Tom Cruise Is ‘Very Serious’ About Making A Les Grossman Movie Based On His ‘Tropic Thunder’ Character

Cruise has reportedly had “very serious” conversations with his “Mission Impossible—The Final Reckoning” director about reprising his greatest comedic role.

Fans of Ben Stiller’s beloved 2008 war movie comedyTropic Thunder could finally be getting the long-awaited sequel they’ve always wanted. At least according to Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie, who recently teased on a podcast that he has had “very serious” conversations with Tom Cruise about making a spin-off movie based on Cruise’s iconic Tropic Thunder character Les Grossman.

Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, the director confirmed that he and Cruise discussed making a standalone Les Grossman film during filming of The Final Reckoning. McQuarrie said, “The conversations we’ve had about Les Grossman are so fucking funny. [Cruise and I are] talking about it, we’re having very serious conversations about it, and how best to do it. It ultimately comes down to what that character is.”

Les Grossman fans may remember him as the balding, pugnacious movie producer who does a video conference with the filmmakers after a failed shoot and and orders a hulking Key Grip to punch director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) in the face. The fat-fingered fictional producer also famously dances to “Get Back” by Ludacris in the film, which ably showcased Cruise’s comedy chops.

McQuarrie said that talking about about the possibility of a Les Grossman movie allowed himself and Cruise to escape the rigors of making Final Reckoning. “We don’t even think about the structure, we play with scenes,” he said. “Just to be sitting at a breakfast table, not talking about the movie we’re making for a minute, is such decompression. And just riffing with Tom playing Les Grossman at the table, it was one of the real joys of making this movie. It was all the stuff we were doing, planning the future while slugging out the present.” Check out Les Grossman’s greatest Tropic Thunder moments in the video below.