Francis Ford Coppola Shares Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze Outsiders Auditions, 42 Years Later

Francis Ford Coppola has released audition tapes from The Outsiders, featuring adorably young versions of Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, and Ralph Macchio reading lines together for the 1983 movie.

Francis Ford Coppola Releases The Outsiders Audition Tapes

“42 years ago we cast The Outsiders in a unique way,” 84-year-old Coppola wrote in the caption of his Instagram post along with a video compilation of the auditions.

“We had all the actors together on a soundstage and would alternate different actors reading for different roles. It was interesting because each of them was watching their competition, so while it could’ve been a volatile situation, it turned into a very positive one.  There emerged the natural respect and sense of colleagueship among them. The result worked beautifully and reminded me of my days as a camp counselor.”

Also Read: When Tom Cruise Was Mistaken for a Hippie

Based on the 1963 novel by S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders follows a gang of teenagers in Oklahoma who call themselves “Greasers” and are constantly at odds with their more buttoned-up rivals, the “Socials”. But when one of the Socials dies in a fight between the two groups, the Greasers must go into hiding — and some end up meeting very sad ends.

Howell starred as the Greaser main character, Ponyboy, opposite Macchio as Johnny Cade, who utters the famous line, “Stay gold, Ponyboy” in reference to the Robert Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

Lowe played Soda Curtis, Swayze played Darry Curtis, Dillon played Dally Winston, Estevez played Two-Bit Mathews, and Lane played Cherry Valence. The movie served as a breakout for many in the cast.

The Outsiders was distributed by Warner Bros. Francis Ford Coppola is known for directing The Godfather (1972) as well as The Godfather Part II (1974), The Godfather Part III (1990), Apocalypse Now (1979) and Rumblefish (1983). His next upcoming film will be Megalopolis starring Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza and Shia LaBeouf.

Main Image: Rob Lowe (L) and Patrick Swayze (R) in The Outsiders. Credit: Warner Bros