Queer Rom-Com 'A Nice Indian Boy' From Producer Justin Baldoni Debuts First Trailer
Shortly before soaring to the A-list with Top Gun, Tom Cruise collaborated with director Ridley Scott on a fantasy film that the performer would be happy to forget. Forty years ago, Cruise starred in Legend as Jack, who pursues a romance with Princess Lili (Mia Sara) while aiming to prevent the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) from destroying all unicorns and creating eternal night. The project got its start when Scott reached out to author William Hjortsberg about writing a fairy-tale feature. "Ridley said he wanted the story to include unicorns: 'The fastest steed on earth,' " Hjortsberg wrote in 2002. "The script sprang straight from my unconscious, almost writing itself. I felt I had the classic elements I needed: a search for the ring, unicorns, the frozen pond, eternal winter."
Cruise had heat after 1983's Risky Business, but Legend's lengthy production, including a delay when the Pinewood Studios set burned down three months into shooting, left a sour taste. "I don't know how Harrison Ford has done so many of those types of films," Cruise told Interview in 1986. He added to Rolling Stone later that year, "I'll never want to do another picture like that again."
Legend opened the Venice Film Festival in 1985, with fest president Gian Luigi Rondi telling THR at the time, "I consider Legend a film of unusual beauty, a visual treat, an aesthetic delight." Universal released Legend on April 18, 1986, and it collected a modest $23 million ($66 million in today's dollars) at the global box office.
The mythical creature returns to the big screen with A24's Death of a Unicorn, which hits theaters March 28 and stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega.