POP UP CINEMA BRIGHTON

White Wall Cinema presents

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

CAMERON CROWE'S
JERRY MAGUIRE
 TOM CRUISE SEASON
 30TH ANNIVERSARY
4K REMASTER

DIRECTOR: Cameron Crowe

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STARRING: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr,
Bonnie Hunt, Jay Ward, Regina King, Jonathan Lipnicki, & Todd Louiso. 

If we were gamblers, our bet would be that this is the year Tom Cruise wins his first competitive Oscar. But why has it taken so long? It can't be understated just how deep and broad Cruise's prowess as a movie star is, nor the exceptional quality of the creatives he has worked with. For our Tom Cruise season, we take a look at three different maverick directors' treatments of Maverick himself.

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At a time when independent filmmaking was king and dominating award seasons, Jerry Maguire was the only major studio movie to break through with indie-centric award show voters and win big. A modern classic, Jerry Maguire is much more than just a ’90s rom-com. It not only manages the required balancing act between cynicism and sweetness to make it the best of its kind since When Harry Met Sally, but reaches further, becoming a film about being terrified of living your life and the struggle to define yourself in an uncaring world.

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Jerry Maguire is the role Tom Cruise was born to play, flipping the trademark cockiness and brooding intensity that had made his name in the years prior by wisely tapping into the actor’s earnest side. This allows us to see a man not entirely sure of himself, his success, or what success even means. A high-powered sports agent having a crisis of confidence, Maguire finds himself no longer a kingpin of the agents’ world but “hanging on by a very thin thread” to the only client willing to stay with him: egocentric, no-hoper quarterback Rod Tidwell (played here in an astonishing, Oscar-winning performance by Cuba Gooding Jr.). The only employee willing to follow him into his life crisis is Dorothy Boyd (played by Renée Zellweger in her career-breakout performance), a single mother balancing the need to take care of her son against her soft spot for Jerry’s moment of moral clarity.

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Directed by Cameron Crowe, known for films like Say Anything, Singles, Vanilla Sky and, of course, Almost Famous — essentially a retelling of his own story of writing for Rolling Stone as a teenager before later becoming an associate editor of the magazine and creating some of the key profiles of the greatest acts of the ’70s,  the film benefits from Crowe’s status as a key cultural figure in both the music and cinema worlds.

This, of course, leads to a brilliant soundtrack, as ever with Crowe, featuring music from his then-wife Nancy Wilson (of rock band Heart), alongside a host of other beautifully chosen artists. As well as being shot by iconic cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, who has worked on every Steven Spielberg feature since 1993, beginning with Schindler’s List, the film also boasts a stacked cast including Kelly Preston, Jerry O’Connell (Stand by Me), Bonnie Hunt (The Green Mile), Regina King (Boyz n the Hood), Jonathan Lipnicki (Primetime), and Todd Louiso (High Fidelity). Add to that a host of cameos from cultural figures in Crowe’s life, and you have a wonderfully textured film with a beautifully authentic feel.

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A worldwide smash earning $274 million on a $50 million budget, and at least three lines that have become a part of the day to day pop culture lexicon, Jerry Maguire is every inch a cinema classic and deserves to be experienced on the big screen for its 30th anniversary.