The Weinstein CompanyJerry O'Connell has tackled law school, killer fish (in Piranha 3D, out this week) and even the challenges of fatherhood—all very scary things. But he still hasn't spoken to Jerry Maguire costar Tom Cruise, he tells E! News, since poking fun at him in that infamous Scientology-skewering video.
And it's the thought of running into Cruise that Jerry's the most afraid of:
"I saw him from a distance and got the hell out of there," O'Connell quipped when asked if he's seen his one-time costar since making the viral video two years ago.
O'Connell insisted the parody was never meant to offend, so we're sure Tom 'n' Jerry will patch things up the next time their paths cross on the red carpet—right? But O'Connell's had bigger fish to fry lately: for starters, getting through his first year of law school.
"I was taking a year off because my wife [Rebecca Romijn] was working, and we have sort of an anti-nanny sentiment," he explained of his time as a stay-at-home dad to twin daughters Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip. "So, I was not going to be working, and I wanted to do something else."
That something else was enrolling in his first year of part-time night classes at L.A.'s Southwestern Law School, alma mater of O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark.
"It was a lot of fun," he recalled, "although in my moot court trial, my professor told me that I overacted, so that was a little annoying. I'm sure that she did it just to mess with me."
However, now that he's heading back to work to play a lawyer on the CBS drama The Defenders, O'Connell's putting actual law school on hold. On the bright side, that first year of legal studies had an unexpected benefit: "To play a lawyer and have one year of law school under your belt, you sort of know what you're talking about! I'm able to memorize the legal courtroom stuff a lot faster than I would have been able to otherwise."
But before he got to practice his legalese, O'Connell had one more scary task to tackle: facing off against a school of ravenous, man-eating fish in this month's Piranha 3D, also starring Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Gossip Girl's Jessica Szohr and Richard Dreyfuss.
Which begs the question: What's scarier, facing the wrath of Tom Cruise, enduring a year of law school or being attacked by killer fish?