When Edward Scissorhands was in development at 20th Century Fox, the studio insisted that director Tim Burton meet with Tom Cruise for the role of Edward, though Burton was originally against it. From the beginning of the casting process, Burton was always interested in Johnny Depp for the role. However, Fox insisted that Burton at least meet with Cruise to discuss the prospect, and their now infamous meeting led to a plethora of reasons Burton ultimately decided not to cast Cruise in the eponymous role.
Edward Scissorhands tells the story of an artificially designed humanoid named Edward; an unfinished, unpolished creation who has scissors in lieu of hands. However, Edward is taken in by a suburban family before falling in love with their teenage daughter Kim, played by the film’s first attached actor Winona Ryder, who has turned down many roles in the past. Burton collaborated and hired screenwriter Caroline Thompson to adapt his conceit into script-form, and Burton began talking with Fox to discuss Cruise playing the lead. However, details of the story and logistical challenges on Cruise’s part ultimately took over most of his meeting with Burton.
During Burton’s meeting with Cruise, Burton felt that Cruise’s incessant questioning about the logistics of the story and his desire for a happier ending to the film ultimately disqualified him from playing Edward. Screenwriter Caroline Thompson also took this view, citing Cruise’s nitpicking of the finished script as the reason he was ultimately passed over for Depp. Additionally, Cruise was reportedly dissatisfied with the melancholic ending of the film, a creative difference too large to smooth over with Burton.
In reflecting on his meeting with Cruise, Burton recalled that a lot of questions came up on Cruise’s part about the largely silent Edward Scissorhands. Caroline Thompson recalled that Cruise asked Burton questions about how Edward went to the bathroom, and other logistical issues (how Edward eats and how he drinks, for example) that both Thompson and Burton felt were irrelevant to the plot of the film. In an interview, Thompson said that Cruise fundamentally misunderstood the delicacy of the film’s subject, and that Cruise axed himself out of landing the lead by asking as much.
Additionally, the film’s ending, which is highly melodramatic and melancholy at best, was another subject of Cruise’s disdain. Reportedly, after reading Thompson’s script, Cruise wanted to change the ending before officially signing on. Alternatively, Burton felt that he and Depp, in developing Edward’s character, had a similar sense of humor and sensibility about the character (which was a deeply personal metaphor for Burton’s life). Cruise’s insistence that they make the film’s ending happier was ultimately a dealbreaker for Burton.
Burton, whose films are known for their specificity and fantastical worlds not bogged down by grim realities, had conceived of Edward as a character reportedly since he was a child. In developing Edward Scissorhands, it of course makes sense for Burton to put great care into who he would hand over his creation to. Between Cruise and Depp, most longtime fans of Burton’s would likely agree that Depp was the right choice over Cruise, whose logistical concerns completely missed the magic of Edward Scissorhands.