Jerry Maguire

Locations 

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

Tidbits:

  • Early scripted titles included True Value, The Personal Touch, Pretty Good Year, We Belong Together, The Lemon Tree, Do the Gods Still Sing to Jerry Maguire?, Something Vicious/Something Sweet, Life + Death, The Sins of Jerry Maguire and Man of the Year.
  • The part was originally written with Tom Hanks in mind as Jerry Maguire.
  • Luke Wilson was the early favorite to play Frank Cushman, but when Cruise was cast, he looked a little to similar to Tom and the role ultimately went to Jerry O’Connell.
  • Others considered for the role of Dorothy include Connie Britton, Mira Sorvino, Bridget Fonda, Marisa Tomei, Patricia Arquette, Cameron Diaz and Winona Ryder.
  • 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.
  • Jay Mohr read for Matt Cushman and Todd the Nanny before being cast in the pivotal role of Bob Sugar.
  • 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, Jeffrey Lurie and Troy Aikman.
  • Other cameos include director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road), Alice in Chain’s Jerry Cantrell, Lucy Liu and Cameron’s mom, Alice.
  • Paula Abdul helped Cuba Gooding Jr. choreograph his touchdown dance.
  • Agents (Gary Wichard, Leigh Sternberg, Drew Rosenhaus), NFL players (Tim McDonald, Drew Bledsoe) and NFL Owner Jim Irsay were just a few of the people that Cameron spent time with during the research phase of the film. But Jerry Maguire and Bob Sugar are pure fictional characters.
  • The “Show Me The Money” line was inspired by then Arizona Cardinal cornerback, Tim McDonald.
  • “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
  • In July 1997, Movieline asked 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.
  • Originally a fictional Reebok advertisement was shot by Reebok for inclusion at the end of the film over the closing credits. Cameron decided not to include the commercial, which features Cuba Gooding Jr. as athlete Rod Tidwell, in the theatrical version but the commercial was reinstated for initial viewings on Showtime. The commercial can be seen as an extra feature on the DVD and Blu-ray.
  • 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.”