One of the coolest sci-fi movies of the 2010s nearly starred Tom Cruise

Actor Tom Cruise has starred in a lot of epic movies, but this film seemed to slip his stunt-obsessed grasp.

While Tom Cruise is what may come to mind when you think of an action movie – specifically the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun franchises – he has also dabbled in the sci-fi genre many a time.

With films such as Edge of Tomorrow, Oblivion, and Minority Report under his belt, one may imagine what other sci-fi movies he could have starred in.

Well, turns out one of the biggest and best sci-fi movies of the previous decade could have featured the star.

Tom Cruise could have lead Pacific Rim

Tom Cruise was originally expected to star in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim in the role of Marshal Stacker Pentecost. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Cruise was preparing to star in another sci-fi dystopian movie, Oblivion – he couldn’t take part, and the role ultimately went to Idris Elba.

During a Q&A at Collider‘s 10th anniversary screening of Pacific Rim, del Toro explained how he and Cruise couldn’t make things work: “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.”

Del Toro added that he actually had a few other opportunities to work with Cruise, but sadly none came to fruition: “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. 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.'”

For those who don’t know, the 2013 movie follows this plot: “Long ago, legions of monstrous creatures called Kaiju arose from the sea, bringing with them all-consuming war. To fight the Kaiju, mankind developed giant robots called Jaegers, designed to be piloted by two humans locked together in a neural bridge. However, even the Jaegers are not enough to defeat the Kaiju, and humanity is on the verge of defeat. Mankind’s last hope now lies with a washed-up ex-pilot, an untested trainee and an old, obsolete Jaeger.”

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