Jerry Maguire

Cast: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Renee Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O’Connell, Jay Mohr, Bonnie Hunt & Jonathan Lipnicki

Crew: Written & Directed By: Cameron Crowe Produced By: James L. Brooks, Richard Sakai, Laurence Mark & Cameron Crowe DP: Janusz Kaminski Editors: Joe Hutshing & David Moritz Costume Designer: Betsy Heimann Music Supervisor: Danny Bramson

Theatrical Release Date: December 13, 1996
DVD Release: June 26, 1997
Special Edition DVD: April 30, 2002
Blu-ray Release: September 9, 2008

Tidbits:

  • “Show Me The Money” was named as of the “Top 100 Movie Lines We Can’t Live Without” by Premiere Magazine. You can read Cameron’s comments from the magazine about that line here.
  • Maguire was among the nominees for inclusion on AFI’s list of America’s 100 Funniest Movies and 100 Greatest American Movies. It did not make the Top 100 on either list. It did recently land at #100 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Passions, a list of the 100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time. You can view the entire “passions” list (in addition to all 400 films under consideration) over at the AFI site.
  • It’s also made the cut as one of the “Best 1000 Movies Ever Made” according to the New York Times.
  • Jerry Maguire also made ESPN’s list of the Top 20 Sports Movies of All-Time. It checks in at #11. You can read their thoughts here.
  • There’s a very funny piece about the “reality” of Jerry Maguire over at ESPN’s Page 2. It’s quite lengthy and well researched. It’s obvious that writer Jeff Merron is a big Crowe fan.
  • Empire magazine’s October 1999 issue made the “Show Me The Money” scene their classic scene of the month.
  • In July 1997, Movielineasked stars what role they cherished the most and Cuba Gooding Jr. had this to say:
    • “What do you think? Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire, man. The whole thing just happened so beautifully. I was on my way to a press junket for an HBO movie and my agent called and said there’d be a read-through with Robin Williams today and would I want to go? I said, ‘Sure.’ When I got there Cameron Crowe said, ‘You know, this isn’t a Robin Williams movie. This thing stars Tom Cruise!’ It was so great. I’ve also enjoyed playing an art dealer in Old Friends with Jack Nicholson, because I loved the character and I love working with Jack. We’d be on the set and he would say, ‘You know, I was a 17-year-old runner for MGM the last time I was on this lot.’ Then he’d point to a soundstage and say, ‘Here is where Marlon Brando made the crew members wear kimonos.’ Every day he told a story that blew my mind.”
  • There were actually special effects done for Jerry Maguire by Banned From the Ranch. You can read about it here.
  • The version prepared for the cable TV premiere on Showtime includes a new fictional Reebok advertisement at the end of the film over the closing credits. Director Cameron Crowe originally decided not to include the commercial, which features Cuba Gooding Jr. as athlete Rod Tidwell, in the theatrical version because he thought he ruined the ending. Allegedly, the fictional commercial has been reinstated because of a lawsuit between Reebok and Columbia Pictures over the terms of product placement in the film. You can read about the lawsuit here and the reinsertion for Showtime here.
  • Super agent Leigh Steinberg was one of the main influences on the character of Jerry Maguire. Now, you can read an except from his book Winning with Integrity where he talks about the research that Cameron did with him prior to making the film.
  • “Show Me The Money” was inspired by then Arizona Cardinal cornerback, Tim McDonald who spent time with Crowe.
  • The part was originally written with Tom Hanks in mind as Jerry Maguire.
  • Legendary director Billy Wilder turned down the role of Maguire’s mentor agent, Dicky Fox. Crowe would end up writing “Conversations with Wilder” with Billy later.
  • Renee Zellweger reportedly beat out Bridget Fonda, Marisa Tomei, Patricia Arquette, Cameron Diaz and Winona Ryder for the role of Dorothy.
  • Crowe regular Eric Stoltz’s character is named Ethan Valhere. Stoltz also played a character named Valhere in Say Anything…
  • Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner makes a cameo as Scully, the head of SMI.
  • Musician Glenn Frey (The Eagles) plays Dennis Wilburn of the Arizona Cardinals.
  • Shortly before the movie’s release, Detroit Lions head coach Wayne Fontes was fired. His brief role was not cut from the final edit of the film. Among the other athletes and sports figures appearing as themselves in this film are Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Ki-Jana Carter, Katarina Witt, Drew Bledsoe, and Troy Aikman.
  • Other cameos include, director Mark Pellington (Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”, Arlington Road), Alice in Chain’s Jerry Cantrell, Ally McBeal’s Lucy Liu and Cameron’s mom, Alice.
  • Crowe said this at the Writers Guild Foundation’s “Words Into Pictures” conference in May, 1997: “I was really amazed at how violently people reacted to the sex scene” between Tom Cruise and Kelly Preston. “It almost killed the film for some people. I now realize you have to give people (viewers) an escape hatch. I mean, they’re with a date.”
  • Jerry Maguire was a smash hit when it was released to Home Video in June 1997 with sales of over $80 million) and rentals of $7.6 million.