Tom Cruise’s awkward meeting with Slash

(Credits: Far Out / Harald Krichel)

These days, Tom Cruise’s status as one of the greatest movie stars in history is set in stone.

When it comes to doing everything humanly possible to make the most spectacular movies that have ever existed, Cruise is in a league of his own. However, the man is often so laser-focused and intense with his “I love movies” schtick that it can occasionally verge into insincere territory. It can also make the guy come across like some kind of zealot, for lack of a better term, and that’s without even touching on his bizarre religious beliefs.

Ultimately, Cruise is ‘the movies’ in human form, and that’s awesome when a new Mission: Impossible movie comes out. However, it makes the idea of interacting with him in everyday life seem very strange indeed, as it’s almost impossible to think of him as a regular guy. Amusingly, even other mega-famous celebrities feel this way – like the iconic Guns N’ Roses axeman, Slash.

Over the years, Cruise and Slash’s paths have occasionally intersected for brief, fleeting moments, like two uber-famous ships crossing in the night. In 1990, Guns N’ Roses’ record label wanted them to allow a song from their debut opus Appetite for Destruction to be used on the soundtrack for Cruise’s Days of Thunder. The band’s manager, Alan Niven, wasn’t keen, as he didn’t care for Scientology. He also “made some phone calls and found that the movie was not that good” (not true, Alan!), but decided that the band should make the final decision. Axl Rose ultimately made the call to record a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ for the film, but it’s unknown if Cruise actually met any members of the band at that point.

Fast-forward a few years, though, and Slash actually found himself on the phone with Cruise, telling the A-list star that his latest movie was a piece of shit. You see, Slash was a die-hard fan of Anne Rice’s steamy vampire novels, but when he discovered Cruise and Brad Pitt had been cast in the adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, he “had a hard time imagining” them as Lestat and Louis. Then, when he saw the movie, he raged, “I hated it; I thought it was crap.”

Once again, the filmmakers tried to woo Guns N’ Roses to appear on the soundtrack, and if legend is to be believed, Slash personally spoke to Cruise to let him down not-so-gently. As with everything GNR, though, it was Rose’s decision in the end, and the band wound up recording a cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ for the movie.

After this semi-awkward situation, Cruise probably didn’t cross Slash’s mind for the next 16 years. But then, one fateful night in April 2010, he was backstage preparing for a guest spot at a Black Eyed Peas concert when his manager told him a certain someone was outside the dressing room door. “Is it OK if Tom Cruise comes in and says hello?” the manager asked, to which a slack-jawed Slash exclaimed, “As in, Tom Cruise Tom Cruise?!”

Flustered, Slash agreed to chat with the Top Gun star, and what ensued was simultaneously perfectly pleasant and painfully awkward. “I’m a big fan, and I just really wanted to meet you,” Cruise said, his wife Katie Holmes hanging out silently in the background. Slash admitted that he was nervous to go on stage that night, and Cruise empathised, telling him nerves meant “it will be a good performance.” The two men then shared another couple of minutes of light banter, with neither seeming to know who should be the fan and celebrity in the scenario. Rest assured, though, the words ‘Interview with the Vampire’ were never uttered.

Then, Cruise said goodbye and wished Slash well, before he and Holmes exited to take their seats for the gig. Slash sat back, bemused and vaguely stunned by how irrepressibly nice Cruise was, despite the situation being undeniably stiff, too. “That has to be one of the weirdest things that has happened to me in at least two weeks,” Slash mused with hilarious specificity. “And he’s not as short as everybody seems to think.”

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