Diana Lane reflects on Tom Cruise’s impressive risk for role

Four decades ago, Diane Lane was well aware of Tom Cruise’s dedication to his craft, but it was a bold risk he took that truly impressed her.

Back in 1983, Francis Ford Coppola’s coming-of-age drama The Outsiders starred Lane alongside several of the era’s A-list names, including Cruise, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, and Matt Dillon.

Speaking with PEOPLE recently, Lane reflected on the story of Cruise “making sure that it was evident that his tooth was knocked out in the rumble.”

“I thought, ‘That's impressive. That's commitment,’” she said, recalling Cruise’s daring move.

Adapted from S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel, The Outsiders follows teen Ponyboy Curtis (Howell) and his band of working-class Greasers as they face off against their wealthy rivals, the Socs, in 1960s Oklahoma.

Cruise played Steve Randle, a tough Greaser known for his crooked smile. Over the years, there’s been plenty of speculation about how he pulled off that look.

Director Francis Ford Coppola told Deadline in 2022, “I was impressed by his dedication to becoming the character; if the role called for a chipped tooth, he’d actually chip his tooth.”

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