In 2014, celebrities playing video games is as natural as the sun rising and the earth spinning. But in the 1990s, it wasnāt. Especially when it came to relatively obscure shooters on the Mac.
Hardcore fans of the game might already know about this story (itās quietly done the rounds for years now among the community), but for everyone else: in the mid 90s, while on the set of Mission Impossible in London, Tom Cruise was playing Bungieās classic shooter Marathon. And he got stuck.
https://lastchance.cc/before-they-were-famous-bungie-5805264%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Because Tom Cruise does not call helplines, and because there wasnāt really an internet for this kind of thing, Tom Cruise did what all smart celebrities do, and just called up Bungieās head office, where he was put through to writer (and later creator of Stubbs the Zombie) Matt Soell. Soell tellsthe story from there:
Technically his lackey called me; Tom Cruise has people to do these things for him, you know. I passed the call to Doug Zartman because the lackey was communicating poorly (āHeās in a big dark room, thereās a corridor going out of it but the door doesnāt work, and thereās this monster shooting at him, and thereās another room he can see but he canāt get toā¦ā) Ever try to explain to someone how to explain a Marathon Infinity level to someone else? You can imagine the difficulty. I was getting frustrated, as was the lackey, and Doug bravely volunteered to jump on the grenade, so I transferred the call. Moments later, Tom Cruise (who must have been pretty frustrated himself) grabbed the phone and started talking directly to Doug, who quickly helped him figure out whatever was confusing him.
I believe the lackey was still listening in on an extension or something because at one point Doug jokingly asked Mr. Cruise if he wanted to do an ad for the game and the lackey shouted āNO ENDORSEMENTS!ā
I bet 2014 Tom Cruise, now that heās starred in a movie where he straps on a robot suit and fights aliens, would be totally down to do a Marathon ad.
