Tom Cruise in Doctor Who?
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 at 1:11 pm Category: doctor who, News, Rumors, sci-fi, Top
Could Tom Cruise be cameoing on the upcoming Christmas episode of Doctor Who?!
It’s not impossible.
I was doing some research on Tom Cruise for a round of the Big Shiny Geek Show Pub Quiz we hold weekly when I found an upcoming episode of Dr. Who on his IMDb profile. The IMDb is notoriously inaccurate for upcoming projects, but this episode seems to have been shot and it’s got an unusually complete page, which isn’t normal for pages with wild inaccuracies. It also has Michael Gambon (Dumbeldore) listed in the episode, and there’s been a lot of reporting on that as well.
You can see the IMDb page in question by clicking here.
I got very excited about this news. I really like Tom Cruise when he’s behind a good director, in a good project, and on the top of his game. He’s been in a lot of movies that I would consider some of my favorites (Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, The Color of Money, Minority Report) and turned in some incredible performances. And who could forget his impeccable comedic turn in Tropic Thunder?
I did some digging and I really can’t find a solid confirmation. I’ve found no denials, but I found a string of articles dating back to November 2007 that said Doctor Who producers were approaching Cruise for a part. Here’s one article from the Boston Globe (who in turn based their report on the UK’s Daily Star):
The ‘Lions for Lambs’ actor is among a host of top US stars, including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Madonna, who the BBC are hoping to get on board for three blockbuster instalments of the British sci-fi series to be filmed next year.
An insider told Britain’s Daily Star newspaper: “BBC producers know they can’t pay these stars what they are used to, but what they can offer is an exciting role in a real cutting-edge show. And the big stars love that kind of kudos.”
I’m not anywhere close to being this caught up. I’m new to Doctor Who mania and I’m an episode away from finishing the first season of Torchwood before I attack David Tennant’s second season as the Doctor in earnest. At this point I would consider myself a burgeoning super-fan and this news actually excites me and is incentive to catch up more quickly.
The episode he’s allegedly on will air on Christmas Day 2010.
What do you guys think? Is this the mistake Den of Geek seems to think it is? Or could this make an episode of Dr. Who into something even more awesome?
Responses to “Tom Cruise in Doctor Who?”
Having seen the trailer for the Christmas special- I have no doubt its going to be epic and amazing, despite ‘who’ is in it.
Well played, sir.
I can’t imagine that IMDB entry is correct.
The character he’s listed as playing is Ethan Hunt, his M:I character. There’s absolutely no reason for a Mission impossible/Doctor Who crossover, and i can’t imagine the BBC would be keeping such a high-profile guest star on the low-down instead of promoting the hell out of it.
I’m pretty confident this is the work of an IMDB prankster.
A) IMDb does have a pretty stringent process.
B) The name could be a joke, both on the page and in the show.
I’m not so sure. At various times, this upcoming Christmas special’s IMDB page has included the following in its cast list:
Tom Baker – The Doctor
Brian Blessed – Omega
Zoe Tapper – Death
Louisa Lytton – Zoe Collins
Octavian Miles – Kroll
John Simm – The Master
Nick Briggs – voice of the Cyber Daleks
Matthew Waterhouse – Adric’s Ghost
Some of those (particularly Adric’s Ghost) are quite funny for long-time DW fans, but not really realiable.
See http://scyfilove.com/3485/doctor-who-christmas-special-cast-has-some-remarkable-names-in-it-spoilers/
I hate Tom Cruise. Why would they have to go and wreck Doctor Who with him. Where is Adric when we need him?
Mr. Cruise was(and maybe still is) in discussion to play a feature film version of the doctor. Bad idea in my opinion.
All of the correct IMDB casting (as in there’s evidence for it) has been taken from this website: http://doctorwhospoilers.ueuo.com/
Everything else is hearsay.
I’m not reporting it as fact. I’d just love to see it.
[...] folks at Big Shiny Robot have pointed out an interesting addition to the Internet Movie Database cast list for the Doctor [...]
IMDb does not have a stringent process at all. In advance of a showing they put nay old rubbish someone submits in, as has been shown on numerous occasions. The one I did, to show how easy it was, was Miranda Richardson as President Romana in The End of Time. An early one, blogged by the person who did it, was Norman Lovett as Davros in The Parting of the Ways.
Think about it, if this were true it would have had to have leaked to IMDb and nowhere else. And if IMDB really were stringent about their entries they would have had to have it confirmed by the BBC or Cruise’s agent. If that was the way IMDb works (it isn’t) then the media would contact the same sources who would confirm the casting (why confirm to IMDb and no-one else?) and the story would be everywhere. Or the BBC or Cruise’s agent would issue a press release, which they did for Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins.
Even if everyone were sworn to secrecy (for no obvious reason), there’s no way a star like Cruise could fly to Cardiff and film in a public place (The Coal Exchange) and only be noticed by someone who submits the information to IMDb and nowhere else.
Not surprisingly, Tom Cruise is no longer listed as being in the Christmas special.
@ @STreanor @profbriancox well fmore successful than my typing on an iPhone !