Richard Curtis said he made sure to run his Tom Cruise joke in the new holiday fairytale comedy Genie by the action star.
In the film, Melissa McCarthy‘s character genie Flora develops a major crush on Cruise after going to a movie theater for the first time and seeing him in a Mission: Impossible film. This leads her to cover her bedroom walls with posters of the actor, as well as get a sweatshirt featuring Cruise’s face as a Christmas present from her new friend Bernard (Paapa Essiedu).
In an interview with People magazine, published online Wednesday, the Love Actually writer said they definitely had to ask Cruise for permission before filming.
“I mean, we asked him through his people,” Curtis explained. “I’m lucky enough to know Tom a bit. He’s always been very sweet to me. And we worked on a film for a while, which didn’t happen.”
After the Oscar-nominated writer learned that Top Gun: Maverick actor gave him the go-ahead, he said in response, “I don’t know whether it’s a favor to me and Melissa or whether someone in the mail room said, ‘This sounds okay.’ But it means that after all these years, I’ve at last made a Tom Cruise movie.”
Curtis noted that he was also “so thrilled” to be able to include a three-second clip of Mission: Impossible in the flick.
Genie follows Bernard, a workaholic man who enlists the help of magical genie Flora to help win his family back before Christmas.
As for several other jokes throughout the Sam Boyd-directed movie, the Notting Hill writer said McCarthy actually came up with some of them herself.
“When Melissa would think of a new funny joke, then she would do it, and that’d be great,” Curtis said. “But then, of course, you’ve gotta do it four more times. You’ve got to make sure you got it right. You’ve got to make sure you get it at the right speed from the right angle. So it’s always a mixture between kind of mischief and very conscientious behavior on movies.”
He added, “In my movies, you want it to be emotionally true at the same time as being silly. So [Melissa] went between being impish and just being a really proper, serious actor.”
Genie is currently streaming on Peacock.
