Francis Ford Coppola shares The Outsiders audition video, which includes a baby-faced Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze & more

Last Updated on March 5, 2024

When you look at the cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, it’s pretty amazing how many up-and-coming young actors were involved, most of whom were complete unknowns at that point. Over forty years after its release, Coppola has shared audition footage of The Outsiders on Instagram, featuring Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillion, Ralph Macchio, and more. There’s even footage of actors who didn’t get roles in the movie, including a young Anthony Michael Hall.

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“42 years ago we cast ‘The Outsiders’ in a unique way,” Coppola wrote in the caption. “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.” The footage has been available previously on various home-media releases, but it’s still fun to see.

A few of the actors involved chimed in after Coppola posted the audition video from The Outsiders, including Ralph Macchio, who said, “These auditions and this film experiences still inform me today. Feels like this was just yesterday!” C. Thomas Howell, who starred as Ponyboy, added, “The people that came to these auditions… so many went on to have great careers. Amazing.” The film follows the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, which heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other. I probably haven’t watched the movie since… whatever grade it was that we read the novel, perhaps it’s time for a revisit.

Coppola has been hard at work on Megalopolis, his long-in-development passion project. Details have largely been kept under wraps, but it’s said to center on an architect who seeks to rebuild New York City as a utopia after a disaster. The film boasts quite the star-studded ensemble cast, including Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, DB Sweeney, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Bailey Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar.