Tom Cruise's 5-Second Western Cameo Is Officially One of His Wildest Roles [Exclusive]

Imagine having Tom Cruise visit your movie set and deciding the best possible use of one of Hollywood's biggest young stars is to cover his face with hair and immediately shoot him. It's an intriguing way to promote your movie, but we'll say this: it's a hell of a story. Apparently, that's exactly how Cruise's wonderfully pointless cameo in one of the 1980s' greatest Westerns came together.

Recently, Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips revisited the 1988 Western classic Young Guns during a FanX Salt Lake panel moderated by Collider's Maggie Lovitt. During the thrilling conversation, Sutherland recalled just how eager other young actors were to get involved with Young Guns once production was underway. He told Lovitt and the fans in attendance:

“I think all of us felt this might be the only opportunity ever to do a Western, and so we were really excited about this opportunity. But what was amazing, as the movie started, everybody wanted to be in it because they also thought it might be the last Western. And so I remember shooting Tom Cruise off the roof, and he had a big beard on so no one would recognize him.”

Yes, That Really Is Tom Cruise in 'Young Guns'

Phillips immediately remembered exactly where Cruise met his extremely brief demise, adding that he was “shot up” while emerging from the pit during the climactic battle. Cruise appears for only moments during the final shootout and is deliberately disguised, despite already being one of Hollywood's biggest stars following Top Gun and The Color of Money. The cameo came about while Cruise was visiting friends on set, and we appreciate the fact that he decided it might be a laugh to get blown to smithereens.

The original movie starred Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid, with Sutherland as Doc Scurlock, Phillips as Chavez y Chavez, Charlie Sheen as Dick Brewer, Dermot Mulroney as Dirty Steve Stephens, and Casey Siemaszko as Charley Bowdre. Young Guns follows the Regulators as they seek revenge following the murder of rancher John Tunstall, eventually becoming outlaws themselves. Despite the mixed reviews for the film, it became a hit after earning $45.7 million domestically and eventually spawning Young Guns II. A third film is potentially on the horizon, with Sutherland confirming that "the script is amazing."

Young Guns is available to rent or purchase digitally.