Having a famous line thrown back in your face in public is basically every actor’s worst fear. Despite the aura of celebrity that may look superhuman from afar, actors are just people like everyone else and mostly want to go about their business undisturbed. Which is why Regina King needs you, the common person without an Oscar to your name, to stop shouting lines from Jerry Maguire at her while in public.
King is known by many for a variety of roles, including that aforementioned Oscar win in 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk. But a line from the Tom Cruise vehicle still haunts her 25 years later, to the point where she’s talking about it in interviews in 2021.
At the time, Regina King didn't know that the line "Show me the money" from "Jerry Maguire" would become such an iconic catchphrase. "25 years later, people still think that's an original thing to say to me." https://t.co/9Vf7OXH1KC pic.twitter.com/ZV7LP5ZnpJ
— Variety (@Variety) July 16, 2021
King appeared on Variety’s Women in Motion and was asked if she knew “show me the money” would become an iconic catch phrase when the movie was filmed. The line, which Cuba Gooding Jr. yells repeatedly at Cruise’s Maguire in the film, became one of the most popular — and most-screamed — moments from the movie. And years later it’s apparently still something King has to hear when people recognize her.
“Oh dear, I did not,” King said. “Nor did I know 25 years later people would still think that that’s an original thing to say to me.”
King admitted that “it’s actually kind of cute” and there’s certainly some appreciation from the actress that people do recognize her and know her work, but it’s also pretty clear that she would be OK if she never heard it again from random passersby. Which certainly makes sense: 1996 was a long time ago and King’s been in plenty of great things since then.
The whole thing is a nice reminder that if you’re going to interact with a celebrity, know that they’ve probably heard just about everything you might think to say to them from their most popular films. So maybe a nice “hello” or a polite nod will suffice instead.
