Tom Cruise as Carter

from the recent big ass Wrap article

And while Stanton was determined to cast Kitsch, he and his producers still continued to consider other actors for the part. One of the actors in the running for this new version of John Carter was a performer familiar with the property – Tom Cruise.

Cruise unexpectedly reemerged, hungry for the role he was once set to play. According to someone close to the production, Cruise actively campaigned for the job. Stanton admitted that there were “discussions,” but he largely didn’t budge. Kitsch was his guy. “I had Taylor already in mind by the time Tom made his interest known. Tom had a long history with the material, so it wasn’t too surprising to discover he still had interest in it. He was a consummate professional in his discussions with me about the role, and beyond respectful to the fact I was already on an audition path with Taylor,” Stanton said. “We agreed to talk further if I were to pass on Taylor, but I obviously didn’t. It was as simple and non-controversial as that.”

Lynn Collins, who was eventually cast as the Princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris, remembered Cruise’s attempts too. “That’s a different story entirely because he may have thought he was in the mix, and I think him and Andrew had some conversations, but I don’t think he was ever actually in the mix so to speak,” Collins said. “I mean the people who were testing were the people that they were considering and they were all 20 years younger than him basically is what I’m trying to say. I mean, it may have been a desire. I don’t know how practical that desire was.” At the very least, it’s fascinating to think about whether a Cruise-led “John Carter” would have had a different trajectory (and it’s also fascinating to note the year after the release of “John Carter,” Cruise starred in two sci-fi projects: “Oblivion” and “Edge of Tomorrow”).

https://www.thewrap.com/john-carter-movie-history-why-it-failed/