Gershon and Cruise starred in the 1988 movie &34;Cocktail.&34; Gina Gershon recalls almost breaking Tom Cruise's nose while filming love scene Gershon and Cruise starred in the 1988 movie &34;Cocktail.&34; By Raechal Shewfelt :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RaechalShewfeltauthorphotoc49d3a3b6aa442f588f2bbc0de804e09.jpg) Raechal Shewfelt Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at . She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American Journalism Review and The Shreveport Times. EW's editorial guidelines March 20, 2026 8:27 p.m.

Gershon and Cruise starred in the 1988 movie "Cocktail."

Gina Gershon recalls almost breaking Tom Cruise's nose while filming love scene

Gershon and Cruise starred in the 1988 movie "Cocktail."

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

EW's editorial guidelines

March 20, 2026 8:27 p.m. ET

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Gina Gershon; Tom Cruise. Credit:

Gary Gershoff/Getty; Karwai Tang/WireImage

Gina Gershon remembers that costar Tom Cruise was "a dream" when they filmed a love scene together for the 1988 movie *Cocktail*. He might not recall things the same way.

The movie, which featured a rockin' soundtrack with songs such as Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and the Beach Boys' "Kokomo," was the story of Cruise's character, Brian Flanagan, swapping his life as a New York City bartender for an adventure serving up drinks in Jamaica.

"He was my very first love scene," Gershon said on a recent episode of SiriusXM's *Page Six Radio*. "I have to say he was very protective and very sweet and such a gentleman. like such a great guy really, truly in real life and definitely on the set."

The problem was her own suggestion that the scene begin with his character under the covers.

"He's like 'Oh that's a great idea.' We're just trying to make the scene work in a fun way," Gershon said. "And then by accident he kind of tickled me once. I said, 'Don't do that.' I said, 'Seriously don't do that cause I had a big brother who tickled me. I really go insane.' And I think maybe he thought, 'Oh, this will be a great reaction.' So he probably just did touch me. And I just, I didn't mean to. I had literally a knee-jerk reaction. I was traumatized by the tickle."

Gershon explained that she'd had a long history of being tickled when she didn't want to be.

"I had a big brother who would pin me down and tickle and do the loogie thing. It was disgusting," she said. "So I kicked him in the nose. I didn't mean to. I just kneed him. And I was like, 'Oh my god, I just broke his nose. Oh my.'"

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She said Cruise had been forgiving.

"He was like, 'No, no, no. My fault. My bad. You warned me,'" Gershon said. "He owned up. He goes, 'You told me not to tickle.' And he was trying to make me feel OK. But I could tell the poor guy was in pain."

'Cocktail' costars Gina Gershon and Tom Cruise.

Touchstone Pictures

He survived, though, and has famously done his own stunts in movies including those in the *Mission: Impossible* franchise, *Jack Reacher*, *Vanilla Sky*, and *Collateral*.

Post-*Cocktail*, Gershon has appeared in movies such as the 1995 cult classic *Showgirls* and the Nicolas Cage/John Travolta 1997 thriller *Face/Off*. On TV, she's worked on series such as *Doctor Odyssey*, *Riverdale*, and *Brooklyn Nine-Nine*.

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Gershon previously regaled audiences with her Cruise story when she appeared on *Watch What Happens Live* in 2024. She also noted then that Cruise's then-wife, Mimi Rogers, whom he'd married in 1987, had been nearby during the shoot.

"He had just gotten married," Gershon said. "But we did kiss as much as we could. Every scene it was like, 'Should we kiss in the scene?' 'Oh yeah, I think we should kiss.'"

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Published: March 21, 2026 at 06:38AM on Source: MANUEL MAG

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