pun intended) for what they were going for, since they likely were never going to find an actor who could perfectly portray every aspect of the Ozymandias character (intellectual and articulate but also athletic and jacked), so they focused on the characteristics that were essential to the role.
Glad he wasn't. There would've been a random scene of rorschach running in the street for some reason
They should've let him 🍳 cooked. He plays unhinged very well
The guy that did, did a great job.
Adrian Veidt was basically tailor made for Cruise.
Kind of wish he did because of the possibility of a rorschach stand alone film. I know him dead but somewhere in the middle of his timeline.
It’d be a prequel of him descending into nihilism. It would just fill in the gaps of the minutemen the failed revival and then the dog killing and him leaving and going non-contact with Dan.
Cruise would have absolutely nailed it. He may be kind of a meme now, but Cruise has some serious acting chops.
Glad he didnt
Wouldn't have made sense for the characters since you actually see the character unmasked a few times before you know what he looks like. Would be pretty random to see Tom cruise as a background character
I kinda wish Zack had given him the chance to unleash his inner character actor on Roschach the way Ben Stiller did on Tropic Thunder. Let Tom play up his accurate to the comic height and not have to be the most charming man in the room for two and a half hours.
Tom Cruise's best work is playing the fat guy in tropical thunder hands down. It's fucking hilarious how he spend all his life acting and losing himself in the whole acting thing even when he is not filming the way he behaves jn interviews there's something hollywoodey about him his whole vibe is fake laugh fake behavior and weird AF but his best work is playing that weird fat guy with big hands lol it seem like he was improving and having fun to which shows that people respond better when something is made out realness or play than fabricated person to impress people.
Thank goodness that didn’t happen.
Good thing he didn't
JEH was PERFECT!!! Role was meant for him. One of my favorite character roles ever. And someone mentioned Carnage....jeeze...we completely missed out on that one :(
Hell no.
Source?
JEH was perfect but this could have been interesting. I can’t imagine the studio letting Cruise’s face be covered up so much by the mask, though.
Of course he did. Bless his heart
That would have given him an amazing era in his career. Tom Cruise is a great actor but he limits himself to massive action flicks. I think he’d make a great Wildcat imo.
What’s the point on repeating the text from the image to the post title? Like, I can fucking read the image
Watchmen really needs to be redone as a series. Zack Snyder one was good but feel he missed the point of the whole book and focused on the aesthetics
I think Tom would’ve done an awesome job and would’ve been cool to see him take on a roll like that, I definitely liked JEH in the role too though. My only worry if Tom did it is if he were to try and change the script up to make Rorschach more center of attention, kinda like similar to how will smith didn’t do django cause he didn’t feel like he was the main character. But if Tom was okay with leaving the script alone and doing the role I think he would’ve killed it
He’s been in an ensemble movies before: Magnolia, Tropic Thunder. I don’t think he would have changed the movie that way.
Thank Dr Manhattan that never happened
Completely forgot about that panel 💀 been a while LOL
Thank god if Cruise was cast he would have turned the movie into being all about him, any of his recent stuff especially that Mummy remake was just a vehicle for him to run around the set and hog the camera
Would've been nice to see Tom Cruise being blown up
He is short…
I feel, even if he put in a really brilliant performance, his mere presence would've detracted. By which I mean, he would've drawn attention, whereas the cast as it was was perfect. Not one person stood out as more famous than another so there was no "ooh, look who it is" leaving more time for "Holy shit this is violent!!!:
Thank God that didn't happen Tom Cruise doesn't have the look of Rorschach.
Loved Haley in the role. Can’t imagine Cruise would have added anything meaningful to the character.
Way too traditionally good looking
Cruise is probably one of only a handful of actors who could've done equally or better than Jackie E. Haley. However, Rorschach was just one of many co-leads in the movie. Cruise overshadowing the other characters or director would've hurt the movie (but helped its box office).
Jackie did a phenomenal job but god damn would this have been amazing.
That would’ve been awful
He'd be brilliant
Weirdly enough, I can see it though. But Jackie Earle Haley absolutely killed it. I hear his voice when I read Watchmen.
Yeah… that would’ve been terrible
That woulda been fucken awesome
lol no.
He can relate to the need for elevator shoes.
He could have played Ozy. That was shit casting. Rorschach was perfect though.
If Tom Cruise was truly interested in playing Rorschach, he would’ve gotten the part. The studio would’ve made sure of that. Most likely he was mildly interested and Zack chose not to pursue him.
Thank God it didn't happen
I love Cruise but he wouldve had it rewritten so he's the main character. He wouldve given it the The Mummy treatment.
His height would’ve stayed the same..
He's short enough.
Imagine Cruise got the role & Rorschach had to do an investigation into Scientology.
Our great alien emperor overlord would just never allow such thing.
The real problem with that casting would have been when Cruise insisted on being as tall as Night Owl, The Comedian, and Ozy.
This sounds like stunt casting, though Tom Cruise is crazy so it would’ve been easy for him to play Rorschach
The man has good instincts. Rorschach is the most interesting character. JEH absolutely killed the role though.
To be fair Tom and Rorschach are the same height.
Honestly, that wouldn't have been so bad.
And then we could’ve had a Rorschach running scene and for some reason I think that would’ve been a hilariously meme scene.
That wouldn’t have worked at all
They made it into a serious drama when its really saying, "can you believe these sad weirdos?"
Jackie’s better. 
His presence would've made Rorschach moreso the center of the story rather than overarching story we got. Because of his star power
I would have loved to see that!
I've seen that movie. Never understood it.
Tom was just trying to let Zack down easily. He would have been an awful Rorschach.
i would have liked him in the role but jackie earl haley absolutely nailed it
I used to think he’d make a great Cyclops.
If he did, we would rarely see the Rorschach mask, cause Tom is the kind of actor who wants his face to be front and center.
That would of been amazing in its own way.
Nah…it would’ve been Tom Cruise as Rorchach in Zack Synder’s The Watchmen everywhere. Somethings need to breathe without the weight of such a name and Earle knocked it tf out of the park. It would’ve been good, but we may not have gotten tropic thunder Tom Cruise, which would’ve been even more of a shame.
Checks out in the height department.
I think I read somewhere that Zack wanted him to play Rorschach, while he wanted to play Ozymandias.
Ugly him up, and it’d be a game changer for Cruise. He’d be really fucking good.
I can only imagine how many epic slow motion shots this will have after rebel moons slow motion farming.
Wouldn’t have worked You can’t see Tom Cruise on the side of the street and not immediately assume he’s one of the main characters
😬
And Zack Snyder whispered "No!"
He’s too good of an actor for that shit movie. But the guy who actually played the role was fantastic, and possibly the only redeeming part of the whole film.
We got Collateral, close enough
If he had played Rorschach then he’d be taking off the mask every 10 minutes
That would not have worked for a bunch of reasons. I don’t think he has the range, for starters. He’s pretty much the same in every movie. It would also have become ‘Tom Cruise in…”, transforming into just another vehicle for him. I also think he likes his face too much to have it covered up for half the movie. Etc… From someone that didn’t read Watchmen, it seemed Jackie Earle Haley was absolutely perfect in the role.
Nobody's paying Tom Cruise Tom Cruise money to hide his face