Diane Lane Was Impressed With Tom Cruise While Making ‘The Outsiders’ (Exclusive)

Diane Lane knew Tom Cruise was a committed actor back when they made The Outsiders more than four decades ago.

The 1983 coming-of-age drama from director Francis Ford Coppola, starred Lane, now 60, alongside that era’s on-the-rise stars including Cruise, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Matt Dillon.

Asked if she could tell they had star quality back then, Lane tells PEOPLE, “I just remember that story of Tom Cruise making sure that it was evident that his tooth was knocked out in the rumble, and I thought, ‘That’s impressive. That’s commitment.’”

Based on S.E. Hinton’s 1967 novel of the same name, The Outsiders tells the story of teen Ponyboy Curtis (Howell). He and his working-class Greasers crew clash with their rivals, the Socs, in 1960s Oklahoma. 

Cruise’s character, Steve Randle, was a tough Greaser who sported a crooked smile. Through the years, there have been conflicting reports regarding how Cruise achieved that look. “I was impressed by his willingness to go to extremes in creating a character,” Coppola told Deadline in 2022. “If the role called for a chipped tooth, he would willingly chip his tooth.”

In a 2023 interview on the podcast Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi, Lowe responded “yes” when Bozzi asked him about the longstanding Hollywood rumor that Cruise removed his tooth “purposely.” (Cruise allegedly had a cap on a tooth that he removed.)

In that same interview, Lowe admitted “there was a lot of one-upping going on.”

And Lane had a front seat to witness it all. “The night shoots were interesting and long. And being the girl in that environment is interesting because you could sit back and just observe the male … the way they’re working it out with each other,” she says with a laugh.

“And it’s interesting because how much were they in character? And how much were they actors, roughhousing or what have you, keeping each other awake during these night shoots?” she continues. “There was so much to observe. I’m still kind of back there, people-watching.”

Lane also spoke about the experience making the movie on Wednesday, Oct. 29 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. 

“It was hot. It was great,” she said of working alongside the young, male talent. “It was kind of…too much testosterone for one girl. So I kept to myself. But I was definitely pinching myself. I was definitely overwhelmed.”

The Unfaithful Oscar nominee is now starring in Anniversary, a dystopian drama about a family torn apart by a social and political movement called The Change. Lane plays Ellen Taylor, a college professor whose son (Dylan O’Brien) begins dating one of Ellen’s former students — a student who holds anti-democratic beliefs.

When her ideas begin to take hold and become popular across the country, the Taylor family begins to come apart. 

“I strive to find characters that go through stuff, and she certainly goes through a lot,” Lane says of Ellen.

Anniversary is in theaters nationwide now.