Tom Cruise: Katie Holmes Inspired Me To Dance

Tom Cruise plans to set the world on fire with his dance moves in next year's film adaptation of the Broadway play, "Rock of Ages," and for that sweet treat, we have a certain lady to thank. As the megastar told the Los Angeles Times, the same woman that got Cruise jumping up on Oprah's couch also got those feet dancing.

"I had started dancing because I was inspired by my wife. She kept saying, 'You've got to do a musical sometime,'" Cruise said. "Kate's a dancer, so she would say, 'Let's go to dance class,' and she would take us and that's how I kind of came up with the idea of Les Grossman doing hip-hop. And then to take it to this level with this? It was really fun."

Grossman, of course, is the boisterous Hollywood agent role that netted Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. It was a rare foray into comedy for the star, who has become known for his turns in action films and dramas. "Rock of Ages" also represents a change of pace, given that he plays a rock star and spends much of the time singing and dancing. Whether he will succeed or not in the role remains to be seen, but it won't be for lack of practice.

"I was working on it when I was finishing 'Mission' and I was singing five hours a day and I was dancing five hours a day," he said, noting that he did six months of training for the flick. The singing practice must have helped too, given what the film's director, Adam Shankman, told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year.

"It wasn't until our first go around with his voice lesson that we sort of looked at each other and went, 'This is gonna work!'" he said. "And we were basically dancing around the living room and high-fiving each other because he actually has a fantastic voice. His grandfather or his great-grandfather was an opera singer, so apparently he's genetically predisposed for this sort of thing."

The film will feature a whole host of people you wouldn't expect to see singing and dancing. Malin Ackerman plays as a naive journalist who falls for Jaxx, Russell Brand will take on the role of a venue owner and sing an REO Speedwagon song with Alec Baldwin, who will play Dennis Dupree, a washed up musician and club owner. Julianne Hough is the young, naive singer new to LA, while Bryan Cranston will play the mayor of the city; Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a conservative out to destroy rock; and Mary J. Blige will also be in the film.