Try to Spot the Drowning Person Before This Lifeguard Does

Tom Cruise had made just six films when he spotted Dustin Hoffman, by then a renowned actor, at a restaurant in the 1980s. The films Cruise had become known for by that point, around 1984, had some brooding young man energy, among them Taps, The Outsiders, Risky Business, and All the Right Moves. Hoffman was by then already an Oscar-winning actor with some 25 years in showbusiness. Cruise had no plans on saying hello to him, but his little sister Cass had other ideas.

“‘My sister was like, 'There’s Dustin Hoffman, go up and say hello to him,’” Cruise told Sight and Sound Magazine, according to Entertainment Weekly. Cruise demurred initially, but his sister was having none of it, and said she would go up to Hoffman herself if Cruise wasn’t going to do it. So, he relented and visited Hoffman at his table. To his amazement, Hoffman knew his name, which Cruise was not at all expecting. They chatted, and as Cruise departed Hoffman’s table, the actor invited Cruise and his sister to a performance of Death of a Salesman—Hoffman was portraying the titular salesman Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s legendary play. Backstage, Hoffman told Cruise: “‘You and I are going to make a movie together one day.’” Cruise was delighted, but even with his short time in Hollywood he likely knew that so many projects fall through. But Hoffman’s prediction came true, and the script for Rain Main arrived in 1986.