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Justin Theroux Based Tom Cruise’s “Tropic Thunder” Character on Harvey Weinstein | Fly on the Wall

May 24, 2023 / 04:08

This episode discusses the unique aspects of comedy in film, featuring insights on directing, writing, and character creation. Key topics include the visual impact of comedy, the influence of Tom Cruise's character Les Grossman, and the collaborative writing process.

The conversation highlights the film's visual style, comparing it to war movies, and emphasizes the director's skill in camera movement. The guests reflect on the need for authenticity in settings, mentioning Hawaii as a filming location.

They also talk about the creative process behind memorable lines, particularly those from Tom Cruise's character. The discussion touches on the challenges of writing edgy humor and the importance of testing jokes during editing.

The guests share anecdotes about working with Tom Cruise, noting his commitment to the role and the humor he brought to the character. They recall how the character of Les Grossman was developed as a response to past experiences in the industry.

Overall, the episode provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a significant comedy film, highlighting the interplay between writing, directing, and performance.

TL;DR

The episode discusses comedy filmmaking, focusing on Tom Cruise's Les Grossman and the creative writing process behind it.

Episode

4:08
00:00:00
it's obviously as you know just such a
00:00:03
huge comedy it's there's never been
00:00:05
anything quite like it I don't think I'd
00:00:08
never seen a comedy like it's also like
00:00:10
a huge I mean without any jokes it was a
00:00:14
huge movie meaning just as far as like
00:00:16
visual I mean a fact to shoot oh yeah it
00:00:19
was a yet explosive it was as big as any
00:00:22
war movie you know we we I mean as far
00:00:24
as the look I mean been such I mean he's
00:00:27
obviously you know does get the credit
00:00:29
you know um but he's often not credited
00:00:32
enough I think with how great a director
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he is you know he is like a real camera
00:00:36
mover who knows how to where was it oh
00:00:39
yeah where'd you shoot it Hawaii
00:00:45
we didn't need the authentic background
00:00:48
why we needed to see a couple trees
00:00:51
cast happy there's two there's
00:00:54
a thing about a movie in comedies uh
00:00:58
probably dramas too it's just these uh
00:01:01
whatever you call them word packages
00:01:02
that just are Transcendent that are
00:01:06
funnier as time goes on you know and I I
00:01:09
think one of them that's less
00:01:11
controversial would be the Tom Cruise
00:01:14
Les Grossman I want you to take one step
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back and literally [ __ ] your face or
00:01:20
your own face yeah which one was it I'm
00:01:22
not sure but that's the that's the kind
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of thing and again like Monty Python I
00:01:26
don't know where that influence came
00:01:28
from but those type of lines that
00:01:31
nonsensical thing
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um I assume it wasn't a guy alone in a
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room or you're together at that point
00:01:36
where you're kind of riffing what that
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character say or character uh came out
00:01:40
of you know we
00:01:42
you know we wanted Tom to be in the
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movie very badly and he it was kind of
00:01:47
um he was like well I read the script
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and there's he's like there's no like
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Studio presence like why don't we create
00:01:53
like a studio uh character you know and
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I just had a really bad experience
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working for Harvey Weinstein and so
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um on a movie that I directed and I I
00:02:05
thought shocker and whatever happened to
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that guy go ahead
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um I and I just wanted to like I just
00:02:11
wanted to um I wanted to somehow
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memorialize that bad experience and
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um and so that's how I got that
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character you know wow
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it's even funny just that like that Ray
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I remember Joel Silver one time he goes
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hey was that character based on me and I
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go no he goes damn it okay I wanted it
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to be based oh funny well the Popeye
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forearms and the hands and then the Tom
00:02:38
Cruise uh which you know everyone loved
00:02:41
the new Top Gun I mean he gets shinier
00:02:43
and brighter when I look back and I see
00:02:45
him now and I look at him in that movie
00:02:47
when he's doing the dance slapping the
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ass at the end it's like yeah the guy is
00:02:51
really funny he's so funny and he's so
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committed you know um yeah and I
00:02:57
remember kind of
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because he has some really hard charging
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lines in that in that movie
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um
00:03:07
writing him these lines he's gonna say
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Tom Cruise is gonna say this like yeah
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it is before we had seen him in any of
00:03:14
the tests and hair and makeup and stuff
00:03:16
well without saying the line which were
00:03:17
the ones that were the most scary or you
00:03:20
really couldn't use it was too far no
00:03:22
maybe you can't you know we had sort of
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like Ben's a really smart director we
00:03:26
you know if if we were to sort of pile
00:03:29
the script up in all the pages that were
00:03:30
written it would probably look like a
00:03:32
phone book or a three phone book stacked
00:03:34
on top of each other Ben is really good
00:03:36
at um we would always sort of shoot like
00:03:40
sort of you know an A B and C category
00:03:43
of jokes within the scene and then
00:03:45
alternates alternates alternates we had
00:03:47
sort of these alternate scripts that we
00:03:48
would go okay now we're gonna do one
00:03:50
where you say this and so in the edit
00:03:52
you know when we could you know when Ben
00:03:54
was sort of testing the movie uh he was
00:03:57
able to see you know oh this this you
00:04:00
know went a little too far let's dial it
00:04:02
back and you know that could be
00:04:03
something simple just like too many
00:04:05
f-bombs in a row or something

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 75
    Best direction
  • 70
    Best visuals
  • 65
    Best performance
  • 60
    Most memeable

Episode Highlights

  • Creating a Memorable Character
    The character was inspired by a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein.
    “I wanted to somehow memorialize that bad experience.”
    @ 02m 11s
    May 24, 2023
  • Tom Cruise's Unique Role
    Tom Cruise's performance in the movie is both funny and committed.
    “Tom Cruise is really funny and he's so committed.”
    @ 02m 51s
    May 24, 2023

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Unique Comedy00:03
  • Memorializing Experience02:11
  • Tom Cruise's Commitment02:51

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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