The Ratings Disaster That Made Tom Cruise Walk Away From Directing
Tom Cruise’s only directing credit is hiding in plain sight: a 1993 Fallen Angels noir on Showtime adapting Jim Thompson’s The Frightening Frammis. The star joined a lineup of Hollywood heavyweights behind the camera — then never directed again.
Tom Cruise has exactly one directing credit, and it is not where you would expect it. No blockbuster, no theatrical experiment. In 1993, he took the reins on a single episode of Showtime's stylish but low-watched noir anthology Fallen Angels. It came and went so quietly that even a lot of Cruise diehards have never heard of it.
The blink-and-you-missed-it Cruise directing detour
The episode is called 'The Frightening Frammis,' adapted from Jim Thompson, and it fits neatly into the show's retro neo-noir vibe. Fallen Angels had a cool hook at the time: recruit big-name filmmakers to play in a crime anthology sandbox. Cruise jumped in for one round, and that was that.
- Series: Fallen Angels
- Episode: 'The Frightening Frammis'
- Year: 1993
- Source material: A Jim Thompson story
- Production companies: Propaganda Films and Mirage Enterprises
- Runtime: About 30 minutes
- Genre: Neo-noir / crime anthology
- IMDb score: 6/10
Here is the reality check: Fallen Angels never pulled much of an audience on cable, and Frammis faced the same uphill climb. Limited reach, minimal ratings, and almost no splash. It slid straight into the background of Cruise's filmography and did not lead to any follow-up directing gigs. More than 30 years later, it is still a one-off experiment, not a turning point.
Why so many stars direct once and tap out
Cruise is far from alone here. A-listers try directing, the project gets early curiosity, the reviews land somewhere between mixed and polite, and then the moment fades. Ryan Gosling's 'Lost River,' Nicolas Cage's 'Sonny,' Eddie Murphy's 'Harlem Nights' — all high-profile first swings that did not turn into ongoing directing careers.
'Hollywood does not reward "just okay" directing debuts.'
Studios are careful with first-timers, especially when the debut does not punch through critically or theatrically. And big stars have a branding problem: a directing misfire sticks out way more than an acting miss. Marlon Brando found that out the hard way with 'One-Eyed Jacks,' a famously messy shoot that effectively shut the door on him directing again. When the risk-reward math looks ugly, most actors check the box once and go back to the lane that keeps their image intact.
What Cruise did instead
After Frammis, Cruise did not chase a second shot behind the camera. Instead, in 1993 he co-founded Cruise/Wagner Productions with Paula Wagner, which let him shape material without taking on the full grind of directing.
That pivot paid off fast. He produced 'Mission: Impossible' in 1996 — retooling a classic TV series into a big-screen franchise that has basically defined the second half of his career. From there, the strategy sharpened: partner with heavy hitters like Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, and Christopher McQuarrie, and stay deeply hands-on with stunt design, story development, and action choreography. Over time, Cruise settled into the actor-producer sweet spot, quietly exerting a ton of creative control without ever returning to the director's chair.
Where to find it
If you are curious, Fallen Angels is streaming on HBO Max. 'The Frightening Frammis' is a quick half-hour watch and a weird little footnote in an otherwise laser-focused career.
Did Cruise make the right call not directing again, or would you have wanted a second swing? Drop your take in the comments.