It may have become a commercial success, but in an interview with BBC Radio One, Cruise revealed that initially, the production team was unsure how they'd get viewers to watch the movie.
"Rain Man is another one, we're like, 'Can't figure out a better title for the movie than Rain Man?' ... When it came out, we're like, 'How are we gonna sell that? Rain Man, what's it mean?" he said. "You know, we'd be in marketing meetings, they'd go, 'What's it mean?' 'Well, you've gotta see the movie.' 'But how do we sell that?' It's like, 'Well, I don't know, that's your job. We make the movie.'"
33 years later, Rain Man is available to watch on Netflix and is as popular now as it was then. The New York Times explained that, when it was first released, Rain Man was considered by some to be quite progressive. Speaking about the film three decades on to the Guardian, its writer Barry Morrow said, "Rain Man was, as far as I know, the first film to portray a lead character with either autism or savant syndrome. Perhaps it's become a stereotype in the eyes of some, but it didn't start there."
It may not be Cruise in his normal action roles but Rain Man is definitely worth a watch.
