Long before Robert Redford famously asked Demi Moore, “What’s a million dollars worth?” the most shocking deal in Hollywood wasn’t happening on screen. It was happening in the boardroom.
In the spring of 1993, ‘Indecent Proposal‘ became a huge hit. Director Adrian Lyne’s adaptation of Jack Engelhard’s novel, about a desperate couple who accept a billionaire’s $1 million offer for one night with the wife, made over $260 million worldwide. That line, “What’s a million dollars?” stuck in pop culture for good.
However, here’s the thing. For all the attention on Redford, Moore, and Woody Harrelson, the film almost looked completely different. According to production records and reporting from Variety and Screen International, the first choice to play the struggling married couple, David and Diana Murphy, was Hollywood’s real-life power duo at the time: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
The Dream Casting That Nearly Happened
In late 1991 and early 1992, producer Sherry Lansing was putting together a risky project. After the success of ‘Fatal Attraction,’ Lyne was set to direct, and the script by Amy Holden Jones was one of the most wanted in town.
The A.F.I. Catalog of Feature Films confirms that Kidman and Cruise “had been pursuing the roles” of the Murphys. Back then, they were the golden couple. They had just come off ‘Days of Thunder‘ and ‘Far and Away’. As a result, putting them in a provocative, adult thriller seemed like a sure thing.
Lyne later admitted to screen testing Kidman. “She was good, but it didn’t work out,” Lyne said. He felt Demi Moore had a certain “tactile” quality that fit the character of Diana better. But casting the husband hit a much bigger problem.
Why Tom Cruise Left ‘Indecent Proposal’
Cruise didn’t leave because of scheduling or simple “creative differences.” It came down to his faith. According to a 1992 Variety report, Cruise lost interest because the movie’s morality clashed with his growing commitment to the Church of Scientology.
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The whole premise, a husband agreeing to let his wife sleep with someone else for money, apparently crossed a line for him. By 1992, Cruise was deeply involved in Scientology, which he had learned about from his first wife, Mimi Rogers, in the late 1980s. The church has strict views on infidelity and the sanctity of marriage. For an actor who wanted to build a heroic and loyal image, playing a husband who basically sells his wife’s night was too risky.
How the Casting Changes Reshaped the Entire Movie
Once Cruise dropped out, everything changed. Without that A-list couple to carry the emotional weight, the production had to shift. Kidman, either unwilling to go on without her husband or just seeing that the chemistry was gone, left soon after.
Finding replacements was a mess. Variety reported that the studio scrambled, looking at Johnny Depp, Tim Robbins, and even both Alec and William Baldwin to play the husband. Warren Beatty was first picked to play the billionaire, the role Redford eventually took, but the whole thing had already fallen apart.
In the end, Cruise and Kidman’s leaving turned the movie into what we know today: Woody Harrelson as the struggling husband and Demi Moore as the wife caught in a moral nightmare.
What If Tom Cruise Had Starred in ‘Indecent Proposal’
Looking back, the Cruise and Kidman version of ‘Indecent Proposal‘ is one of those great Hollywood “what ifs.”
They would go on to work together on the psychologically intense ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ six years later, a film that pushed their real-life relationship to its limits. But the 1993 movie was a risk they would not take. For Cruise, protecting his public image and his religious beliefs mattered more than playing a morally broken everyman.
So the deal fell through. The movie still became a hit for Paramount. But the question stays the same: would audiences have bought Tom Cruise selling his wife for a million dollars? In 1993, and maybe even now, the answer seems to have been a firm “no.”
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