Tom Cruise Was Protective of Gina Gershon While Filming Her First Sex Scene, Even When S

July 2024 · 5 minute read

Gina Gershon appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” and was asked by host Andy Cohen if she ever hooked up with Tom Cruise. The two actors starred together in 1988’s “Cocktail,” where Gershon remembered nearly breaking Cruise’s nose during the filming of a sex scene. The moment just so happened to be Gershon’s first time shooting a love scene in a movie. The actor said Cruise “totally” took care of her while filming.

“He was a gentleman,” Gershon said. “It starts off under the covers and I told him I was very ticklish. I was like, ‘No, no, don’t ever do that.’ In one take, I think he wanted a reaction, and he grabbed my stomach and I kneed him right in the nose. I was like, ‘Oh my god! I just broke Tom Cruise’s nose.’ He was like, ‘No you told me to. It’s my fault.’ He was so protective over me.”

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“Cocktail” starred Cruise as a business student who becomes a bartender to make ends meet. Bryan Brown and Elisabeth Shue co-starred in the film, which earned negative reviews but was still a box office hit with $171 million at the worldwide box office. The film released as Cruise’s star power was skyrocketing in Hollywood after “Risky Business” and “Top Gun.”

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Gershon, meanwhile, was more of a newcomer to Hollywood movies at the time. Her fame increased in the 1990s with acclaimed performances in “Bound,” which Gershon recently revealed she was told not to do as the movie centered on a lesbian relationship. The actor said on the “It Happened in Hollywood” podcast that her agents told her specifically that she “can’t play a lesbian” because it would tank her Hollywood career.

“It was a great script and I could tell they were incredible directors, but my agents were like, ‘We will not let you do this movie. You are ruining your career. You will never work again,’” Gershon said, adding that her agents said they could no longer represent her if she took the part.

“I just said, ‘Oh, well, I guess if you can’t represent me, I’ll go somewhere else.’ You know? No hard feelings,” Gershon continued, noting that she fully believed in the script written by the Wachowskis. “I said, first of all, it’s so shortsighted to say, ‘Oh, this is a lesbian movie.’ I mean, they happen to be lesbians. They happen to be into women, but it’s really a movie about trust.”

Watch Gershon’s full appearance on “Watch What Happens Live” in the video below.

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