Did Tom Cruise Sing in Rock of Ages?

Tom Cruise belts out 80s tunes in Rock of Ages | Paramount

I had some issues with Rock of Ages, mainly that it’s rated PG-13 and should be rated R. You can’t have that many sexual references in a PG-13 movie and have it be ok for 13-year-olds.

Still, there was a lot to love about Rock of Ages (@RockofAgesMovie on Twitter), Tom Cruise’s vocals being one of them. Even through all of his craziness, I’ve always been a fan, partly because he throws himself into every role with gusto — especially if it involves something he’s never done before. Hang from a building in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol? No problem? Be a foul-mouthed agent in Tropic Thunder? Done. Belt out 80s tunes as a rock star in Rock of Ages? That’s cool.

Tom Cruise rocks the fur in Rock of Ages

We can all take a page from Cruise’s book, because he doesn’t try to do these things on his own. He asks for help and hires the best trainers and coaches to get him where he needs to go. For Rock of Ages, he worked hard on his singing with Axl Rose’s former vocal coach Ron Anderson.

“Adam Shankman, the director, asked me if I could carry a tune,” Cruise explained in the June issue of W Magazine. “I said, ‘We’ll see, won’t we? This is either going to work or it’s going to be dreadful.’”

Well, it wasn’t dreadful. It was awesome. Jeremy Woodard, who began playing Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages on Broadway last September, agrees. “For him not to be a singer at all he sounded fantastic,” Woodard told the Wall Street Journal, admitting that maybe he has a teensy leg up on the mega-movie star. “I brought to it someone who’s come from a place of singing, so maybe I got him on that a little bit. I mean, with movies I guess they can fix mistakes, but here, we crack on stage and you’re going to hear every little thing that’s wrong.”

It’s interesting that Cruise never saw Woodard on stage before he began filming the movie, though he did see the Rock of Ages play in L.A. (and was also surprised with a three-song performance at a June 12 Friars Club event where he was honored with an Entertainment Icon Award).

Maybe he wanted to ensure that he’d bring his own rock-star chutzpah to the role of Stacee Jaxx without being clouded by another performance. I do that with my movie and TV reviews — never read other reviews until my own are filed. Because, you know, I’m like Tom Cruise that way.

Read my full review of Rock of Ages over at MommaSaid.net, which runs Reel Life With Jane’s syndicated family movie reviews.

Have you seen Rock of Ages yet? What did you think of Tom Cruise’s singing? 

Comments

10 responses to “Did Tom Cruise Sing in Rock of Ages?”

  1. Melanie Votaw Avatar

    I read some of Alec Baldwin’s tweets during filming, and he said Cruise’s singing was going to blow everyone away. I guess it’s really him!

  2. Living Large Avatar

    I read an interview with him in People too. I, like most American girls my age, loved Tom Cruise early in his career: Taps, The Outsiders, Risky Business (who couldn’t love that underwear scene?), Top Gun, Born on the Fourth of July….but lost interest in him as I aged. Eyes Wide Shut really turned me off, mainly because it was creepy and that jumping on Oprah’s couch thing, what was that all about!? However, I never lost my love for 80s rock, so this just *might* be the movie that puts him back in my favor. 🙂

  3. Roxanne Avatar

    That’s a hoot that he does his own singing. Good for him.

  4. Sheryl Avatar

    Can’t wait to see this one – saw the show and loved it. The movie’s cast is terrific.

  5. MyKidsEatSquid Avatar

    I heard about him singing his own tunes. The film doesn’t appeal to me–I still think movies based on musicals just never capture the magic of seeing it on stage. I loved Hairspray on stage but on film, it just seemed cheesy

  6. Heather Avatar

    You’ve intrigued me. Now I’d like to see the movie.

  7. Diane Avatar
    Diane

    Tom cruise was at his peek when in real life of 1987 when heavy metal was very popular. So him playing as a heavy metal singer that look would of look good on him even when he was a teen idle back then. He was on teen magazines as the songs he did sing on this movie each singer was on Rolling Stone magazine. So weird, though he out done him self. He is still loved from the past up to now. He has shown the world he will never fade out.

  8. Erica Slape Avatar

    Wow he totally blew me away I’m a huge gun’s and roses fan and Bon Jovi his voice was amazing. Not only is Tom Cruise hot but he’s now given himself a name on the stage. In my opinion I think maybe he should consider pursuing further a further career in music. That’s if he can handle the music career and acting. Either way keep rocking Tom xx

  9. Gisele L. Avatar
    Gisele L.

    Nice singing, but they really should have rated this film, ‘R.’

  10. Marie Daley Avatar
    Marie Daley

    He was a true ROCKSTAR!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *