Julianne Hough Once Said Tom Cruise Rescued Her in ‘Rock of Ages’
Tom Cruise worked alongside Julianne Hough for the first time in perhaps one of his most obscure features Rock of Ages. But after Hough sustained an injury for the feature, Cruise stopped the actor from pushing it too far.
How Tom Cruise saved Julianne Hough from hurting herself
Hough looked back fondly on her time with Cruise on the movie Rock of Ages. He starred as aspiring singer Sherrie Christian in the film adaptation to the Broadway musical of the same name. The movie featured an ensemble cast that included Cruise as a fictional rock star in the flick.
Because of the role, Hough had to emulate the performance of a real singer. But this wasn’t new territory for Hough, who had a somewhat similar journey to her Rock of Ages character. She received her big break in the television series Dancing with the Stars. Hough would eventually star in the 2011 musical Footloose, further expanding her popularity.
Although used to dancing, Hough experienced a surprising onset mishap while rehearsing for Ages.
“I was practicing this dance number with Tom for two days straight. I was totally fine and didn’t hurt myself and it was, like, 18-hour days dancing hardcore. But the next day I turned my head and it went, ‘Foo,'” she once said according to Contact Music.
Despite the extreme injury, Hough was willing to push through the pain for the sake of the film. But it was Cruise that might’ve stopped Hough from injuring herself any further.
“I was at the point where I had to lay on my back and just breathe. I couldn’t turn my head; it was tilted to the left. Tom was really cool because I actually hurt myself. I’d never hurt myself or injured myself dancing and I tweaked my neck and had three ribs out on my left and three ribs out on my right, and my whole spine was like an ‘S’ and my hips were out of place,” she said. “I’ve got that dancer mentality, like, ‘I can keep going; I’m fine.’ He’s like, ‘Julianne, this is what insurance is for. You’ve got a very long career ahead of you and a very long shoot ahead of you. Stop, and leave it to me.’ I was like, ‘Tom Cruise cares about me!’ I had a Tom Cruise rescue.”
Julianne Hough was bummed that her raunchy scene with Tom Cruise was cut from the movie
Hough echoed the experience that a few other stars had when working alongside Cruise. In a resurfaced interview with Elle, she shared how inspired she was by the example he led.
“His work ethic and discipline is like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” Hough said. “I take pride in working very hard, but he takes it to a whole other level! He’s brilliant at what he does. The reason why he’s the biggest movie star today is because he not only is super-talented but he’s also able to lose himself and be vulnerable in creating his characters.”
She enjoyed her time with the star so much that she was disappointed when one of their scenes didn’t make the film. Hough felt the Mission Impossible star would’ve shocked people even more if the scene was shown in theaters.
“I was bummed that the actual performance was cut. People would have been even more blown away. He got to dance in the scene and was doing more pole dancing than I was! And he was amazing at it. People will probably see it on the DVD,” Hough said.
How Julianne Hough reacted to the idea of giving a lap dance to Tom Cruise
In the musical that Rock of Ages is based on, the characters Hough and Cruise played ended up in an intimate relationship. Hough did research for the film adaptation before officially getting the part. After watching the original musical, she was aware that there might’ve been the possibility of a lap dance with the Edge of Tomorrow actor. But the Rock of Ages star tweaked the film slightly enough where it wouldn’t be exactly the way it was in the source material.
“To kind of go back, I was learning that I might get this role, but the play was coming into town into L.A.. So I went and saw it before I technically had the role, but we were in talks already,” Hough said in a 2012 interview with Uproxx. “So when I saw the play I did see that part and I was like. ‘Oh….yeah! Alright. That is fun and it is Tom Cruise.’ So, yeah, I saw that part and there is a sort of lap dance thing that happens. It is a little bit different. There are some differences in the play that there is in the movie.”
