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Celebrity tidbits...

Lorde has an Instagram account where she rates onion rings. It's called onionringsworldwide.

Reese Witherspoon studied at Stanford University for a year before droppingout to pursue acting.

Jennifer Lawrence has an H20 tattoo on her hand to remind her to drink more water.

Akon owns a South African diamond mine.

Tyra Banks has a phobia of dolphins.

Katy Perry wasn't allowed to eat Lucky Charms because her parents said that "luck was linked to the devil".

The Shortest Men In Hollywood

The average height for men in the United States is 5 feet 9 inches tall. But many of Hollywood’s leading men are shorter than average, which proves height isn’t a barrier to success when it comes to starring on the silver screen .

While their on-screen presence may be huge, these guys are among the shortest actors in Hollywood.

Antonio Banderas – 5 Feet 8 1/2 Inches

The Spanish-born, award-winning actor, who is just under 5 feet 9 inches tall, was actually a soccer protégé as a youth, according to his biography on Britannica . A serious foot injury when he was 14 dashed his dreams of becoming a professional soccer player and he developed a new interest in acting after playing a role in the rock musical Hair . He transitioned into Hollywood, taking intensive English lessons before landing the role of Tom Hanks’ lover in the 1993 movie Philadelphia . The international film star is also known for playing Zorro in the eponymous film series.

Humphrey Bogart – 5 Feet 8 Inches

Actually, Humphrey Bogart was one of the tallest on our list, at 5 feet 8 inches. But Bogie was concerned that the audience would notice he was smaller than his Casablanca  co-star Ingrid Bergman. She was told to slouch on the sofa in some scenes, while Bogart was perched on extra cushions so they appeared more level, according to The Telegraph .

Jonathan Lipnicki – 5 Feet 8 Inches

Actor Jonathan Lipnicki was just 5 years old when he starred alongside Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger in Jerry Maguire  as Ray. (Remember how adorable he was in his eyeglasses?) He also starred in family-friendly movies like Stuart Little and Like Mike .

The actor, who is 5 feet 8 inches tall, says he doesn’t want to piggyback on his early success and wants to continue taking theater classes, according to an interview with the Huffington Post .

“I think the problem with a lot of child stars and why they don’t make the transition, they think, ‘Well, the world owes me something.’ But the world doesn’t, the world doesn’t owe you anything. You need to continue to improve your skills as you grow up.” More recently, he starred in the high school comedy Loserville .

Giancarlo Esposito – 5 Feet 8 Inches

Actor Giancarlo Esposito is well known for playing calculated drug kingpin Gustavo Fring in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul . In an interview with AMC , Esposito, who is 5 feet 8 inches, said that in real life, he’s energetic and excitable. Yoga and meditation have helped him get into the role of Gus, who is “cool as a cucumber”.

Esposito also plays Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian , the first live-action Star Wars series. He’s also worked with acclaimed director Spike Lee in films like Do the Right Thing , School Daze , and Mo’ Better Blues .

Mark Wahlberg – 5 Feet 8 Inches

The Boogie Nights  and Entourage star, who is 5 feet 8 inches tall, comes from a big, close-knit family. You can get a glimpse into Wahlberg family life in the reality show Wahlburgers , which is about the family’s burger business. The show aired for 10 seasons before coming to an end in 2019.

If you grew up in the 1980s, you probably also know Mark Wahlberg as the kid brother of Donny from the boy band New Kids on the Block. Mark Wahlberg, who had a Calvin Klein modeling contract, started his own rap collective, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, in the early ’90s, but the group’s album flopped and he shifted to Hollywood, according to Rolling Stone .

Joaquin Phoenix – 5 Feet 8 Inches

Joaquin Phoenix, who — in 2020 — won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in Joker , is 5 feet 8 inches tall. While a lot of actors decide to change their names as they break into Hollywood, you might be surprised to know that Joaquin Phoenix, according to Vogue Paris , changed his name to Leaf at age 4 before going back to his birth name in 1991, at the age of 16. Also interesting is that the actor is a vegetarian and a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In fact, in 2019, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) named Phoenix its “ Person of the Year “.

Tobey Maguire – 5 Feet 8 Inches

As a youth, Tobey Maguire got his start with small roles on shows like Roseanne and Blossom after his mom encouraged him to take acting lessons. Maguire, who is 5 feet 8 inches tall, is best known for his superhero role in the Spider-Man series. But he also played Nick Carraway, the writer who moves next door to millionaire Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), in the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby  and has had roles in movies like Cider House Rules  and Seabiscuit .

Jack Black – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Jack Black played a giant in Gulliver’s Travels . But in real life, the actor is 5 feet 7 inches tall. He’s in good company with his Jumanji costar, Kevin Hart, who’s also on this list.

Dave Franco – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Now You See Me  actor Dave Franco measures in at about 5 feet 7 inches tall — significantly shorter than his older brother James Franco, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall.

Dave starred in Warm Bodies , a 2013 zombie drama, and when an MTV interviewer asked him how he would fare if the undead took over the world, his response was a fun one: “I’m a small shifty kind of guy, I think I would be up in the hills… shooting from above, while the big guys are going at it from below.” He went on to say that he’s played sports his whole life, so he’d be a good asset to humans.

Jonah Hill – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Conversations surrounding comedian Jonah Hill’s weight loss have been more of a topic than his height.

Hill, who is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, has credited past weight loss success to meeting with a nutritionist and cleaning up his diet. His Jump Street  co-star Channing Tatum gave him some pretty simple weight loss advice: Eat less and work out with a trainer, according to an interview Hill did with Jimmy Fallon.

But the best part of the exchange between Hill and Fallon? The Superbad  star divulged during his late-night appearance that he mistakenly emailed singer Drake his daily food diary instead of sending it to his nutritionist. Oops! Another tidbit about Jonah Hill: His birth name was actually Jonah Feldstein. (These are the surprising “ real names ” of 34 more celebrities.)

Al Pacino – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Known for his gangster roles and his explosive acting style, Al Pacino, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, has had a prolific career.

But his short stature almost cost him his role in The Godfather . During a Tribeca film festival discussion in 2017, “The Godfather” cast reunited, and it was revealed that Paramount producers thought Pacino was “too short” for the role and wanted a Robert Redford-type, according to Entertainment Weekly . Director Francis Ford Coppola was in Pacino’s corner, though.

James McAvoy – 5 Feet 7 Inches

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, James McAvoy downplayed his leading-man status.

“I’m 5-foot-7, and I’ve got pasty white skin,” he said in the interview. “I don’t think I’m ugly, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not your classic lead man, Brad Pitt guy.” The interview was from 2007, when McAvoy was starring in a romantic war drama, Atonement .

More recently, the Scottish actor starred in Split , playing a variety of different characters all living within one body.

Tom Cruise – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Tom Cruise is allegedly 5 feet 7 inches tall. We use the word “allegedly” because there’s actually a lot of speculation about the Top Gun star’s height, with numerous discussion boards and blogs on the topic trying to prove he’s closer to 5 feet 5 inches tall. (If you want to go down that rabbit hole, here’s a Pinterest board that zeroes in on times he’s worn heeled boots or shoe lifts to possibly make himself appear taller.)

Most recently, Cruise also had a smash hit with the release of the Top Gun sequel, Tom Gun: Maverick , which her starred in alongside the six foot Val Kilmer.

Joe Rogan – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Joe Rogan may be best known for his podcast  The Joe Rogan Experience , but let’s not forget about his acting career too. He starred in shows such as  Hardball  and  Newsmedia before becoming an interviewer and color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Of course, now that we only hear his voice as opposed to seeing his face, it becomes a little easier to forget how tall he is in comparison to the people he works with.

Simon Helberg – 5 Feet 7 Inches

You know him as supernerd Howard Wolowitz from the sitcom T he Big Bang Theory . But Helberg, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, has made a smooth transition from television to film, nabbing roles in the musical Annette and starring alongside Meryl Streep in the comedy-drama Florence Foster Jenkins .

Emilio Estevez – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Son of Martin Sheen and brother of Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez comes from a family of actors. At 5 feet 7 inches, he’s the same height as his father and a few inches shorter than his brother Charlie. Estevez appeared in several movies that defined the 1980s, including The Outsiders , The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire .

Now, he’s found his niche as an independent filmmaker. In his most recent film, The Public , Estevez plays a Cincinnati librarian who is in the middle of a standoff between police and a group of the city’s homeless people seeking shelter in the library during a cold freeze.

Zach Galifianakis – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Funny guy Zach Galifianakis gave us the memorable wolfpack speech and plenty of other quotable bits in The Hangover . But beyond the trio of Hangover movies he starred in, Galifianakis has hosted a web series called Between Two Ferns  where he interviews notable guests, including former President Barack Obama. And did you know Galifianakis, who is 5 feet 7 inches, was in a Kanye West music video , too?

Billy Crystal – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Martin lawrence – 5 feet 7 inches.

Martin Lawrence is a comedic icon. He starred in his own sitcom, Martin , for five seasons in the 1990s and still performs stand-up. If you’ve noticed him shadowboxing before his recent comedy specials, it comes naturally: The comedy legend is also a former boxer.

“It just gets me loose and everything before I go out there,” Lawrence told GQ in a recent interview.

In this photo, Lawrence, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, is standing next to his Bad Boys co-star Will Smith, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall. Bad Boys for Life , the third installment in the “Bad Boys” franchise, came out in winter 2020, which is 25 years after the original cop movie debuted. Can you believe that when the first Bad Boys  debuted, Smith was acting in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Martin  was still on the air?

Jesse Eisenberg – 5 Feet 7 Inches

Actor Jesse Eisenberg is well-known for playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network , a role that got him an Oscar nomination. But did you know that the actor, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, is also a writer? He has a book of short stories, many of which were first published in the New Yorker . Raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Eisenberg is the son of two teachers.

Martin Freeman – 5 Feet 6 1/2 Inches

Height hasn’t come up much in interviews with British actor Martin Freeman, though the Daily Mail reported he’s 5 feet 6 1/2 inches tall. However, there is a quote that gets circulated by blogs and on social media about him not being overwhelmed with size, saying just because something is big, doesn’t mean it’s better. In the expletive-laden quote that’s been meme-ified, he quips that he stars in the The Hobbit  for a reason. We weren’t able to track down the full quote for confirmation, but this YouTube clip (careful, there’s an F-bomb in it) appears to be a truncated version, where he says “There’s no denying, however, I’m in the (expletive) Hobbit .”

Marc Anthony – 5 Feet 6 1/2 Inches

Better known as a Grammy award-winning singer, Marc Anthony has dabbled in acting, too. The star, who is 5 feet 6 1/2 inches tall, played supporting roles in Hackers  and The Substitute in the mid-’90s. In 2004, Anthony played a larger role in the crime thriller Man on Fire . In the movie, Anthony plays a wealthy Mexico City businessman who hires a former U.S. Special Forces Soldier (Denzel Washington) to protect his daughter from kidnappers. Anthony and his ex-wife Jennifer Lopez have twins who were born in 2011.

Dustin Hoffman – 5 Feet 6 Inches

Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman has starred in box office hits including The Graduate , Midnight Cowboy , Rain Man and Hook . The actor is about 5 feet 6 inches tall.

In an interview with The Guardian , the actor acknowledged his height, saying he was pleasantly surprised director Mike Nichols cast him in The Graduate . “Nichols chose to give this short, funny-looking Jewish guy the role usually reserved for a tall, handsome protestant,” he said in the interview .

Jonathan Taylor Thomas – 5 Feet 6 Inches

Jonathan Taylor Thomas played middle son Randy on the sitcom Home Improvement  and was quite the teen heartthrob in the ’90s . After the show ended, he’s appeared in television shows such as Veronica Mars and Last Man Standing , and voiced Simba in The Lion King . JTT grew up to become 5 feet 6 inches tall.

Alan Ladd – 5 Feet 6 Inches

A film noir star of the 1940s, Alan Ladd would sometimes stand on boxes to appear as though he was as tall as his female co-stars. Ladd was 5 feet 6 inches tall. Other tricks of the trade back then included women wearing ballet flats or lowering their heights by standing in trenches, according to The Telegraph .

Elijah Wood – 5 Feet 6 Inches

In a segment with Conan O’Brien, Lord of the Rings  star Elijah Wood revealed that he is often mistaken for Harry Potter  actor Daniel Radcliffe. The blue-eyed actors are similar in height, but Wood, at 5 feet 6 inches tall, has an inch on Radcliffe.

Aziz Ansari – 5 Feet 6 Inches

Parks and Recreation  alum and comedian Aziz Ansari is 5 feet 6 inches tall.

A few years ago, GQ magazine applauded Ansari for outdressing Jon Hamm (who you know as Don Draper on Mad Men ), declaring it a “win for short men worldwide”. Both men donned dark blue suits, but GQ took note of how well-tailored Ansari was, saying it was a “great example of how sometimes the clothes you’re wearing can kick the (expletive) of a man almost a foot taller than you”.

To be fair, Hamm is listed as being 6 feet 2 inches tall, so it’s a bit of a stretch to declare him a whole foot taller than Ansari. And another footnote: We’re skeptical about the correlation between height and style.

Jet Li – 5 Feet 6 Inches

Known for his martial arts skills, actor Jet Li’s breakout Hollywood role was in Lethal Weapon 4 back in 1998. The actor, who is 5 feet 6 inches, has divided his time between China and Hollywood, starring in movies. His most recent Hollywood performance was as the Emperor in Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan  in 2020. An interesting fact about Jet Li: His name was shortened from Li Lianjie.

Danny Trejo – 5 Feet 6 Inches

In addition to being well-known for his work in Hollywood, Danny Trejo also works as a drug counselor for at-risk youth, a role that earned him recognition from the Los Angeles City Council in 2020. Trejo, who is 5 feet 6 inches tall, got his start in film by starring as a boxer in the 1985 movie Runaway Train  and has starred in dozens of movies and shows since. In 2010, he landed a major protagonist role in the Robert Rodriguez-directed film Machete .

Bruno Mars – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Mars is primarily known as a musician, but the “24K Magic” singer is multi-talented. His music appeared in movies like Pitch Perfect and Friends with Benefits , and he was the voice of Roberto in Rio 2 . The star is 5 feet 5 inches tall, and to steal one of his famous lyrics, “You’re amazing just the way you are”.

Richard Dreyfuss – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Starring in films like Jaws , Stand by Me , and Mr. Holland’s Opus , Richard Dreyfuss was an acclaimed actor often appearing on the big screen between the 1970s and ’90s. The Golden Globe winner is 5 feet 5 inches tall. During an interview with Today , he used a short stature as a comparison for why he doesn’t feel ashamed of his mental illness (he has bipolar disorder).

“It’s like being ashamed that you’re 5-foot-6 or something,” he said in the interview. “It’s just part of me.”

Daniel Radcliffe – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Harry Potter  star Daniel Radcliffe doesn’t think his height is holding him back in Hollywood. During an interview with Playboy , the 5-feet-5-inches-tall actor was asked if his size limits the roles he plays. He responded: “I don’t think so. Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise have very different careers, and they’re both about the same height as I am. I could play a soldier. The minimum height for a marine is five feet, and I’m well above that.”

He went on to quip that if he were cast in a football movie, it would be as a general manager, not the quarterback.

Ken Jeong – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Funnyman Ken Jeong , who’s had roles in Community and The Hangove r, is 5 feet 5 inches tall. Perhaps more fascinating than his height, though? The comedian has a medical degree and was a general practitioner before switching to acting. His breakout role was as a doctor in the comedy Knocked Up . In fact, he took a week off from his real doctor job so he could star as a doctor.

Johnny Galecki – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Johnny Galecki, who played a physicist in The Big Bang Theory , is 5 feet 5 inches tall. While he hasn’t been widely quoted on the topic of height, he does think the image of geeks is changing. Geeks, he said in an interview with The New York Times Arts Beat blog, are akin to modern-day rock stars.

“We have Nobel Prize winners asking if they can guest-star on the show,” he said. “The image of a scientist in the last 10 to 15 years has changed drastically. It used to be pasty guys in a basement with beakers and now it’s Steve Jobs — they’re almost the rock stars of our age.”

Scott Caan – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Starring as detective Danny “Danno” Williams on Hawaii 5-0 , Scott Caan has an extra five inches on the show’s name, as his height clocks in at 5 feet 5 inches. The CBS crime drama reboot that’s set on Hawaii’s beaches is now in its 10th season.

More interesting than height, though, is Caan’s signature, slicked-back hairstyle. In an interview with Esquire , Caan said he was influenced by the greasers in the 1983 movie The Outsiders .

“The only other things I’ve ever done are shave my head bald and wear a Mohawk. [My hair] just wants to go back,” he said.

Toby Jones – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Toby Jones landed the role of Truman Capote in the biopic Infamous in 2006. Since then, it seems like the English actor has been everywhere. Jones, who is 5 feet 5 inches, has starred in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom , Dad’s Army and Disney’s Christopher Robin  among many other movies. He’s also the voice of Dobby in the Harry Potter films. (But if you ever run into him, don’t ask him to do the Dobby voice. He’s retired it for good, according to an interview with Radio Times .)

BD Wong – 5 Feet 5 Inches

BD Wong, part of the Jurassic World franchise, has had substantial recurring roles on Law and Order: SVU , Gotham , and Mr. Robot . But in an interview with GQ in which Wong dives into a persistent problem of casting Asian-American actors as supporting roles, Wong talks about wanting bigger parts in movies and being cautious about roles that typecast him as a medical professional. The 5-foot-5-inch-tall actor also stars on Broadway and won a Tony Award for his performance as Song Liling in M. Butterfly.

Jerry Stiller – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Comedy runs in the Stiller family. Father of comedian Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller has starred in movies like Zoolander  with his son. He’s also played the quick-to-anger Frank Costanza, the father of George Costanza, on Seinfeld  and the always-scheming Arthur Spooner on The King of Queens .

In the 1960s, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara made up the popular husband-and-wife comedy duo Stiller and Meara . Jerry Stiller, who is 5 feet 5 inches tall, was also a frequent guest on the The Ed Sullivan Show .

Woody Allen – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Writer and director Woody Allen, whose career spans more than six decades, has often starred in his own work, including two of his most famous films, Annie Hall and Manhattan . He got his start in comedy at age 15 by writing jokes for a newspaper. Allen’s legacy, though, has been shrouded in controversy as his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow has alleged he sexually assaulted her when she was a child. The filmmaker has denied the allegations and has never been criminally charged.

David Spade – 5 Feet 5 Inches

David Spade’s relaxed and funny attitude has earned him multiple roles. Although, what really helped kick off his career was his time as a cast member on  Saturday Night Live . He only had up to go after that. Except for in height that is. Spade’s only five-foot-five.

Billy Joel – 5 Feet 5 Inches

Billy Joel’s one of the most famous musicians still alive. His music’s really timeless. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn’t like at least one of his songs. But the “Piano Man”, himself, isn’t really that tall, only five-foot-five, in fact. It’s just hard to tell since people seem to always see him sitting down at the piano.

Kevin Hart – 5 Feet 4 1/2 Inches

Leave it to self-deprecating comedian Kevin Hart to crack jokes about his height. In a Variety  video , the Night School actor says: “Hey, what’s going on, I’m Kevin Hart, and one thing you may not know about me is… I’m 5 foot 4-1/2. A lot of people think it’s just 5-4. It’s not. Five-foot-four-and-a-half.”

Perhaps the video was a response to the  Vulture infographic about height in Hollywood that put Hart at 5 feet 2 inches tall.

Seth Green – 5 Feet 4 Inches

Seth Green and his wife, model-actress Clare Grant, bonded over a shared love of comics and fast food when they first met, according to People . Their height discrepancy ? It’s no big deal. Green, an actor and voice artist who you might recognize from Robot Chicken or Family Guy , is 5 feet 4 inches tall, which is a few inches shorter than his wife.

Joe Pesci – 5 Feet 4 Inches

Joe Pesci is known for his “tough guy” roles, proving you don’t need to be tall to be intimidating. Pesci is 5 feet 4 inches tall. He’s known for his roles in Home Alone , My Cousin Vinnie , Casino , and Goodfellas  — for which he won an Oscar and gave what must have been one of the shortest acceptance speeches ever .

Michael J. Fox – 5 Feet 4 Inches

At 5 feet, 4 inches tall, Michael J. Fox is among the shortest men in Hollywood. But what’s more noteworthy: The award-winning Back to the Future and Family Ties star has been recognized for his advocacy surrounding Parkinson’s Disease. The neurological disorder causes trembles, stiffness and balance issues.

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at age 29 and, in 2000, launched a foundation that has raised close to $1 billion for research and also brought more general awareness of the condition. In an interview with People , Fox said he believes researchers are getting close to being able to stop the progression of the disease.

Charlie Chaplin – 5 Feet 4 Inches

A small stature was an advantage for actor Charlie Chaplin during the silent film era. At 5 feet 4 inches tall, Chaplin’s most famous role was in The Tramp , where he played a sweet man in a bowler hat, with a slick black mustache and a cane.

Being small helped with contrast, which is key to comedy, according to his obituary in The New York Times that included some of the observations he made over the years. The Times reported that he had said: “If I am being treated harshly, it is always a big man who is doing it; so that, by the contrast between the big and the little, I get the sympathy of the audience.”

Tom Hollander – 5 Feet 4 Inches

Tom Hollander… short? The English actor with a lengthy, varied career doesn’t fixate on it.

“Funnily enough I never thought of myself as being short,” Hollander told The Independent in an interview. “Being an actor has made me much more conscious of it than I would have been otherwise.”

Hollander’s career has included roles in action blockbusters such as two Pirates of the Caribbean  films, and he’s starred in period pieces like Gosford Park and Pride and Prejudice . In 2011, Rev — which he co-wrote and played the lead role in — won the British Academy Television Award for best sitcom. Next up: He’ll be the voice of Prince Philip and Prince Charles in an HBO Max animated satire about the Royal Family, according to the Hollywood Reporter .

Frankie Muniz – 5 Feet 4 Inches

Frankie Muniz is currently out of the limelight, having essentially retired from acting to better take care of his body. Although, he’ll always be remembered for the roles he was in while still a child and teenager, like  Agent Cody Banks  and  Malcolm in the Middle . Of course, people’s association with him as a child actor make it a little easier to imagine him as a short man now. He is five-foot-four after all.

David Faustino – 5 Feet 3 Inches

David Faustino’s most recognizable role was that of Bud Buddy on the ’90s sitcom Married with Children . He did try to launch a rap career as well, with the name Lil’ Gweed. We’re not sure if he was referencing his height (he’s 5 foot 3 inches tall) or just using a common rap moniker. (Think:  Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ Dicky, Lil’ Jon, Lil’ Kim …)

Nathan McMullen – 5 Feet 3 Inches

An actor known for his role on The Misfits , Nathan McMullen is 5 feet 3 inches tall. He describes his role in the British sci-fi comedy-drama as Finn as a “man child”. He also had a role in Dr. Who , playing the part of Wolf the elf.

Martin Scorsese – 5 Feet 3 Inches

Once asked his thoughts on sports, producer-director-actor Martin Scorsese replied : “Sports? Anything with a ball, no good!”

At 5 feet, 3 inches tall, it’s not likely the Goodfellas director would have ever been a starting forward on the basketball court. Today, he’s one of the most influential directors in Hollywood. The Academy Award winner has also dabbled in acting, with appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and 30 Rock .

Rob Schneider – 5 Feet 3 Inches

You probably never thought that Rob Schneider was very tall, but you probably didn’t realize how short he actually was. At 59 years old, he’s probably one of the shortest actors still active in Hollywood. Although, he’s also become a lot more controversial figure in the last couple of years. He’s still appeared in several movies and television series, better known for his comedic chops.

Prince – 5 Feet 2 Inches

The iconic singer also dabbled in acting, starring in the 1984 film “Purple Rain”. A couple of years before his death, he also made a rare cameo on the comedy New Girl . Prince was 5 feet 2 inches tall and often wore heels.

He was once quoted saying: “People say I’m wearing heels because I’m short. I wear heels because the women like ’em”.

Elliot Page – 5 Feet 1 Inch

This Canadian actor has received numerous awards and regard for several years of acting, even appearing in blockbusters like  Inception  and  X-Men: Days of Future Past . His most notable role in recent memory is from in  The Umbrella Academy . Although, to those unfamiliar with Elliot Page’s work, they may be more familiar with their roles as Ellen Page. Elliot Page transitioned from female to male in 2020.

Danny DeVito – 4 Feet 10 Inches

In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning , actor Danny DeVito discussed being short, saying when he was in school, he wanted to be comfortable and have friends and would try to compensate for his short height with his big personality. It was mostly awkward at school dances, he said in the interview. (Perhaps the high school senior who  took a cardboard cutout of him to her prom made up for it?)

The Emmy-awarding winning actor who starred in Taxi  and is now a fan favorite in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia  is under 5 feet tall. DeVito has multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, also known as Fairbank’s disease, which is a genetic disorder that impacts bone growth.

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10 Of The Shortest Men In Hollywood

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He's made a career for himself in the name of comedy and doesn't mind being the butt of the joke — including jokes about his height.  Collider said Black stands in at five feet, six inches tall.

8 Elijah Wood: 5 Feet 6 Inches

Elijah Wood has been a working actor since the '90s but it wasn't until  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring  that his celebrity really blossomed . Starring as Frodo, the series led him to other roles in  Green Street Hooligans, Happy Feet, Wilfred , and  Star Wars Resistance. 

Standing at five feet, six inches , Wood is on the shorter side of the national average but it hasn't stopped him from creating a successful career for himself on camera. Keep an eye on Wood in  L.A. Rush , which is in post-production!

7 Aziz Ansari: 5 Feet 6 Inches

Aziz Ansari is a comedian and actor who is most known for his time on  Parks and Recreation . Fans may also recognize his voice in  Bob's Burgers ! Ansari is known for his short stature and a unique voice, which makes him the perfect candidate for comedies and animated shows.

RELATED:  10 Comedians With Hilarious Instagram Accounts

Standing in at five feet, six inches , Ansari has practically made a name for himself from jokes at himself but it's all in good fun. As of this publishing, Ansari doesn't have anything in the works on his  IMDb page but fans can rewatch his series  Master of None on Netflix.

6 Bruno Mars: 5 Feet 5 Inches

Ever since Bruno Mars stood next to Taylor Swift at the MTV Music Video Awards fans couldn't help but talk about how short Bruno Mars was. To be fair, Taylor Swift is five feet, 10 inches, so she's much taller and slender than most celebrities on the red carpet.

On the other hand, Mars is five feet, five inches . While singing at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show , fans couldn't help but notice the lifts in Mars' shoes to make him appear taller in a sea of supermodels.

5 Daniel Radcliffe: 5 Feet 5 Inches

Daniel Radcliffe is one child star who was able to combat the tragedies of gaining success at a young age and come out on top as a successful adult actor in Hollywood. He's been honest about the troubles he's had in the past with alcohol  and was able to regain control of his life before spiraling.

Standing at five feet, five inches, Radcliffe actually did an interview about heigh differences in the industry. When asked if he thought his height held him back, he had this to say, "I don't think so. Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise have very different careers, and they’re both about the same height as I am."

4 Lil Wayne: 5 Feet 5 Inches

His name is  Lil  Wayne for a reason! Standing at five feet, five inches, Lil Wayne may be small but his music career is huge. With an estimated net worth of $120 million , Lil Wayne is raking in the cash with every hit song and world tour.

Instead of giving in to the haters, Lil Wayne has never let his stature stop him from creating award-winning raps and sold-out shows.

3 Kevin Hart: 5 Feet 4 Inches

Kevin Hart is one comedian who uses his height as the star of most of his jokes. With dear friends like The Rock, Kevin Hart has no problems poking fun at himself for this short height; especially when standing next to someone as tall as The Rock.

At five-feet, four inches, Kevin is smaller than most men in Hollywood . He's also three inches shorter than his wife Eniko. His heigh, however, has never stopped him from landing lead roles, like in  Ride Along, Jumanji ,  Night School , and a whole lot more. He also has five new projects in post-production coming out in the near future.

2 Rob Schneider: 5 Feet 3 Inches

Rob Schneider is one of Adam Sandler's best friends and often pops up in many of his movies. He's that hilarious face that adds a touch of comedy to any role.

At five feet, three inches, Schneider has stood in roles for  The Hot Chick, The Animal, Real Job, Grown Ups,  and in the newest Adam Sandler movie coming out later this year,  Hubie Halloween .

1 Danny DeVito: 4 Feet 10 Inches

It shouldn't be a shock that Danny DeVito is coming in as the shortest celebrity in Hollywood. At four feet, 10 inches, he's just two inches taller than  Jersey Shore's Snooki.

DeVito's height has been talked about for years and is typically a bit in most of his work. According to The Modest Man , DeVito's height is largely in part of a bone growth disorder called multiple epiphyseal dysplasias, but it adds to his phenomenal character. He's been married to actress Rhea Perlman since the '80s, has three wonderful children, and continues to act despite speed bumps that are out of his control.

NEXT:  10 Celeb Pairs Who Are Actually Best Friends IRL

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Standing Tall in Hollywood: Tom Cruise’s Success Story at 5 Feet 7 Inches

American actor and producer Tom Cruise , standing at 5ft 7 ¾ (172.1 cm), is best known for being one of the highest-paying actors in the world , with an estimated net worth of $600 million .

Explore More About Tom Cruise:

Discover fun facts about tom cruise, the top gun star, the real height of tom cruise revealed, why tom cruise’s height is a hot topic.

• Tom Cruise and His Relationships with Taller Partners

Onscreen Heights: Tom Cruise Beside Brad Pitt

The ongoing debate over tom cruise’s height, katie holmes’ 33rd birthday celebration: style and venue details.

Starring in classic films such as Mission: Impossible, Top Gun , and Rain Man, this actor has undoubtedly gained much attention worldwide.

While Cruise has stood proud with his vast array of awards and recognition, including nominations for three Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards, this well-known Hollywood star has still magnetized attention, focusing on his apparent lack of height.

There has been much discussion about how tall Tom Cruise actually is. Read on to learn more about this topic and delve into this intriguing discussion!

Despite being commonly listed as 5’7″, Tom Cruise is reported to stand at 5ft 7 ¾ (172.1 cm). Interestingly, in the 1980s, he was often cited as being 5’8” or even 5’9”.

Indeed, in 1988, Cruise stated that he stood at 5’9” and weighed 147 pounds. Many observed him to have an average height and build. However, his striking blue eyes and captivating grin distinguished him from others in the film world.

However, being sighted next to other actors, actresses, and romantic partners has helped uncover the extent to which this actor really is short in this industry.

Despite this, Cruise hasn’t allowed this factor to emasculate him, tackling his career head-on in various captivating and memorable roles.

Tom Cruise wears a US men’s shoe size 9. In the UK, his shoe size is 8.5, and in Europe, it would be approximately size 42.

With the average male height standing at around 5’9” , many often point out the difference in Cruise’s height to others around him, especially when he is surrounded by over 6-foot-tall bodyguards who appear to dwarf him.

While shorter than the average male, this physicality hasn’t held Cruise back in his career, where he has stolen the show across decades of filmmaking.

Cruise has shown that he can work with a wide range of people, even if there is a much taller actress.

Tom Cruise and His Relationships With Taller Partners

Having dated many women who are standing taller than average , Tom Cruise’s ex-wife, American-born Australian actress Nicole Kidman , is just one of these women.

Within the film industry herself, Kidman wore incredibly flat shoes while filming Days of Thunder , yet the height difference between herself and Cruise was still very distinguishable.

“They had me in really flat shoes, but you could still see I was taller than him. I’d prefer to be smaller, but I don’t mind. I like the fact that he’s one of the most famous actors in the world and can work with anybody – but he doesn’t mind working with an actress who’s taller,” Kidman said about filming the 1990 American sports action drama film.

After the couple’s divorce , Kidman soon joked that she could wear high heels again without the height drawing too much attention.

Cruise’s other ex-wife, Katie Holmes , is also taller than him at 5’9”, so it’s obvious that Cruise has had a history of getting used to his less-than-average height.

Cruise’s first official partner, Mimi Rogers, stands two inches taller than him at 5 feet 9 inches. Famous American singer Cher also took Cruise’s fancy, displaying this actor’s love for taller and older women.

Therefore, while many factors stand in the way of modern relationships, Cruise appears to put love first when it comes to coupling up.

Rumors abound that Tom Cruise enhanced his stature with shoe lifts or elevated boots during ‘Interview with the Vampire’ to appear taller alongside Brad Pitt .

During filming, Cruise stood on platforms next to Pitt in certain scenes. The production team always tried to devise innovative solutions to reduce the height difference between Cruise, who is 5’7”, and Pitt, who is 5’11”.

Therefore, they cleverly dug ditches for Pitt to stand in while acting in scenes opposite Cruise.

Considering the improvisations and techniques the team had to use to reduce the noticeable height differences between the two actors, it’s impressive that the film has held up so well over the years.

Therefore, while much discussion has been about one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood’s less-than-average height, Tom Cruise doesn’t allow his co-workers and partners to diminish his overall performance and success.

As a Golden Globe award-winning actor, Tom Cruise’s success in Hollywood is undeniable. Despite his perceived lack of height, Cruise has consistently demonstrated a willingness to work alongside actors and actresses of various sizes.

This has showcased his versatility as an actor and helped him maintain his position as one of the most successful stars in the industry.

His dedication to his craft and astute fashion sense have allowed him to overcome any perceived physical limitations and carve a fortune in his acting career.

With heads constantly turning in Cruise’s direction, his radiating confidence and flashing smile have helped him draw attention for the right reasons.

On December 18, 2011, Katie Holmes, accompanied by her parents, husband Tom Cruise, and daughter Suri, celebrated her 33rd birthday at the upscale restaurant Buddakan in New York City.

Katie Holmes, whose birth name is Kate Noelle Holmes, was born on December 18, 1978, in Toledo, Ohio, U.S. She is of German, Irish, and English ethnicity.

Wearing an Aladdin-esque black jumpsuit with white lace sleeves, Katie Holmes seemingly wanted to match the restaurant’s modern Asian theme that night.

She completed her outfit with a pair of Rodarte for Opening Ceremony t-strap heels . They didn’t go with her outfit, but thankfully, they went with its black-and-white theme.

These pumps look jarring with those harem pants. But on their own and cropped as in the picture above, you can see that these T-strap pumps are quite stylish.

T-straps always have that retro vibe, but when made in black and white and finished off with a cap toe, they go back a few eras.

Black and white T-straps would look really interesting in an office wardrobe when worn with pencil skirts or tailored suits. They’d also look great paired with floral a-line dresses or one of those 40s-style dresses from the Miu Miu Fall 2011 collection .

With the stiletto heel and the pointy toe, these Manolo Blahnik t-strap pumps have a sexier vibe. But the perforations and the black and white colors keep things retro. There’s also a very subtle wingtip design right at the toe:

For something a bit more vintage, we love this design from Marc Jacobs.

How would you wear a pair of retro t-strap pumps?

Here's How Tall Tom Cruise Really Is

In 2011, Tom Cruise was embroiled in a casting controversy when it was revealed he'd be playing Jack Reacher (via Deadline ). Fans of the character, created by Lee Childs, were quick to point out that the former US Army major is described as standing at 6 foot 5 inches and about 250 pounds in the book, both of which Cruise isn't. The actor is pretty synonymous with his shorter height, with rumors often circulating that he wears heels or shoe lifts when starring opposite taller actors, per  BuzzFeed . 

But, as Childs noted at the time, "Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way." The author also pointed out to BBC News that it's "completely impossible to literally transfer the page to screen," and that while people think someone "that looks more like Reacher is described in the books" should have been cast, there were none Childs was happy with.

Cruise also stated that he was "very sensitive" to the criticism of his height in an interview with Empire, adding that the author told him "the reason he wrote [Reacher] that size is because that was just one element to his character, and that opened the door to me playing him."

So exactly how tall is Tom Cruise, and why did it cause so much drama when he was cast as Jack Reacher?

It's rumoured that Tom Cruise uses heels to elevate his height

While Tom Cruise is often cited as standing at 5 foot 7 inches tall (via Your Next Shoes ), it's actually pretty hard to pinpoint the actor's height. As The Delite notes, there's "a lot of speculation" about his height, noting that there's even a Pinterest board that's collated the times Cruise as allegedly worn heeled boots or shoe lifts to elevate his height.

Sometimes, it seems that his co-stars have to wear flatter shoes to compensate for his height as Nicole Kidman noted speaking about her experience filming "Days of Thunder" with Cruise (via Your Next Shoes). "They had me in really flat shoes, but you could still see I was taller than him," Kidman explained, who happens to be 5 foot 10 inches (via The Sun ). "I'd prefer to be smaller, but I don't mind," she continued. "I like the fact that he's one of the most famous actors in the world and can work with anybody — but he doesn't mind working with an actress who's taller."

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The Facts About Dustin Hoffman’s Height, Net Worth and Family

Published on November 24, 2019 by TMM Staff · Men of Modest Height

Are you curious about Dustin Hoffman’s height, movies, and family life? Read on to find out everything you need to know about the modest man who’s also a Hollywood legend.

Who is Dustin Hoffman?

Dustin Hoffman is an American actor best known for his roles in revered films like The Graduate (1967), Tootsie (1982), and Rain Man (1988).

Hoffman has two Academy Awards. He won them for his best actor roles in Kramer vs. Kramer (1980) and Rain Man .

And, he’s been nominated for another five Oscars. He’s also been nominated for 13 Golden Globes and has won six.

How Tall is Dustin Hoffman?

Hoffman is 5’5″. At five-foot-five he’s the same height as fellow modest men BD Wong and David Spade.

In centimeters, Dustin Hoffman is 165cm.

He’s never been shy about his short stature. He joked in the 1970s. “My wife is 5’9″, and I am 5-foot-6-and-a-half, but she is shrinking all the time!” At the time, he was married to Anne Byrne, an actress known for her role in Manhattan (1979).

How Old is He?

Dustin Hoffman was born on August 8, 1937. As of fall 2019, he is 82 years old. Like many of the rich and famous modest men, he has rejected retirement and continues to work.

In 2019, he’s playing Doctor Green in Into the Labyrinth. Back in 2017, he was in The Meyerowitz Stories.  Even in 2016, he was hard at work. Hoffman played Giovanni in the TV series Medici  and voiced Shifu in Kung-Fu Panda 3.

Hoffman certainly likes to keep busy. How many multi-millionaire octogenarians have multiple jobs? One thing is for sure. Dustin Hoffman has an amazing work ethic.

What are Dustin Hoffman’s Movies?

Hoffman has been hard at work in Hollywood for a long time. His career blew up back in the 1960s with films like  The Graduate (1967) and Midnight Cowboy (1969).

In the 1970s, Hoffman had more classic hits, including All the President’s Men (1976) and Kramer vs Kramer (1979).

During the 1980s, Hoffman continued to play legendary roles in memorable films. He was Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man (1988). He played opposite fellow modest man Tom Cruise in Rain Man. Hoffman played Michael Dorsey/ Dorothy Micheals in Tootsie (1982) .

In the 1990s, Hoffman played several entertaining roles in films like Dicy Tracy (1990), Hook (1991), and Wag the Dog (1997).

Back in the aughts, Hoffman began doing television and voice work. He also co-starred with fellow modest man Ben Stiller in  Meet the Fockers  (2004). In 2008, he was in a handful of critically acclaimed films, including I Heart Huckabees and Finding Neverland.

Most recently, Hoffman voiced Shifu in Kung-Fu Panda 3 (2015) . He’s also playing Dottor Green in Into The Labyrinth (2019) .

Does He Have Kids?

Yes, Dustin Hoffman has six children. He has four children with his current wife, Lisa Hoffman. He has another daughter and stepdaughter from his previous marriage to Anne Byrne. His youngest child was born in 1987.

His oldest child was born in 1966. Since his children are adults, ranging in age from 32-53, we don’t see them with their parents much.

Of course, a few of his kids are Hollywood players themselves. Hoffman has a son that we see often. Jake Hoffman is an actor, writer and director. He’s been in several films alongside his dad, including Rain Man and I Heart Huckabees.

He also played Steve Madden in 2013’s  The Wolf of Wall Street.

Today Jake Hoffman is 38 years old. His latest project was  The Irishman (2019). The Netflix production also stars fellow modest man Al Pacino .

Dustin Hoffman’s other son, Max Hoffman, has also starred in several films. He played Joel in 2014’s Ask Me Anything and Jerry in 2010’s Greenberg.

Who is Dustin Hoffman’s Wife?

Hoffman married twice. He was married to actress Anne Byrne from 1969-1980. After they divorced, Hoffman married his current wife, Lisa Hoffman. Her name prior to marriage was Lisa Jo Gotsegen.

At 65 years old, Lisa has her own business, selling perfume and jewelry. The Los Angeles-based brand is popular with vegans and celebrities. Lisa Hoffman Beauty is highly respected in the cosmetics industry, winning awards from Allure and Women’s Wear Daily.

What’s Dustin Hoffman’s Net Worth?

Dustin Hoffman’s net worth is estimated at $50 Million. With $50 Million in the bank, he certainly doesn’t need the paycheck. But maybe he’s trying to get to the triple-digit millions like some of the other modest men we’ve profiled.

What do you think about Hoffman’s life and career? Let us know in the comments.

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About TMM Staff

The Modest Man staff writers are experts in men's lifestyle who love teaching guys how to live their best lives. If an article is published under TMM Staff, that means multiple writers worked on it. For example, sometimes several of us have experience with a certain brand, so we collaborate to publish a more thorough review. Or, if an article was originally written by one person, but then it was updated by someone else, we'll re-publish it under TMM Staff. Remember: all of our articles (including those below) are written by real people with decades of combined experience in men's fashion and lifestyle topics.

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November 15, 2020 at 3:09 am

We really enjoyed his recent Netflix film featuring retired Opera stars! Is he a fan of Opera?

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After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the... Read all After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance. After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.

• Barry Levinson
• Barry Morrow
• Dustin Hoffman
• Valeria Golino
• 554 User reviews
• 109 Critic reviews
• 65 Metascore
• 27 wins & 26 nominations total

Top cast 69

• Raymond Babbitt

• Charlie Babbitt

• (as Jerry Molen)

• John Mooney

• Sally Dibbs
• Small Town Doctor

• Mother at Farm House
• Farm House Kid
• Dr. Bruner's Secretary
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia For in-flight viewing, several airlines deleted the sequence in which Raymond Babbitt reels off statistics on airline accidents, except Qantas. They even promoted one of the movie's writers to first class once when he travelled on their airline.
• Goofs Throughout the movie, several cars are seen tailgating the Buick trying to get into the shot, and their positions vary from scene to scene.

Charlie : Who took this picture?

Raymond : D-A-D.

Charlie : And you lived with us?

Raymond : Yeah, 10962 Beachcrest Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Charlie : When did you leave?

Raymond : January 12, 1965. Very snowy that day. 7.2 inches of snow that day.

Charlie : Just after Mom died.

Raymond : Yeah Mom died January 5, 1965.

Charlie : You remember that day. Was I there? Where was I?

Raymond : You were in the window. You waved to me, "Bye bye Rain Man", "Bye bye."

• Crazy credits Throughout the movie, Raymond is taking pictures. The pictures that he takes are shown as the background for the credits.
• Alternate versions The 1997 DVD and post-1997 VHS prints feature the 1994 United Artists logo as the sole opening logo.
• Connections Edited into 5 Second Movies: Rain Man (2008)
• Soundtracks Iko Iko Written by Rosa Lee Hawkins , Joe Jones , Barbara Ann Hawkins (as Barbara Hawkins), Sharon Jones, Joan Marie Johnson (as John Johnson), Marilyn Jones , and Jessie Thomas Performed by The Belle Stars Courtesy of Stiff Records

User reviews 554

• Feb 21, 2005
• How long is Rain Man? Powered by Alexa
• What is 'Rain Man' about?
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• December 16, 1988 (United States)
• United States
• Người Đàn Ông Trong Mưa
• Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center - 1000 E. Santa Ana Boulevard, Santa Ana, California, USA (train station)
• United Artists
• The Guber-Peters Company
• Star Partners II Ltd.
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $25,000,000 (estimated)
• $172,825,435
• Dec 18, 1988
• $354,825,435

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 13 minutes
• Dolby Stereo
• Dolby Digital

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`RAIN MAN' - THE ROLE HOFFMAN ALMOST QUIT

By associated press.

Dustin Hoffman shuddered. The screening room projector flickered with "rushes" of his first day's work in "Rain Man." Fighting off nausea, Hoffman knew his portrayal of an autistic man stank.

"It was death," Hoffman recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. "It was the worst work I had ever done. I said, `I can't do it.' " Defeated, the Academy Award-winning actor suggested the producers try Richard Dreyfuss instead.Hoffman, whose past triumphs include playing a woman in "Tootsie," was stumped by the part of Raymond Babbitt, a middle-aged autistic savant.

In "Rain Man," which opened earlier this month, the long-institutionalized Raymond is largely incapable of basic human emotions and speech but gifted with superior mathematical and memorization skills.

It's not an easy part. Having researched autism so intensively he was buried in documents and videocassettes, Hoffman, 51, had to dump his notes and observations in his dressing room and, well, act. No plot contrivances offered shelter.

As Hoffman tells it, all he could manage at first was a mishmash of his past work, mixing bits of the timid, near-sighted prisoner Louis in 1973's "Papillon" and the sickly Ratzo Rizzo in "Midnight Cowboy" from 1969.

Then, three weeks into filming, Hoffman and co-star Tom Cruise were driving down a bleak highway near tiny Cogar, Okla. The temperature, over 100 degrees, was matched by the humidity. In a sweat-laced improvisation, Hoffman started talking about how much Raymond missed his Hanes underwear. And he just wouldn't stop.

With those cotton briefs, Hoffman figured it all out.

"It looked like to me that you could have talked about your underwear forever," Hoffman said Levinson told him. "And I suddenly realized that yes, this character is in the now, and he is nowhere if he's not in the now.

"And I suddenly realized that I was playing off myself because I know something about obsession and I'm comfortable being obsessive. The rest of it just took care of itself."

"Rain Man" tracks Raymond's brother, Charlie (Cruise), a coldhearted schemer whose father dies, leaving him none of the riches he so desperately wishes to inherit. Instead, the $3 million falls into a mysterious trust account, which Charlie discovers benefits a brother he never knew he had.

In an attempt to filch the inheritance and save his bankruptcy-bound car business, Charlie abducts his newfound brother, and the two set out cross-country, top down, in a 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible, their father's car.

In a series of minor incidents along the way, the brothers reach a remote, though improved, understanding of kinship. There are no triumphant scenes of blissful revelation. "Rain Man," whose title comes from Charlie's earliest, dreamy recollections of a shared childhood with Raymond, ends quietly. Some might say, indifferently.

"Rain Man" survived not only Hoffman's panic but also a year of screenplay revisions, the replacement of three directors, the scriptwriters strike and the meddlings of various entertainment industry know-it-alls. It emerges as a modest exploration of greed, communication and familial understanding.

"I didn't think an easy ending was the right way to go," said Barry Levinson, the movie's fourth and final director. "There had been a bunch of endings where (the brothers) were going to live happily ever after, but it didn't seem to apply."

Added producer Mark Johnson: "What we ended up with was much more simple than anything else that existed (in the scripts) before."

It was precisely that intended lack of ornament that proved so elusive.

Martin Brest ("Midnight Run"), Steven Spielberg ("E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial") and Sydney Pollack ("Tootsie") all were in line to direct "Rain Man" at one point or another. For a variety of reasons - some personal, some professional - the three came and went. But all wanted to dress the story up.

One script called for gangsters and FBI agents. Another suggested a big snowstorm. The role of Charlie's girlfriend (played by Valeria Golino) was either too big or not big enough. Raymond should be more "retarded." Or maybe not retarded at all. Perhaps Raymond and Charlie could become really close at the end? said some. Perhaps not, responded others.

"They (the assorted kibitzers) felt that there had to be a jeopardy in the story," Hoffman said. "In other words, `What's going to hold an audience if there's just two schmucks in a car?' "

Levinson, the director of "Good Morning Vietnam" and "Diner," suspected the audience could be held by just letting the schmucks be schmucks. The final script, turned in by Ronald Bass just as the five-month Writers Guild of America strike began, cut most of what Levinson considered superfluous.

"I basically wanted to get it down to a conflict between two people on the road," Levinson said. "More and more of what we see in the movies are mechanical plots. We pump them up instead of saying, `Let's just deal with the people.' "

Levinson's previous films have been marked by loosely organized stories, and in "Rain Man" he predictably chose to let the characters carry the narrative, rather than the other way around.

Those familiar with Cruise's recent work ("Cocktail," "Top Gun") might wince at abandoning the 26-year-old actor to his acting skills in such a dramatic role.

But Cruise shrugs it off.

"For myself it was a challenge. For myself, it was different. For myself, it was the best role that I've had in my career to date," Cruise said.

"I do feel that I have a better sense (of acting) every time I go on from a picture. You get more confidence - not cocky, like I know what I'm doing - but a confidence of trying scenes different ways and not getting locked into one idea of how to play a scene."

Hoffman, as is his custom, made story suggestions throughout filming. On several occasions, he checked with his autism experts to ensure the film did not "violate" the truth, as Hoffman put it.

When the script didn't withstand such challenges, it was revised. Any behavior by Raymond that might come across as "stupid," for instance, was excised. Autism, Hoffman was told, is a mental disorder, not retardation.

Whether or not such attention to detail will attract audiences remains to be seen.

"You have no idea what the audience is going to think," Hoffman said. "Underneath everything, there's a desire to have an impact on the audience. I don't want them to get up afterward.

"Arthur Miller said to me when we were doing `Death of a Salesman,' `You want to know when the play is really working? When the curtain comes down and you don't hear anything."'

-"Rain Man" features two of Hollywood's most noteworthy male stars. Here is a summary of their careers in the movies.

The films of Dustin Hoffman:

- "The Graduate," 1967

- "The Tiger Makes Out," 1967

- "Madigan's Million," 1967

- "John and Mary," 1969

- "Midnight Cowboy," 1969

- "Little Big Man," 1970

- "Straw Dogs," 1971

- "Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" 1971

- "Alfredo, Alfredo," 1972

- "Papillon," 1973

- "Lenny," 1974

- "All the President's Men," 1976

- "Marathon Man," 1976

- "Straight Time," 1978

- "Kramer vs. Kramer" 1979

- "Agatha," 1979

- "Tootsie," 1982

- "Ishtar," 1987

The films of Tom Cruise:

- "Taps," 1981

- "The Outsiders," 1983

- "Risky Business," 1983

- "All the Right Moves," 1983

- "Legend," 1985

- "Top Gun," 1986

- "The Color of Money," 1986

- "Cocktail," 1988

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Rain Man (1988)

These must be the same people who see “issues” in movies first, more than stories. Rain Man is essentially a “buddy picture,” not an “issue picture.” It’s also not Raymond’s journey at the front and center, it’s his brother Charlie’s. The film stars Dustin Hoffman (Raymond) and Tom Cruise (Charlie), and both give powerhouse performances. For my money, Cruise has the more challenging role, even though it was Hoffman who took home his second Oscar for Best Actor. Hoffman has the showier part, the character with the affliction, but our window into his mind is Charlie Babbitt. We see Raymond through his brother’s eyes, so without Cruise’s outstanding performance, Hoffman’s wouldn’t work at all. I can only guess that Cruise’s snubbing has a lot to do with the character he plays. At the beginning and through much of the film, Charlie is a first-class jerk. A narcissist with a mean streak who treats his girlfriend Susanna (Valeria Golino) like crap and cares only about personal gain. Basically, he’s the ultimate poster-boy for the ’80s. The movie opens with Charlie receiving four Lamborghinis dockside, which he plans to resell to impatient buyers. The problem is these pricey vehicles haven’t passed their emissions inspections, and the EPA is holding them at the port until they do. Charlie already took out a loan against $70,000 of the buyers’ down-payments to purchase them, and he even instructs his employee Lenny (Ralph Seymour) to lie over the phone about the failed inspections. Then he receives an unexpected call that his father has died.

Tom Cruise as Charlie and Valeria Golino as Susanna.

Charlie heads to Cincinnati with Susanna, where he is told by an executor of the will that his wealthy but estranged dad left him the rose bushes out in front of the house, along with his prized 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible parked in the garage, which was the cause of much friction between them. The bulk of the estate, roughly $3 million, has been bequeathed to an unnamed trustee. Through a bit of clever sleuthing, Charlie learns this money will be funneled to a mental institution called Wallbrook.

When Charlie confronts Dr. Bruner (Jerry Molen) at the institution, he learns nothing about why they have the money, only that they knew it was coming. Upset by this and ready to contest it, Charlie heads outside to his Roadmaster to find a mental patient sitting behind the wheel, and Susanna waiting calmly in the passenger’s seat next to him for Charlie to show up. Charlie kicks the man out of his car but overhears him rattling off statistics about it that are all accurate. He then hears him mutter that his father Sanford Babbitt allowed him to drive it in their driveway. This is how Charlie discovers he has an older brother named Raymond—a brother he never knew existed. Charlie decides to take Raymond with him to Los Angeles in anticipation of receiving the Lamborghinis for his clients, and he lures his brother away from Wallbrook without permission. For all intents and purposes, this is kidnapping. Charlie is holding Raymond hostage for half of the estate money. Susanna comes along for the ride at first, but she hates the way Charlie is treating Raymond and handling this whole situation. She walks out on them in a hotel room.

For the bulk of the remaining story, Rain Man is a “buddy picture” and a “road trip movie.” Charlie knows nothing about his brother, not to mention nothing about autism. Raymond is obsessed by daily rituals, down to the smallest detail. TV shows are watched at a certain hour each day. Bedtime is eleven o’clock at night. Juice boxes and cheese-puff balls are consumed at the same time each afternoon. Maple syrup is on the table first before the pancakes arrive, etc. Raymond clings to these expected routines to keep him grounded and calm. At a roadside diner, he insists on having toothpicks for each bite of food, and when the waitress (Bonnie Hunt in her film debut) accidentally drops a box of them at her feet, scattering the toothpicks on the floor, Raymond glances at them for a split second and announces the exact count. His number is correct.

Dustin Hoffman, Bonnie Hunt, and Tom Cruise.

Charlie discovers that Raymond has certain heightened abilities that go far beyond what the average mind is capable of. It’s a byproduct of his autism. These extraordinary gifts fall under a condition known as Savant Syndrome. Charlie ends up exploiting Raymond’s skills when he tests them on a deck of playing cards in their motel room. After Charlie hears from Lenny that the creditors seized the Lamborghinis when their loan was defaulted, Charlie and Raymond backtrack to Las Vegas where they proceed to win over $86,000. Susanna surprises them at the hotel, and for a while at least, things are looking up. At one point, Charlie hears Raymond refer to himself as “Rain Man,” the name of Charlie’s imaginary friend who comforted him by singing to him when he was very young. Charlie understands now that his big brother lived with them in their house when he was just a toddler, and Charlie called him “Rain Man,” because he couldn’t say “Raymond.” It’s a very sweet moment, but for me, the tears start to flow when a hot-water bath is drawn, and Raymond flies into a panic. Charlie realizes their parents had Raymond institutionalized when they thought he almost scalded baby Charlie in the bathtub. Watching Charlie calm his big brother down is one of the highlights of this film. Soon after, they are informed by the hotel management to pack up and leave. They can’t be arrested, since they committed no crime (counting cards isn’t illegal), but they are shown the door nonetheless, before things get serious.

Dustin Hoffman as Raymond and Tom Cruise as Charlie.

The final act of this story is a custody hearing in Los Angeles with a court-appointed psychiatrist, played by the film’s director Barry Levinson. After a struggle, Charlie comes to terms with the decision that he can’t take care of Raymond by himself and watch him 24 hours a day. It’s a bittersweet moment when Charlie says goodbye to Raymond and Dr. Bruner at the train station but promises to visit Wallbrook in two weeks. The “happy ending” here is that Charlie has a brother that he loves. He doesn’t care about the money anymore. He found something far more important. Through Raymond and getting to know him, Charlie has grown up. Rain Man is a powerful movie with two indelible performances at the core. It’s the tale of two vastly different brothers who take a road trip together and find each other along the way.

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Yo, shorty! Daniel Radcliffe talks height in Hollywood

Daniel Radcliffe is not tall -- he's around 5'5" -- and he knows it.

In fact, he considers himself in great, short-statured company when it comes to being a leading man who's well under six feet. Here's what he had to say when Playboy asked the Harry Potter star if his height has held him back in Hollywood.

“I don’t think so. Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise have very different careers, and they’re both about the same height as I am. I could play a soldier. The minimum height for a marine is five feet, and I’m well above that. If you’re asking, ‘Can you play a really (bleeping) tall person?’ No, obviously not. Can I play a black guy? For similar reasons, no. I couldn’t play something I wouldn’t take myself seriously in. I wouldn’t be able to take myself seriously as the quarterback in a football movie, which is my one legitimate gripe. I would love to be in a football movie. The only part I would get is the general manager.”

And, funnily enough when asked about the last thing he Googled, he admitted that his query was height-related.

"This is slightly embarrassing, because I referenced it earlier in our conversation, and it looked like a piece of information I knew: the minimum height for a marine. I was reading a script where I would be playing somebody who says he’s a marine, so I was like, Oh, I’ll look that up. Most of my googling and internetting is spent on NFL.com, Deadspin and other sports websites. I foisted it on my girlfriend, and now when I’m away it helps her not miss me if she looks at Deadspin."

The Untold Truth Of Rain Man

In 1988, a movie with a confusingly weather-related title topped the box office, shone at the Academy Awards, and introduced a previously unaware public to a developmental disorder called autism — or rather, to one version of it. 

Rain Man starts with scheming car salesman Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) learning that he has an older brother with autism, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), to whom their late father left most of his fortune. Charlie decides to become Ray's legal guardian as a cash grab, and he effectively kidnaps him from the institution he's been living in for decades. Driving back to LA from Ohio, Charlie realizes that Ray is both more brilliant and more developmentally challenged than he realized. His impatience runs straight into Ray's reliance on routine as a source of stability, and Charlie is eventually forced to think about the needs and demands of someone other than himself.

The movie was so successful that the title has become a byword for someone who struggles socially but has genius-level mathematical and memory abilities. But the untold truth of  Rain Man  is that what you see on the screen is nowhere near the full story. 

Rain Man drew on multiple real people for inspiration

Believe it or not, the script for Rain Man  – and especially the character Ray — was inspired by multiple real people.

The plot point that sees Charlie kidnap Ray from the institution and petition to become his guardian was taken from something original screenwriter Barry Morrow actually did. Without the avaricious motivation. Morrow became the legal guardian of his friend , Bill Sackter, to prevent him from being sent back to the institution he'd lived in for most of his life. Before Rain Man , Morrow told this story in the TV movie Bill , starring Mickey Rooney as Sackter.

Morrow also partly based Ray on Kim Peek, a man he'd met in 1984 who was a mega-savant with skills similar to Ray, as well as similar disabilities. Unlike Ray, Peek — who died in 2009 , aged 58 — was not autistic. However, he did have an incredible memory. By the time he died, Peek had memorized around 12,000 books. He could read two different pages at the same time, with one eye on each page. He could also remember the day of any date, as well as any zip code, map or travel route across the US. Peek also had mental disabilities that affected his physical coordination, and he needed help to get dressed and brush his hair and teeth. Plus, he couldn't understand metaphors or do basic reasoning.

When Morrow won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Rain Man , he gave Peek the statuette. Peek generously let people hold it at public appearances.

Rain Man went through multiple writers and directors

According to Rolling Stone , Rain Man went through three directors and six writers before finding the dream team of screenwriter Ronald Bass and director Barry Levinson.

Barry Morrow came up with the story, based on his relationships with Kim Peek and Bill Sackter, and he wrote the first script for MGM. The studio eventually handed it to Ronald Bass , who only had three minor screenwriting credits to his name but would later write The Joy Luck Club , Dangerous Minds , and My Best Friend's Wedding . As for Levinson, he was an established screenwriter by the time he came to Rain Man . He'd even been nominated for two writing Oscars — one for the Al Pacino-starring And Justice for All  and another for  Diner , which he'd also directed. He'd also just directed the Vietnam War comedy  Good Morning, Vietnam .

Looking at the script, Levinson felt that there was too much action, which detracted from the heart of the story — the relationship between the brothers. One draft even had Ray building a motorcycle from scratch to escape a motorcycle gang. So Levinson and Bass worked together to create a draft that put the focus back on the Babbitts. As Levinson told Rolling Stone , "If I can make the relationship work with these two guys on the road, then that's enough for me." Unfortunately, a writers' strike meant the script wasn't finished by the time filming started. But Morrow and Bass still won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Rain Man , while Levinson picked up Best Director.

A lot of famous filmmakers turned down the project

While Rain Man was going through its drafting phase, multiple well-known actors and directors signed on and dropped out. Potential directors included Tootsie and Out of Africa director Sydney Pollack (who'd later direct Cruise in The Firm and act opposite him in Eyes Wide Shut ) and Martin Brest , famous for Oscar-winner  Scent of a Woman  and infamous for writing and directing Gigli , a favorite of the Razzies .

The most famous director attached and then detached from Rain Man was Steven Spielberg. In a 1990 interview, Spielberg explained that he'd spent five months working on Rain Man with Cruise, Hoffman, and screenwriter Ronald Bass. But he had to leave the project to fulfill a promise to George Lucas that involved making Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . Spielberg said that he regretted departing from Rain Man , especially when the awards started rolling in. "Maybe I should have forgotten my entire friendship with George Lucas," he laughed .

On the acting side, Mel Gibson turned down the part of Ray, and Mickey Rourke turned down Charlie . Rourke had also previously turned down another part that ultimately went to Cruise — Maverick in Top Gun . One interesting combination we never got to see involved Bill Murray playing Ray and Hoffman playing Charlie, but Murray declined the role .

Dustin Hoffman considered quitting

Dustin Hoffman threw himself into researching the role of Ray. He read books by autistic author Temple Grandin and non-autistic scientist Dr. Oliver Sacks, who wrote about a pair of twins, John and Michael, who both had autism and extraordinary mathematical abilities. The scene in Rain Man in which Ray is able to tell immediately how many matchsticks have spilled onto the floor is based on something the twins actually did .

Hoffman also studied a documentary about Joseph Sullivan , an autistic mathematical savant with an incredible memory, whose mother worked as a consultant on Rain Man . In fact, Sullivan met Hoffman on set. Hoffman also estimated that 90% of Ray's dialogue and many of his mannerisms came from an autistic man named Peter Guthrie. Peter's brother, Kevin, sent Hoffman tapes of their conversations.

Despite all his research, two weeks into filming, Hoffman felt that he wasn't doing Ray justice. "It was the worst work I had ever done," he told the AP . At one point, he suggested the production replace him with Richard Dreyfuss. But it was while filming the scene in which Ray talks about his underwear — from Kmart at 400 Oak Street in Cincinnati — that Hoffman had what he felt was an epiphany into his character. He explained to the AP, "I suddenly realized ... he is nowhere if he's not in the now. ... I know something about obsession, and I'm comfortable being obsessive. The rest of it just took care of itself."

Tom Cruise was seen as an odd casting choice

Tom Cruise was cast early on in Rain Man 's long pre-production lifespan. But he was seen as an odd choice for a dramatic movie in which the emotional arc rested largely on his shoulders.

As Barry Levinson explained to The New York Times , Ray doesn't change because he's most comfortable with routine. Charlie is the one who goes on an emotional (as well as literal) journey, from self-centered wheeler-dealer to a caretaker who tries his best to understand Ray. Up until Rain Man , Cruise had been seen as a good-looking action or romantic lead. His three biggest movies had been Cocktail , in which he played a rebellious cocktail bar owner,  Risky Business , where he played a rebellious teenager, and  Top Gun , in which he played the Maverick . None of the roles had an abundance of emotional depth.

Cruise agreed Charlie was "a challenge," but that was the appeal. He told the AP , "It was different. ... It was the best role that I've had in my career to date." And his co-star was confident in him. Hoffman and Cruise improvised with each other, including playing each other's characters, and Hoffman said of Cruise to The New York Times , "We were linked into each other — which allowed us to be rough with each other. There's an emotionality between us that's very difficult to act — that permitted moments to happen between us."

Rain Man put a big city on the Hollywood map

When the Rain Man team was looking for somewhere to serve as Wallbrook (the institution where Charlie finds Ray), the producers got in touch with Cincinnati-based location scout Lori Holladay, who recommended Kentucky's St. Anne's Convent, a spot Holladay remembered from growing up in the area. In 1988, the convent was home to nuns belonging to the Congregation of Divine Providence, but in 2012, it was sold to the Diocese of Covington, which now rents it out as a retreat. The crew added a fake pond for a scene between Ray and Charlie that's shown in publicity stills but didn't make it to the film.

The film's funeral was also filmed in Kentucky, at Evergreen Cemetery. And the restaurant scene involving spilled toothpicks was filmed at Pompilio's restaurant in Newport, KY. As of 2019, the restaurant still had the table Hoffman and Cruise sat at. Then-owner Frank Mazzei told WCPO of the superstars, "They were very nice to work with. ... They particularly liked our lasagna."

The city of Cincinnati claimed a few pivotal locations, too. The Dixie Terminal served as a bank, and Ray, Charlie and Susanna (Valeria Golino) drove across the Roebling Bridge. Kristen Schlotman, executive director of Film Cincinnati, credits Rain Man with sparking interest in filming in the city, with the town's credits including The Killing of a Sacred Deer , The Ides of March , and Carol .

Oklahoma is very proud of Rain Man

As most of Rain Man is a road trip, the producers had to find somewhere that Ray and Charlie could travel through. According to Mary Nell Clark (via Tulsa World ) , then-executive director of the Oklahoma Film Office, Oklahoma earned the honor thanks to its "old gas pumps, breathtaking landscapes, the rustic look."

The scene in which Ray stands in the middle of an intersection blocking traffic was shot in Guthrie, OK. The man driving the pickup truck who shouts at Ray was local oil producer Jack Cope , whose wife had bought him a spot in the movie at a charity auction. Cope improvised his lines opposite Hoffman.

Another local who stole a scene was Byron Cavnar, who played the man in the psychiatrist's waiting room. Byron and his wife, Elmeta, were supposed to sit quietly. But Byron started chatting to Hoffman about the Pony Express, and Levinson silently turned the cameras on.

Other Oklahoma locations include the farmhouse where the brothers watch The People's Court with the Dougherty family, all of whom received credits. And the tiny gas station where Charlie and Ray stop to make a call from a phone booth — with gassy consequences — was filmed in Cogar, OK, which had never even had a movie theater. Even the motel that's supposed to be in Amarillo, Texas, was actually in Oklahoma. To this day, Rain Man holds a special place in Oklahoma's collective heart, as it's the only Best Picture Oscar-winner to have been shot in the state.

The phone booth fart scene was too real for Tom Cruise

Rain Man may be the only Best Picture winner to have a fart joke ... but Tom Cruise wasn't laughing. 

When Ray and Charlie are crammed in a phone booth in remote Oklahoma, Ray lets one rip, accompanied by the phrase, "Uh oh, fart." Still on the phone, Charlie asks in disbelief, "Did you fart, Ray? ... How can you stand that?" He then tries to crack the door open. But as with many of the lines that made the final cut, that moment wasn't in the script. Cruise told The Graham Norton Show that Hoffman really farted in the tiny phone booth and that he was "grossed out" by his co-star. Cruise stayed in character enough to call Hoffman by his respective character's name, but he really was trying to open the door. "I tried to get out of the booth, and everything I said to him was real," Cruise added.

For his part, Hoffman has no regrets. He's said that the scene is one of his favorites from Rain Man , telling interviewer Rajeev Masand that Levinson encouraged them to improvise, so when Cruise went with the gaff (well, guff), Hoffman kept the scene going, too. "And it's one of the high moments of my life. I have done Shakespeare, and I have done plays by Arthur Miller, but nothing can touch the fart scene," he said.

The car was the star

Sure, Hoffman and Cruise were the ones with their names on the poster. But the third star of Rain Man was the Sequoia Cream 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible that both drove (pun intended) Charlie and his father apart and brought him and Ray together. Not only did spending hours on the road force the two brothers to get to know each other, but it was their father's decision to leave Charlie the car and Ray everything else that pushed Charlie to seek his sibling out (and ultimately kidnap him for the inheritance).

However, the car was even rarer than Charlie claims. He tells Susanna that Buick only made 8,000 production models of the 1949 Roadmaster convertible, but according to auction site Hemmings , it was only 2,911. And two went on to star in Rain Man . One was used for the green screen shots, and the other was used for driving scenes.

In 2012, one of the two cars sold for $170,500 at auction. Levinson bought the other car after production wrapped. It later appeared on docuseries Chasing Classic Cars , and Levinson loaned it to host Wayne Carini for a fundraising effort in aid of an autism charity, as Carini's daughter Kimberly is autistic.

Rain Man wasn't expected to be a hit

This side of the 1989 Academy Awards, it's hard to imagine anyone thinking that Rain Man wouldn't be a hit. But before, during, and right after filming, that was anything but a certainty.

For starters, Rain Man had been in limbo for years when it was finally ready to shoot. And when Barry Levinson came on board, he had only eight weeks to prepare for filming, including turning the script around. Added to that particular pressure, there was a writers' strike on the horizon. Ronald Bass wrote as much as he could before it started, but the script wasn't finished when the company town's writers downed their tools. This also meant there couldn't be any rewrites during production.

On the bright side, no possibility of rewrites meant no studio executives lingering around and interfering. So Levinson and his cast and crew hit the road and made the rest up as they went. They also mostly shot chronologically , which allowed Levinson to add details and scenes that reflected the developing relationship between the characters.

As a result, the team working on the project was sold. Producer Mark Johnson said that crew members throughout were telling him that Rain Man was going to win Oscars. Still, Johnson wasn't convinced, even after he'd watched early cuts. "I'm just hoping it goes through the gate," he told Grantland of that tricky time.

Rain Man was adapted for the stage

Forget imitation. The sincerest form of flattery in the world of movies is a stage adaptation. And in 2008, Rain Man was given a theatrical reworking  by playwright Dan Gordon, opening in London's West End that September.

Josh Hartnett of Pearl Harbor fame played Charlie, and British actor Adam Godley starred as Ray. Godley was an established stage actor, but his most recognizable screen roles to that point were as a teacher in Love Actually  and Elliott Schwartz in Breaking Bad . More recently, he played a nefarious spiritual adviser in The Great , and he voices Pogo in The Umbrella Academy . 

As for the play itself, it received mixed reviews, but it did well enough to earn a touring run with a new cast in summer 2018 , which was extended into 2019 .

Autism advocates have mixed feelings about Rain Man

One thing autism advocates tend to agree on is that before Rain Man , the vast majority of non-autistic people had no idea what autism was and didn't care. The movie addresses this by showing people's confusion when meeting Ray. Rain Man 's success not only made moviegoers aware of autism, it also  led to an increase in funding for medical research. Ray helped audiences put a face to a vague medical term in a way that often needs to happen for people to take an interest in something they have no personal experience with.

However, Rain Man 's popularity became a double-edged sword. As Professor Katherine Loveland  wrote on ABC , "It's very important to recognize that people with autism are not all alike. In fact, they can vary widely across a spectrum of disorder." Only approximately one in ten people with autism has savant-style skills like Ray, but the success of the movie means that many non-autistic people immediately assume that anyone they meet who's autistic must also be a genius . In addition, as The A.V. Club pointed out , Charlie only warms to Ray when he realizes he has these superior mathematical talents that he can use to his advantage. Rain Man helped raise awareness of a very narrow version of autism, but there are so many other stories to tell.

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RAIN MAN, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, 1988

Rain Man (1988, 90%) This road-trip movie about an autistic savant and his callow brother is far from seamless, but Barry Levinson’s direction is impressive, and strong performances from Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman add to its appeal.

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Is it possible to have a relationship with an autistic person? Is it possible to have a relationshbip with a cat? I do not intend the comparison to be demeaning to the autistic; I am simply trying to get at something. I have useful relationships with both of my cats, and they are important to me. But I never know what the cats are thinking.

That is precisely the situation that Charlie Babbitt ( Tom Cruise ) is faced with in “Rain Man.” His brother, Raymond ( Dustin Hoffman ), is “high-level” autistic. He can carry on conversations, stick to a schedule, compile baseball statistics, memorize dinner menus and become disturbed when anything upsets his routine. He can also count 46 spilled toothpicks in an instant and calculate square roots in a flash. But what he is thinking? There is a moment in “Rain Man” that crystalizes all the frustrations that Charlie feels about Raymond, a moment when he cries out, “I know there has to be somebody inside there!” But who? And where? “Rain Man” is so fascinating because it refuses to supply those questions with sentimental but unrealistic answers. This is not a movie like “ Charly ” in which there is a miracle cure.

“Rain Man” works so well within Raymond’s limitations because it is a movie about limitations, particularly Charlie’s own limited ability to love those in his life, or to see things from their point of view. As the film opens, we see Charlie frantically trying to juggle his way out of a crisis in his Los Angeles business, which seems to consist of selling expensive imported automobiles out of his hip pocket. He is driven, unhappy, a workaholic. One day he receives word that his father – a man with whom he has had no contact for years – has died back East. At the reading of the will, he learns that he has received a pittance (including a prized 1949 Buick Roadmaster), and that his father’s $3 million fortune has gone into a trust.

Who is the trust for? Performing some amateur detective work, Charlie discovers with a shock that it goes to support an older brother he never knew he had – an autistic brother who has been institutionalized for years. Visiting Raymond at the home where he lives, Charlie finds a methodical, mechani cal, flat-voiced middle-age man who “definitely” knows things, such as that tapioca pudding is “definitely” on the menu, and that his favorite TV program is “definitely” about to come on the air.

“Rain Man” follows this discovery with a story line that is as old as the hills. Angry that he has been cut out of his share of the inheritance, Charlie takes Raymond out of the mental home and vows to bring him to live in California. But Raymond will not fly (he “definitely” recites the dates and fatalities of every airline’s most recent crash). And so Charlie puts Raymond in the front seat of the 1949 Buick and they head out on a cross-country odyssey of discovery.

It is an old formula, but a serviceable one, using shots of the car against the sunset as punctuation. The two brothers meet genuine actual Americans on the road, of course, and have strange adventures, of course. And although we have seen this structure in dozens of other movies, it is new this time because for Raymond it is definitely not a voyage of discovery.

Everything changes in the movie except for Raymond. In a roadside diner somewhere along the way, he still stubbornly insists on the routines of the dining room in his mental institution: The maple syrup is “definitely” supposed to be on the table before the pancakes come. Charlie at first does not quite seem to accept the dimensions of Raymond’s world and grows frustrated at what looks like almost willful intractability. Eventually, toward the end of the journey, he finds that he loves his brother, and that love involves accepting him exactly as he is.

“Rain Man” is a project that Hoffman and Cruise have been determined to bring to the screen for a long time. Barry Levinson came on board after three previous directors signed off on this material.

The problem, of course, was Raymond. If fiction is about change, then how can you make a movie about a man who cannot change, whose whole life is anchored and defended by routine? Few actors could get anywhere with this challenge, and fewer still could absorb and even entertain us with their performance, but Hoffman proves again that he almost seems to thrive on impossible acting challenges. “You want taller?” he asks in the audition scene in “ Tootsie .” “I can play taller. You want shorter? I can play shorter. You want a tomato?” And he can play autistic.

At the end of “Rain Man,” I felt a certain love for Raymond, the Hoffman character. I don’t know quite how Hoffman got me to do it.

He does not play cute, or lovable, or pathetic. He is matter-of-fact, straight down the middle, uninflected, unmoved, uncomprehending in all of his scenes – except when his routine is disrupted, when he grows disturbed until it is restored. And yet I could believe that the Cruise character was beginning to love him, because that was how I felt, too.

I loved him for what he was, not for what he was not, or could not be.

The changes in the movie all belong to Charlie, who begins the film as a me-first materialist, a would-be Trump without a line of credit. By the end of the film Charlie has learned how to pay attention, how to listen and how to be at least a little patient some of the time. He does not undergo a spiritual transformation; he simply gets in touch with things that are more important than selling cars. He is aided in this process by his girlfriend, Susanna ( Valeria Golino ), a Latino who loves him but despairs of ever getting him off autopilot.

By the end of “Rain Man,” what have we learned? I think the film is about acceptance. Charlie Babbitt’s first appearance in the movie has him wheeling and dealing in the face of imminent ruin, trying to control his life and the lives of others by blind, arrogant willpower. What Raymond teaches him is that he can relax, because try as he might, he will always be powerless over other people. They will do just about what they choose to do, no matter how loud Charlie Babbitt screams. Raymond has a lot he can teach Charlie about acceptance, even if it is the solitary thing he knows.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Jack Murdock as John Mooney
• Lucinda Jenney as Iris
• Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt
• Valeria Golino as Susanna
• Ralph Seymour as Lenny
• Jerry Molen as Dr. Bruner
• Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt
• Bonnie Hunt as Sally Dibbs
• Michael D. Roberts as Vern

Directed by

• Barry Levinson
• Barry Morrow
• Ronald Bass
• Hans Zimmer

Photographed by

Produced by.

• Mark Johnson

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