It should go without saying that what felt like a no-brainer in the early 1990s probably doesn’t read quite the same way today … if it ever even did at the time, that is. Looking back, “The Mask of Zorro” already has a major question mark with the casting of Catherine Zeta-Jones, a Welsh actor, as the Latino character of Eléna Montero. Now imagine compounding the problem by announcing Tom Cruise, of all people, as the unmistakably Mexican masked hero Alejandro Murrieta. This strange-but-true story was once a very real possibility, if not for Cruise exercising quite a bit of careful consideration, thankfully enough.
Mikael Salomon spoke to /Film’s Ben Pearson and included this little nugget for the oral history, explaining how Steven Spielberg attempted to get his future “War of the Worlds” collaborator Cruise on board. Both Viggo Mortenson and Sean Connery were looked at for various roles. But even those big names can’t compare to the likes of Cruise. According to Salomon:
“Who else was [in the mix]? Some big — oh yeah, Tom Cruise. Early on, [Spielberg] wanted to offer it to him. Have you heard that? He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise. And my friend and countryman Bille August had done ‘The House of the Spirits’ with all non-Latinos, and he got in so much hot water because of that, and they picketed the movie in South America. And I said to Steven, ‘You know, that’s probably not a good idea, just for that reason.'”
Salomon’s instincts would eventually be validated, but not until Spielberg went ahead with his offer and reached out directly to Cruise. The call that Salomon would soon receive is one he still remembers to this day.