Tom Cruise reveals he ended up in Rain Man after a chance meeting with Dustin Hoffman at a restaurant

Prior to the Mission: Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise was not known as an action hero, even with Top Gun under his belt. In the 80s and 90s, Cruise had worked with directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, Rob Reiner, Ron Howard and Barry Levinson. Eventually, he would collaborate with Steven Spielberg at the start of the millennium and, of course, Brian De Palma, whose first Mission: Impossible was more of a spy mystery/thriller than the action spectacles that they’ve become today. 1989’s Rain Man was an awards darling, having won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman and Best Screenplay.

Today, Cruise receives a Fellowship from the British Film Institute and last night featured an in-depth conversation with the star. Variety reports that he revealed in this conversation that he got to work with Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man after his sister urged him to say hello when running into Hoffman at a restaurant. Cruise explained,

She goes, ‘There’s Dustin Hoffman.’ I looked up and there he was, in a hat — he was doing Death of a Salesman — and he was ordering takeout. She goes, ‘You go over there and say hello to him.’ I was like, ‘I’m not going to say hello.’ She goes, ‘You know him, you know his movies.’ And she doesn’t do stuff like that. And I don’t walk up to people, but she was so pushy.”

Cruise told the story with his sister, Cass, present in the audience. He continued to explain that she gave him an ultimatum, “If you don’t do it, I’m just going to go over there and tell him who you are.” Cruise said he responded, “He’s not going to know who I am, that’s going to be really humiliating!” He said that his sister “pestered me so much” that he finally gave in. “I said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Hoffman, I’m sorry…’ And he went, ‘Cruise!’”

Hoffman offered Cruise and his sister tickets to Death of a Salesman, then the Mission: Impossible star concluded, “As I was leaving he said, ‘I want to make a movie with you.’ And I said, ‘That would be nice, sir.’ And that’s what happened, and basically a year later he sent ‘Rain Man.’”

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