For most of you, this Johnny Depp role is probably exactly the same as described above. And yet Tom Cruise was actually slated for the fantasy novel “Edward Scissorhands” from director Tim Burton (“Batman,” “Mars Attacks”).
Even if nothing comes of it in the end, give it a try. Close your eyes, think of the movie, and mentally replace the iconic image of Johnny Depp, with messy hair, pale face, and the titular blades for fingers, with one of a young Tom Cruise. It just doesn’t work, right?
When they began looking for an actor for their new project in the late 1980s, bosses at “Star Wars” studio 20th Century Fox were confident Cruise would be just the right person for the job. They really wanted him. After all, the man had recently become a superstar in the competition with ‘Top Gun’, ‘Rain Man’ and ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ and should now have their cash registers ringing as well. Cruise himself was not averse to it either.
Burton, meanwhile, had already targeted Johnny Depp. At that time, the duo had never worked together. Only then did further collaborations emerge, including on “Sleepy Hollow” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Yet the filmmaker was certain that he had found his Edward in Depp. But because his backers insisted, he agreed to meet Cruise.
A disastrous encounter
At the beginning of the conversation, he found the idea of the charismatic superstar appearing in his film interesting, as he explained years later. But then things became increasingly bogged down in arguments over trivial things and it soon became clear to Burton that there was no way the two would get together.
According to co-writer Caroline Thompson, who was also present that day, Cruise was obsessed with character details that she and Burton considered completely unimportant – such as how Edward would eat and drink or how he would go to the toilet. Thompson believes that Cruise fundamentally misunderstood the actual theme of the film and that these types of questions ultimately cost himself the role.
Furthermore, Cruise was reportedly very unhappy with the film’s melancholic ending. He demanded a much more positive finale; otherwise he wouldn’t sign. However, this only played into Burton’s hands: he had already received the script in order from the studio and did not want to change anything fundamental. So he had a valid argument for telling the bosses that he was going to cast Depp as his leading man.
Looking at the finished film, it’s probably a good thing that this undoubtedly exciting but also very strange-sounding collaboration between Burton and Cruise didn’t happen. Mainly because none of their careers suffered. For the director, ‘Edward Scissorhands’ turned into a box office success and major cult hit even without Cruise, while the superstar instead made the blockbuster ‘Days of Thunder’ and shortly afterwards the masterpiece ‘A Question of Honor’.
Cruise & Depp weren’t the only ones up for election
However, Tom Cruise was not the only competition for Johnny Depp, who was far from established as a leading man in cinema. Despite supporting role appearances in “Nightmare – Murderous Dreams” and especially “Platoon,” the mime was primarily seen as a TV actor (“21 Jump Street”). Even before the “Mission: Impossible” star burst onto the scene, Depp had to beat out a formidable array of other competitors.
The studio brought in Gary Oldman and Tom Hanks during pre-production. Fortunately for Depp, both declined on their own initiative: Hanks wanted to do “Purgatory of the Vanities” with Brian De Palma instead, and Oldman thought the story idea was too absurd.
Author Thompson, on the other hand, would have liked John Cusack to play Edward, but that was out of the question due to scheduling conflicts with the filming of ‘Grifters’. Burton, in turn, spoke to Jim Carrey about possible involvement. Other big names such as William Hurt, Robert Downey Jr. and – pay attention! – Pop singer Michael Jackson himself is being considered for the title role. Would any of them have delivered a performance even remotely as good as Johnny Depp? We will never know…
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