‘It Ultimately Comes Down to What That Character Is’

Tom Cruise’s “Tropic Thunder” fan favorite Les Grossman may be getting his own movie.

In a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused Podcast,” “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” director Christopher McQuarrie said he and Cruise have had some very real discussions about making a standalone Les Grossman film.

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“The conversations we’ve had about Les Grossman are so fucking funny,” McQuarrie said. “[Cruise and I are] talking about it, we’re having very serious conversations about it, and how best to do it. It ultimately comes down to what that character is.”

In “Tropic Thunder,” Les Grossman is the mouthy, antagonistic producer of the titular film, infamous for his ferocious temper and giant hands.

McQuarrie went on to say that he and Cruise used the potential Les Grossman film as an escape from filming “Final Reckoning” and would often riff on the character together over meals.

“We don’t even think about the structure, we play with scenes,” he explained. “Just to be sitting at a breakfast table, not talking about the movie we’re making for a minute, is such decompression. And just riffing with Tom playing Les Grossman at the table, it was one of the real joys of making this movie. It was all the stuff we were doing, planning the future while slugging out the present.”

If the performance of McQuarrie and Cruise’s latest collaboration is any indication of future success, then the Les Grossman movie is sure to be a hit. The eighth “Mission: Impossible” installment helped usher in the biggest Memorial Day box office numbers of all time, grossing a series-best $63 million over the weekend and an estimated $77 million through the four-day holiday frame.

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