Tom Cruise: is he a monster or a good person?
Thadie Newton has been the last to criticize his excessive intensity in front of the cameras, but there have been many who have defended him, from Alec Baldwin to Emily Blunt, Robert Duvall or Paul Newman
Movie stars no longer exist? There is no doubt that Tom Cruise is, he has been for the last 40 years, and he will remain so forever. His status has made the power of his name so great and heavy that it is even intimidating. There is no actor who does not speak of his incredible work ethic, but the truth is that he can sometimes be excessive. The great Hollywood actors are dwarfed by an actor and producer that everyone has a story to tell, and they love to share them.
The last was Thadie Newton, the actress from "Westworld" or "Crash" who in 1990 starred with Cruise in "Mission Impossible II" and who said in "Volture" magazine that the actor scared her and that it was too stressful a shoot . The most shocking proof of the type of person Cruise is is that, when a scene between the two seemed to go nowhere, Cruise offered the actress to switch roles. “We shot the whole scene with me being him, because believe me, by then I already knew the dialogue, and with him playing me. He didn't help at all ... I can't think of anything less revealing. He only pushed me further into a place of terror and insecurity. It was an absolute shame, "says the actress, who assures that Cruise is a man who lives under constant pressure, trying hard to look like a good person.
Is he a good person? Another of those who do not keep a good memory of him is Rob Lowe. The two met on the set of "Rebeldes", the Francis Ford Coppola film based on the young adult novel by Susan Hinton. “He was ready to succeed from minute one. I thought, wow, this guy is going for it. When we got to the hotel and Tom realized that he was sharing a room with me, he flew into a rage, "he recalled three weeks ago on comedian actor Dax Shepard's podcast. “What is significant about this anecdote is that it shows that some people have always been the way they are, and that it is precisely that characteristic that has led them to the place they occupy. That an 18-year-old with a couple of short slips in two movies would have that kind of behavior is surprising, ”he added.
The film that made him an international star, "Top Gun", which is already in its sequel, was the scene of another brawl with one of his co-stars. In this case we refer to Val Kilmer, Iceman in the film, who in his autobiography contributed an anecdote about his differences. “From day one, his head was focused on a single goal: to become the greatest action hero in movie history. He was awake learning lines; he spent every hour perfecting his stunts. His dedication was admirable. Of course, even more admirable is the fact that he achieved his goal. I also love that he is a fan of Mark Twain. Tom is a companion that I respect and admire, although as creatures we come from galaxies very, very far from each other ”. The proof that marked their relationship was a joke involving an expensive bottle of champagne that Cruise was not amused. "I thought it would break the ice between the two of us, but I think the ice was already fine for him."
I mean, good person or not, it's clear that Cruise prioritizes the movie above all else. However, for every bad story of the actor there are ten good ones. Bill Hader, for example, his partner on "Tropic Thunder," explained how while filming a promo for the movie, Cruise sped up production just to help him. It was 2010 and there was talk that there was a car bomb in New York. Hader's wife and his newborn daughter lived near the incident and the actor was unable to contact them. Cruise came over and asked if he was okay. He explained what happened and Cruise had two days of work done in 45 minutes. Then he got him to catch a flight that night, so six hours later he was next to his wife. “He said, we'll take you home tonight and bam, he got it. That's what it's like to work with Tom Cruise, ”Hader said.
What is recognized by all is its detail. She gives her co-stars every year a big cake for Christmas, like Kristen Dunst, the girl from "Interview with a Vampire." She remembers birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations from everyone who comes into contact with him. Since she was eleven years old, Dakota Fanning has received a gift for her birthday, and she is already 26. Even in her obsession with everyone feeling well treated, she manages to make sure that her co-star in “The Mummy”, Jack Johnson, does exercise with him so that the two take shape or, for example, invite Zac Efron to his house, just after finishing his time at “High School Musical”, in search of being taken seriously as an actor, to teach him how to go on a motorcycle and prepare him for his next role. "At that time no one had ever helped me and he volunteered," the actor recalled.
One of the cutest stories around Cruise happened in "Jerry Maguire." The role of Renee Zellweger's son changed actor three weeks after filming began. The first child could not bear the pressure and wanted to quit. A month later, Cameron Crowe received a call from the boy's mother only to thank Tom Cruise for caring about him and keeping in touch. “Wow, I had no idea I did that. The mother told me that she had helped her son a lot to return to his normal life, ”Crowe recalled.
One of his co-stars in that movie, Cuba Gooding Jr., remembered the day his father met Tom Cruise at a party. The first thing he did when he saw him was ask him directly if he was gay. "I thought the world was ending, but Tom just laughed and said no and we all had a good night," Gooding said on Graham Norton's British talk shaw.
Then there's Hether Locklear, the "Dynasty" and "Melrose Place" actress who dated him in the early '80s when she came to Los Angeles and she still didn't know anyone. In this case, they went to a club to dance and Cruise began to dance like in "Risky business", embarrassing the actress a bit, who did not know what to do, so he ended up sitting down and watching her strange movements. "I did not go out with him again, he was too weird," recalled the actress.
He has also helped many fellow professionals. Cameron Crowe was going to stop directing movies because of the failure of "Elizabethown" when Cruise took him on the set of "Knocked up," introduced him to Judd Apatow, one of his most staunch fans, and reminded him of how much fun shooting one could be. film. So he decided to try again. With Jessica Chastein, who was supposed to star in "Oblivion," he allowed her to break her contract in order to shoot "Zero Dark Thirty."
The list of people who speak well of him is long, from Alec Baldwin to Jennifer Connely, Cobie Smoulders, Simon Pegg or Robert Duvall. He befriended Billy Wilder in the last months of his life and Paul Newman raved about that ambitious and focused boy from "The Color of Money." There are a thousand stories about him, like when he scaled a 15-foot wall to sneak into a party at Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn's house, as Kate Hudson explained. Or when he asked Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and twelve other people to play hide and seek at a meeting at his home.
Then there is the dark side of Scientology and his confrontation with actress Leah Remini or his obsession with shooting his own action scenes. So what seems evident is that he is a man who really loves his job, whose demands can be intimidating, and that sometimes his excess of positivity can make more than one nervous, but that is part of his charm. . “I remember we were on the set of“ On the Edge of the Impossible ”, hanging from the ceiling in heavy astronaut suits. It was hot as hell in there and I couldn't take it anymore. Tom saw me overwhelmed and asked how he was doing. I explained it to him and I saw his look and I thought, oh God, there he goes. "You think it's a challenge," he said to calm her down. I wanted to kill him, but that's Tom, a sweet person who always looks for the bright side of things, "said Emily Blunt.
