Richard Curtis had to get permission for Genie's Tom Cruise joke
Richard Curtis has revealed that he had to get permission to use a Tom Cruise joke in his new Christmas movie Genie.
The new movie stars Melissa McCarthy as a genie named Flora who is summoned by Gangs of London star Paapa Essiedu to grant him some Christmas wishes after a bout of bad luck.
In the festive film, we see Flora as she goes on her first ever trip to a cinema to see a Mission: Impossible movie, after which she develops a huge crush on action star Cruise.
Related: Richard Curtis wasn't worried Genie would get compared to Love Actually
Flora soon fills her bedroom walls with posters of the star and daydreams about starting a life with him. At one point, Essiedu's character Bernard even gifts the genie with a sweatshirt with Cruise's face on.
Speaking to People about Flora's hilarious obsession with Cruise and getting consent from the actor to use him in the movie, Curtis said: "We definitely had to ask him [for permission]. I mean, we asked him through his people. I'm lucky enough to know Tom a bit. He's always been very sweet to me. And we worked on a film for a while, which didn't happen.
"I don't know whether it's a favor to me and Melissa or whether someone in the mail room said: 'This sounds okay'. But it means that after all these years, I've at last made a Tom Cruise movie," the writer continued.
Related: Love Actually's Richard Curtis reveals real reason for Hugh Grant costume error
"There's a 3-second clip of Mission: Impossible. So I'm so thrilled that bit's in," he added.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Digital Spy, Curtis explained why he wasn't worried about comparisons between Genie and Love Actually: "This is so different from Love Actually. I didn't think: 'Ooo, I've got to have more plots or I've got to say something very different'."
Genie is available to watch now on Sky Cinema in the UK and on Peacock in the US.
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