Tom Cruise chose ‘Vanilla Sky’ over THIS 2001 Oscar-winning movie

Tom Cruise has delivered several iconic performances on screen over the years. However, many of his fans still wonder whether he regret saying no to films that could have given a slightly different turn to his Hollywood journey.

Much to fans’ surprise, the Top Gun: Maverick star, 60, lost the opportunity to star as a lead in the 2001 acclaimed film, A Beautiful Mind.

The Ron Howard directorial, which starred Russell Crowe in the lead, follows a mathematical genius facing challenges after he accepts secret work in cryptography.

As cinema lovers know, not only the 2001 film went on to be a commercial and critical hit, but the film received eight nominations at the 74th Academy Awards and won 4 of them.

However, Cruise was the makers’ first choice to play Professor John Nash (Crowe). But the Mission Impossible actor had decided to star in Vanilla Sky opposite Penelope Cruz.

Cruise also bought the remake rights of the Spanish film Abre los Ojos following the 1998 Sundance Film Festival presentation.

He approached Cameron Crowe with the offer and the duo started working on the project in late 2000.

While Cruise refused to star in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind, he failed to impress critics with his performance in the sci/fi film.

Vanilla Sky became one of the lowest-rated films of Cruise’s career, with a 43% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.