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Tom Cruise wouldn't agree to 'Tropic Thunder' role without two hilarious requirements

Tom Cruise flew by Conan at San Diego Comic-Con to promote the release of the first Top Gun Maverick trailer. But while he was there, he also revealed how he developed the bawdy Tropic Thunder character, Les Grossman.

The 2008 film marked one of the rare times Cruise has been involved in a comedy. He knew how he wanted to portray the character of Les Grossman, but it came as a bit of a surprise to director Ben Stiller.

Cruise told Stiller, “Look, I'd love to play this character but I want to have fat hands and I'm going to dance.” According to Cruise, his idea for the character was met with quite a bit of skepticism. So he decided to show Stiller his idea in person.

Cruise said that despite not having music, he danced around and crushed soda cans while Stiller filmed him. Stiller added music to the dancing and told Cruise, “I get it, this is hilarious.”

Cruise’s performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination, as well as an appearance at the MTV Movie and TV Awards.

Conan airs weeknights at 11 on TBS.

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