“This is the world and there are almost 6 billion people in it. When I was a child, there were three. It’s hard to keep up.” With this phrase Jerry Maguire begins to tell us his story. That of one of the best men at SMI, the prestigious agency for the promotion of active athletes. It manages the careers of 72 clients, to whom it delivers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “I won’t stop until you hold a Coke in an ad, wear your brand, play a video game based on you while singing your own song in a new ad starring you that airs during the Super Bowl in a game you’re winning.” and I’m not going to sleep until this happens.”
In an unscrupulous shark, but his perfect life disappears overnight and he has to start from scratch, with the only representative who stays by his side: Rod Tidwell, a second-rate American football player who only sets one condition: Show me the money! Jerry leaves the office with his fish, but he doesn’t do it alone.
Who is Jerry Maguire?
Many say that the character is inspired by Leigh Steinbergbut really the inspiration came from a photograph that James L. Brooks gave me in which he could see agent Gary Wichard and player Brian Bosworth, known as The Boz. It was just a fun photo of two guys representing business and strength. He gave it to me and said: Look at the relationship between these two guys. Do you see a story here?! They were the beginning, but the character of Jerry Maguire is made up of a mixture of many real people, from Drew Rosenhaus to Leigh Steinberg. There were many agents who, upon seeing the film, said: “That’s me!”
Tom Cruise wanted to change gears and ‘Jerry Maguire’ was a perfect movie
From Tom Hanks to Tom Cruise
The character was written with Tom Hanks in mind, whowho had worked with Brooks on big and I wanted to repeat. He read the script and was very interested. But after a long conversation, the director and actor decided against it. That’s when Tom Cruise became the first choice. The actor loved the script and wanted to be auditioned. He arrived with a casual look, but when they put him in the suit he wears in the movie he transformed into the shark Maguire. It was time to balance agendas, something very complicated: Cruise was finishing Mission Impossible. And I already had the dates for filming in London closed. Eyes Wide Shut. They succeeded and the actor, as soon as he finished his last sentence, flew away and crossed the Atlantic. Another of the actors who were considered for the role was Hugh Grant, accustomed to playing losers that the public likes.
Dreaming of Billy Wilder
Crowe’s dream was for Billy Wilder to play Dicky Fox, Maguire’s mentor. While they were writing Jerry Maguire’s script, they kept The Apartment in mind. With the excuse of having him sign a poster, he went to his office, but the director told him that he would not do the role. Not even Tom Cruise could change his mind. Cameron Crowe didn’t get to have it in his movie, but he did get to write Preservations with Billy Wilder.
Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. are the protagonists of ‘Jerry Maguire’
Cuba Gooding Jr. versus Jamie Foxx
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Rod Tidwell, a role that Jamie Foxx fought for. But the energy and desire that Cuba put into this project were decisive. In addition, she had already worked with Tom Cruise in A Matter of Honor and Cruise liked her. When he won the Oscar, Foxx thought that statuette had to have gone to him and he let everyone know that. Years later, Cuba teased him saying that the character Foxx plays in Django Unchained had to have been done by him. At one point in the film, Cuba performs a dance and it is said that he rehearsed it with Paula Abdul.
Renée Zellweger vs. Mira Sorvino and Gwyneth Paltrow
When Renée Zellweger auditioned for the role of Dorothy Boyd, she was having a bad day because her dog was very sick. They were not convinced, and they continued testing. Mira Sorvino and Gwyneth Paltrow were up for the role, and even Connie Britton, but the director and producer decided to repeat Zellweger’s test, but with Tom Cruise. She did her best to do it well, she needed that job because she didn’t have a single dollar in the bank. The chemistry between them was so good that the young girl with the Texas accent took the role and she won the Screen Actors Guild Award. When Shirley MacLaine saw the film at a private screening, she ran up to the director and said: Who is that girl! Cameron told him her name and that her character was an homage to her in Her Apartment. “I have felt it that way,” the actress responded.
Johathan Lidnicki and Renée Zellweger in ‘Jerry Maguire’
And then along came Jonathan Lipnicki
Jonathan Lipnicki was only 6 years old when he played Ray Boyd, a role that came to him unexpectedly. The character was already being played by another child when, after a difficult sequence with Tom Cruise coming home drunk, he said that he did not want to continue. The only condition they had set for choosing the little actor was that he had not done hamburger commercials, something they overlooked when they met Jonathan: they fell in love with him instantly. Especially Tom Cruise, to whom the boy said: “I’ve been a lifelong fan of yours!”
From Rolling Stone magazine to Hollywood
The soundtrack plays songs from Bob Dylan as Magic Bus and Shelter From The Stormbut perhaps the most remembered is Secret Garden by Bruce Springsteen. It is worth highlighting the director’s musical interest: Cameron Crowe was a journalist at Rolling Stone (they say he joined when he was 16, the youngest in the history of the magazine). He spent three years in the editorial office and then was an actor, scriptwriter and writer. James L. Brooks called him to direct A Big Love and years later they would make Jerry Maguire together. Cameron’s experience in the music industry was captured in his next film Almost famous.
Completing the cast are actors such as Regina King, Jay Mohr, Eric Stoltz and Kelly Prestonwife of John Travolta, who died in 2020 at just 57 years old.
Rod and Jerry, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise. ‘Jerry Maguire’
Tom Cruise, the king of the box office
In 1996, Tom Cruise was a big star when he made the movie, but he knew that Jerry Maguire It was different from what he had done and would allow him to offer a new record. That’s why she worked for free, but with a condition written in the contract: she would take a percentage of the box office. Luckily, the film was a smash hit and grossed more than $273 million worldwide. Cruise is said to have made $20 million, but other sources estimate it was more.
A very loving Oscar
Then the awards arrived and the most anticipated were those from the Hollywood Academy. Jerry Maguire got five nominations, the same as Evita, including Best Film and Best Actor. Little could be done. They competed with Secrets and Lies, Shine, Fargo and The English Patientthe one who won. Tom Cruise fought against Ralph Fiennes, Woody Harrelson, Billy Bob Thorton and Geoffrey Rush, who took the statuette. Only Cuba Gooding Jr. took the stand and curiously the Oscar was given to him by Mira Sorvino. The actor, after receiving the award, gave an energetic speech: he said “I love you” an infinite number of times, even when the music that marked the end of his time was playing, although not as many as his character says throughout the film. movie.
Jonathan Lipnicki as Ray in ‘Jerry Maguire’
A script strewn with phrases to remember
Jerry Maguire has gone down in history for several reasons, from the message of improvement to the popularity achieved by some of the expressions that are heard, such as “You already had me at hello”, “You complete me” and, of course, the most famous of all, “Show me the dough”.
Jerry Maguire becomes part of the RTVE Play catalogue, which this week is reinforced with titles such as Fat people, Route Irish,Skyfall, The father…
