Rob Lowe claims that Tom Cruise deprived him of two roles he was keen to land: Top Gun and Jerry Maguire. Lowe settled on the phrase "dastardly" to explain the rivalry. He made it clear there is no hard feelings between them.
Nicole Kidman, Cruise's former wife, has said she almost gave up acting because of him. Both of these remarks position him at the heart of important career shifts for people around him during the 1980s and 1990s.