Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible and a lifetime of learning from movies | BFI in Conversation

Friends, please keep that applause going for Mr. Tom Cruise.

It's emotional.

It's very kind of you all.

Thank you all for being here.

Thank you, Edith.

My absolute pleasure.

There's a lot to talk about.

That was, I mean, that 15 minutes is just, for what you've done, I don't know if anyone else here in the audience found it so emotional watching that because how you've entertained us over the years and emotion is always at the heart of what you do, I think.

We feel that, I think.

That is for me.

Thank you.

It is my honor, my absolute pleasure, and I thank you all for allowing me to entertain you and live my dreams.

Do you ever give yourself the opportunity to kind of look back, to just consider what you have achieved so far in this career?

Yeah, I mean, I do.

There's moments.

You know, I'm very much in the present and the future, but I definitely, you know, I'm now, you know, things that, the goals that I had, you know, I was four years old when I decided I wanted to make movies and, you know, I wanted to travel the world and meet people from other countries and cultures and fly jets and airplanes and parachutes and jump off buildings.

What every four-year-old wants to do.

I know, with every four-year-old, but I was like, I was doing that even earlier.

But I really wanted to do that, and I remember, you know, I would write goals down always as a kid, and, you know, we traveled, and I lived in different houses and rented houses, and I just had dreams, and I would write these goals down, and I didn't share them with people.

I remember as a kid, I told people what I wanted to do, and then it was just somehow kind of too much for some people.

They're like, you know, what are you talking about, kid?

You know, and so I stopped telling people, and now I've kind of, you know, over the years, you just kind of reflect on what those decisions were and what the dreams were, and just kind of, you know, I wanted to be here, you know, for the rest of my life and make movies.

I remember being on Taps.

Suddenly, I had one or two lines in the movie, and then suddenly I had, I was a third lead in the film, and that's a long story.

But I was laying there in bed, and, you know, I knew, I didn't go to film school.

I didn't go to acting class.

My school was basically watching movies and evaluating films, and I had to think about, how did I think about movies?

And, you know, I just, it was my personal experience, and now I'm on a movie set, and I went, I don't know if this is ever going to happen again, and what I naturally did was, is I just did what I do, which is I went to every single department.

I just started studying every single department and asking a gazillion questions.

You know, we had the great cinematographer.

There was Roisman.

You had Stanley Jaffe, you know, who was producing this film, and, you know, he was, you know, we had Harold Becker, and there's Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn, who grew up in the industry, and suddenly I'm playing chess with George C. Scott on Sunday morning, and, you know, and, but it wasn't just that I'm playing chess with these people.

I was very interested in, and asked a lot of questions, and I would study a lot of movies, and then I would evaluate, like I always took an actor's career, a cinematographer's career, director's, whatever, and I'd watch their movies from the beginning to end, and then I would evaluate the differences and the choices, and then I would meet them, and I would discuss the circumstances of each film,

and that was just my, what I did naturally, and I didn't quite realize

how that benefited me, kind of as years passed on, because I thought that's what everyone did.

You know, I really, I was there, I just didn't know what else to do, and I thought, I'm laying there, and I remember in Taps, I was in my hotel room, and I was just laying there, and it was, I was so tense, like trying to remember everything, and absorb everything, and I just, I literally, I'll never forget it, I just started laughing, I said, this is ridiculous, there's no possible way, you know, I don't know what I don't know, and it's okay not to know, and just absorb it, and just live it, and enjoy it, and just do the best I can, and that was really the kind of agreement that I, the statement for myself,

it's just, I'm gonna do the best I can every day, and that's all I can do, and I will never take it for granted.

I know that this is a privilege to be able to live out something that is, it's not what I do, it's who I am, and it's my passion, and that's how I felt about it, and that was, that's been, and I've wanted to be here for the rest of my life making movies, and be competent at it, so that's, so yes, I do look back, it's a long answer.

You're in the dream.

I could have just said yes.

No.

This is the dream, are you kidding?

I could have just said,

yeah.

Don't ever do that, please.

Yeah, no, good.

But that, can I just, but that four-year-old, was there, was there a collection of films, or a, or a feeling that you had when you saw a performance, or anything in particular?

there were many, many, many, many moments like that.

They were like, I want to do that.

Many moments, like I, I would, I just, look, I was a kid that opened the window, and I'd crawl out on the roof, and the stars, I'd wake up, and I'd sneak out, and I was, I was three years old, and the neighbors called and said, I think there's a child on the roof.

You know, or I'd climb the tree, or I, I just was, everything was an adventure to me, and it still is, you know, and my interest in, in life, and wanting to understand life.

Yeah.

For me, it was, it was wanting to know people, understand people, and I didn't kind of know,

even though people are saying, you know, you've got to stop moving so much, you've got to, don't, don't, don't do that, you know, I just, I didn't really recognize those limits.

And when you started that kind of journey of, of kind of going, this is how I want to do things, and also, I guess, probably a good thing from not going to film school, in terms of, this is how you do it.

You found your own way of doing it, and you found that you wanted to absorb all these different kind of, the learning, you're going through your own film school,

really.

That's exactly it.

I, it was, I just kind of created my own film school, and I could see it from different points of view, you know, everyone had a different point of view of what the film was,

from the editor, cinematographer, the filmmakers, the audience, and different artists about their perspective on what storytelling is, what works for them.

And I got to see it from their point of view, and evaluate it, what is that for me?

I, I was never someone who would,

like, my experience with, with a story or a movie is my experience, and what I feel and what I recognize.

And then I, I would, I sit in audiences, I'm like, did they have, did you have the same experience as I did?

Like, that's why I like cinema and the collective group of all of us together, and sharing this experience together and bringing our own lives and our own stories and then experiencing it.

I don't, I'm not someone who would read something to know how I should experience it.

Yeah.

Whatever art form it is, whatever culture it is, it's like, I want to know for myself.

I don't, I've never been someone to take someone, opinion.

I'll listen, but I want to, I want to evaluate things for myself.

And that's, that's how I felt about movies.

And the things that I would do is, and I still do, I study people's careers and I look at, I studied the history of movies and how they're made and, you know, and kind of pull from that and see how, what, what things I felt worked with cinema.

And how do I build an environment where it's creatively,

you know, rich and, and how do I, how do I do that?

So every kind of little door that opened, I would bang the door open and push harder and, and be willing to make mistakes, be willing to, you know, evaluate why some things worked and why it didn't.

So I would take a director and I'd look at what elements were involved in making that movie work, the editing, the cinematography, the score.

Now I was very fortunate because here I am 18 years old and I was able to go, here's, and I made a list of the filmmakers that I wanted to meet.

And I was like, I, I'm going to meet these people.

I'm going to interview them.

And at that age.

And when I did taps, I was very fortunate because I remember Kevin O'Vein's here and CAA was a very new agency.

They had like half a floor and, and they wanted to represent me.

And I was like, I interviewed my agent.

I was like, here's the goals that I have.

And I want to meet these filmmakers.

And I studied who CAA was.

And there's, it's like, and I knew when I did taps, there was interest in, in representing me and I didn't have an agent.

And I was like, okay.

And they were very helpful.

People were very, very helpful.

So I was able to interview Scorsese, Sidney Pollack, you know, Newman.

I met Hoffman when I was young and, and Spielberg.

And, and every step that I made you, I just, I was, you know, but it was, I was constantly, I studied movies and then I studied the studio system and then I studied distribution.

And, and I was, and I would go, I would force the studios to send me to countries when I was very young.

You know, I, I was fortunate because I, I knew I had certain marketing consultations, you know,

now when you're 20 years old and you have marketing consultation and I'm sitting at these desks, like they were not excited to have me sit in those meetings.

You know, who is this, who is this person?

I was always like, like, I said, look, I don't know.

I just want you to teach me and learn and see what you do.

I, so I was very, then they started opening the doors.

They realized I'm not trying to tell them what to do.

I want to understand.

Yeah.

And I, I like to understand things and,

and just put all the pieces together for me.

And I wanted to go to these countries and I would force the studios to send me to countries.

And I wanted to understand, you know, I wanted to see their movies with them.

And I wanted to see the films that I made with them to see how is it communicating?

Again, kind of a lifelong journey of how do you feel about life?

Like what things matter to you?

Yeah.

Not just reading in some book, but I wanted to experience it.

And I wanted to go to these places and work with them and know them and, and then see their movies and make movies for them.

And so a lot of the things that I would then go and realize it, wow, there's not a lot of theaters around.

And at that time, you know, Hollywood was very Hollywood.

It was about America.

And I was very much about global.

And I want to go to those places.

You know, I want to, I want to work there.

So I want to be there and I would watch these movies.

And then eventually I came up when I would go, it'd take months to travel.

And I'm like, I make movies all the time.

Like I don't have time off.

I don't want time off.

You know,

I want to make movies.

And so that's when I came up with the red carpet premieres.

I was like, I can do, you know, let's bring the Hollywood kind of culture to them.

And I came up with the red carpet premieres and then I could do a country every other day or a day and then travel around or spend days there where I could have days where I could, I could go to the movies, spend time with artists and really kind of scout the areas.

And that's what I would do.

I'd, I'd go and look at those areas before the internet, way before the internet.

Okay.

Before you all were born.

And, uh, I would go in and do that.

And, and it was just, uh, quite amazing.

And then I was like, I was fortunate enough to be there with the studios and saying, you got to build theaters.

You know, this is before, like we used to not release movies in the summer in Europe in August.

It's like, no, no, no, there's no air condition.

I was like,

well, why don't we get some air conditioning there in those theaters?

I don't know.

Maybe it's just me, but I, let's just pump a little air conditioning.

I mean, that's a couple of extra weeks we can, you know, let's go.

So those are the kinds of things that, and I would always bring it back to movies and stories and,

you know, just constantly learn something and then try to apply it to the next.

Right.

I love, I have a broad taste in music and art, cinema, and I wanted to understand that kind of storytelling, whether it was thriller or action or comedy, character comedy, different kinds.

And I was like, I made a list, even as a kid of all the movies, kind of different films that I want to make.

And I would take it and I'd study that entire genre.

Then I'd test myself.

Can I do it?

Yeah.

You know, what's it like?

And I was very fortunate.

I mean, the people that I've worked with, they're very generous with me, very gracious, and shared their viewpoints and allowed me in.

And to be able to look at that and work with these people for many years, you know, the development with different artists, great writers and producers and actors.

And so it's kind of, that's, that is my journey still.

Yeah.

I mean, early on you had the opportunity, you mentioned some of those names already in terms of those huge directors you were able to work with kind of really early on.

Were they, you know, Spielberg you mentioned as well in terms of helping you develop scripts and being able to go to him to kind of as a soundboard sort of thing.

How important was you to have mentors like that and people who were kind of sounding boards that you knew that you could kind of go to and get advice from or learn more from as well?

Everyone.

It wasn't, and it wasn't just Stephen.

It was, it was cinematographers.

I'm going through Owen Roisman is on the set, taking me through lenses, taking me through film.

So the development of those things.

And it was going to people's sets and evaluating these things.

And it was, look, it's very important.

I say to artists, it's like, I'm going to tell you the things that I learned.

What is important is what is true for you and what you're going to find your own voice.

I'm going to tell you what I realized is like, here's a tool, understand that tool, understand the camera, evaluate structure for yourself.

Like these things that I really just evaluated for myself, story structure, and what, what makes, how can I, you know, understand what a structure is.

And it's not, you know, now we all have the kind of act one, two, three, and kind of people are going to doing it.

It's not that.

That's not what it is.

It's like, I have to have a structure which will allow the drama that I want, the humor that I want, the engagement that I want.

What is the purpose of a story?

What is it for me?

And for me, it was always, I'm an audience.

I'm that guy sitting in the dark theater being entertained by all kinds of movies.

And as I'm being entertained, I was wondering, what tools did they use to create this effect?

What was it?

Not just the mechanical tools, but the dreams, the ideas, the emotion, and how do we convey that?

So I wanted to understand all of that.

And, and, and that is, that for me was understanding the writing, the structure of that, how films are put together, the, the, the alchemy of that, the, the, you know, it's all of these elements that it's, it's our film and getting people to invest in that way.

That it's our film.

And, um, it's a living thing.

You can't just write something out and shoot it.

You know, it's alive and you have artists.

And so the things that, that interested me was, you know, you're, I'm looking at artists and then you build the story around them.

You build the characters around them.

Those characters that I, that I created, you know, I worked with the writers and directors, but it was also just, I'm creating this.

So those are the things that I had to evaluate myself.

Like what, what, what is that?

and, and see, I want to, I'm looking to create an effect on an audience.

Are the tools that I'm using, even my body, the emotions, understanding the frame, my cast, the writing, all of us together.

Is it creating the effect that I want in that audience?

I'm not making them for me.

I'm making it for me that I love making it.

And it's tremendous joy to make it.

But when I'm acting, I'm also there for the actors.

I'm there for the crew.

You know, I realized and I know even before I made movies that to lead is to serve and that,

you know, we're, we're looking at, at our industry and it's important to, to help each other to become competent, to strive for competency.

And it's great to study knowledge for knowledge.

It's a wonderful, knowledge is a fun thing to know.

And we can kind of quote things back and, you know, who did what, whatever.

But if you have a tool that you can,

a knowledge that you can apply, I'm looking for things, knowledge that I can use, not theory.

I want to know when I apply this, does it create the effects that I want?

And how do I do that?

So that's also something for me.

I think that even as a, as a kid, you know, when I was cutting grass, you didn't cut grass.

Well, you didn't, guiding asked you to come back and cut the grass, you know, it was very simple.

And I needed to cut the grass because I needed the money, you know, when I was a little kid and you're going through it.

And so I was like, oh, I better, I better be damn good at cutting grass, you know, and that's my dream.

And so those are the things that I've learned and that I apply to my life.

When you were making those kind of choices, you know, after, you know, after risky business, probably when things started really, you know, that attention on you, that leading.

It's interesting.

It happened right away.

Yeah.

With taps.

It didn't, it wasn't, it was, everything happened fast.

Yeah.

Like all of a sudden, honestly, it was like,

it just happened fast.

And I, I feel it.

Well, I didn't just feel it.

It was like, it was happening.

No, it was happening.

Like the phone calls of this.

And I was very, you know, I would go to the studios.

I'd go and just, I was right there, like very early on.

And I knew, as I said, I, I was like, I, I don't know what I don't know.

And I'm here to learn.

I'm here to listen.

And also find out just because someone says something doesn't mean it's true or that it's effective.

So I also, even when I was kind of growing up, looking and seeing what, what are my personal goals?

What do I want to do?

And I wanted to make, I wanted to make great films and I wanted to learn how to make great films.

And as you're learning, you're going, I, how do I learn to make great films?

And what is a great film to me?

And so right away with TAPS, I was offered other films immediately.

And I, I did a film, um, you know, and it was called Tijuana at first.

And it was with, uh, Hanson, you know, Curtis Hanson who went on to direct LA confidential and Shelly Long was in there.

And it was Jackie Earl Haley and coming out of TAPS, which was, you know, we spent, I don't know, six weeks with rehearsals.

And, and there was an environment that, that Stanley and Harold, Stanley Jeff and Harold Becker had created that really defined the rest of my career.

Because then I went on to Tijuana.

I was like, okay, whoa, I'm making this movie and the quality wasn't there.

And the intention to make a great film, because what they told me what it was going to be and what it ended up being were two different things.

And I was in it.

I was like, I always made my own decisions.

Like I listened to people.

I listened to advices, but I hold my own counsel with everything.

You know, it is literally like, if I'm not, it's, I know these are my decisions in everything in my life.

It's like, I am responsible for it.

So it was very much, when I did, I was like, I'm choosing.

And it was an incredible learning experience because it was the first time I realized like some people didn't know how to make movies.

And some people didn't have the same level of passion or quality commitment.

And, and going from that experience of TAPS to that, and I'm not making less of it, that experience was just as valuable and important as the TAPS, for me.

And, and I went back and I would go, okay, what was different in these two environments?

And how can I set myself up to learn and to keep growing?

And so that experience was very important.

And I kind of, then I went, okay, this is, I'm now kind of, kind of redefine and spend more time interviewing people before I go in to work with them.

Even, even if obviously the, my opportunities grew with after risky business, but it was, I had the opportunities were there and I went and I saw Coppola was, was doing a film and it was amazing experience.

He, we all had workshops.

So there I am.

I was like, okay, I'm not going to do this again.

I want to work with Francis.

So I went and we all rehearsed and it was an amazing experience.

Again, here we are,

you know, really two generations of actors are all in actresses are all doing workshops together.

Wow.

And it is an audition process.

So I saw all of these incredible actors, young actors, you know, and then Mickey Rourke came in who was, you know, he was older than us.

He was like 26, you know,

so old,

he's an old guy, you know, but he was like Mickey Rourke, you know, body heat and just brilliant actor.

And God, he was amazing.

And all of these actors are just seeing a generation of all of them.

And we're, we're workshopping and we're ad-libbing and we're doing comedy and drama and writing skits.

And, you know, these are things that as a kid, I wrote skits as a child and I would imitate, do a lot of imitations.

And I write little skits for my family, my sisters to make them laugh.

And my mother, and I was always doing stunts too, by the way.

I was always crazy.

Of course you are.

I broke a lot of bones.

Yeah.

But, um, that was an incredible experience.

And then I was offered rumble fish and I was like, and I was offered risky business and I was like, no, I'm going to do risky business and thank you.

And I had, and I, you know, to have that opportunity with Francis and I saw Francis recently again.

And I again said, I thanked him for that opportunity.

Like I had taps, I had these three films and now I'm able to evaluate different environments.

Yeah.

Yeah.

As an artist and kind of going, what environment do I want to create for myself that is going to allow a rich environment creatively?

And so for me, it was, you know, I remember I have a little bit of money and I'd get an apartment.

I had a big TV and I had stacks of, you know, movies and I would just, I would train and I'd watch movies and I'd set my time and I would just watch movies and not just watch it.

I'm, I'm absorbing the films and then I would, you know, go and evaluate for myself and I'd meet that cinematographer.

I'd meet that editor.

And I was going like, who made those choices?

What are all these elements in this art form that are coming together to create the film?

And, and understand it that that's what I'm trying to do is create that environment where everyone can flourish.

You know, I, I'm there working with them and then I, I did risky business and then I was like, when I was doing risky business, I wanted to play another different kind of character.

So I did all the right moves.

And again, you know, from all the right moves, you know, I did, you know, a bunch of other films.

Legend.

Oh, I've got a list.

A bunch of other movies somewhere around there.

I did some other things.

I guess.

Don't worry.

I mean, that was one of the joyful things about, about today was getting, was just diving into your, your back catalog.

And there's, there's so much.

It would be impossible to talk about everything tonight, but there's a few, if you don't mind just kind of picking up to kind of talk about, and for different reasons as well.

And a few good men.

Yeah.

I'm going to jump around kind of different timeframes and, you know,

generation stuff.

It's beautiful.

And Aaron, Aaron is Aaron, Rob, Rob Reiner, and that, that amazing cast.

That was an extraordinary experience.

I remember I was in New York and Rob said, go see the play.

I was out of town.

I was out of the country.

At that time.

And I went and saw the play and I called him back.

I said, great, let's, let's go make the movie.

You know, let's go do it.

And I remember when Jack Nicholson said that, that he would play the role.

I remember I was like, that was an extraordinary experience working with Jack.

And it was very unique.

We're at Culver City Studios and where he did Chinatown and other films in his career.

So the generosity of these artists where you're, you're able to, you know, I'd studied his whole career and they're very generous.

We're not just talking about kind of the gossip of things.

It's how, how things came together.

Now, at this point, Bob Town was a friend of mine, you know, and I'd spent a lot of time with Bob Town and that generation and, and, and seeing that kind of how his development, where, where that came from and the influences of that.

And now, now with Nicholson or with Newman or, you know, many different other artisans, those are the big names, but they were, take me through the various productions that I knew.

I knew their productions, you know, and how, and I started to be able to evaluate as I'm looking at the film, how it came together.

And they're very generous of saying, well, you know, the positives and the negatives from their perspective.

Okay.

And I remember the Nicholson scene when we were in the, when we were there in the,

you know, courtroom.

Suddenly I'm looking around, and the rafters were filled and people, you know, we're, we're making movies in LA at that point and the rafters are filled and people are coming in just to see this scene.

Like the town knew that we are shooting it and they would come just to see the scene, to see us go at it.

Yeah.

People, people were kind of surrounding and filling the rafters around just to, just to watch Nicholson and I go at it.

And it was magnificent to watch him and see what a, what a wordsmith he is, you know, like a great crooner to see him carve up, the dialogue and make it his own and find his own stillness.

And, you know, and you could see he, he had his hat.

And I was like, look, I'll go first, you know, with this.

And, and, and he was very generous and actor's actor.

He's off camera the whole time, just feeding, feeding me and very supportive.

And he'd be like, that was a good take.

Good, good, good, good, Tommy.

Nice, Tommy.

You know, always like pull me aside.

And that was a nice one, Tommy.

Remember that in the next one,

you know,

and, uh, just really like lovely.

And he just loved it.

Me going at him.

And I could just see also, as I'm doing it in the same way, like, you know, when you're acting, you're, you're, you're in the performance, but it's very much kind of your, I don't know how to describe it.

I'm, I'm filling the space.

Do you know what I'm saying?

I, you're there, but I'm also watching him.

It's just has this, it's a wonderful,

wonderful feeling creating like that.

and, and especially like with Nicholson, he's just right there.

He just,

just very present.

And I could see he had the hat and, you know, Nicholson.

And I, I spent a lot of time even, you know, just teaching actors about the lens and understanding what the lens is.

You know, it's important to understand your, the tools around you and what, what you're doing.

It just don't, you know, you're here like this.

It's Nicholson understands that lens.

And those guys that came up Newman, all of them understood the lens.

You know, that's, it's like understanding the stage as an actor, you know, on stage, but a lot of artists are not, it's not taught in film school to understand what the lens is and what to do and why the eye movements and not the eye movements, the eyebrows or the breath and recognize what effect that has.

And it's not that you are, and you can't just get locked into that, but you must understand there's a, there's a, there's a tech to it.

You know, art, art, the derivation of art is skill.

It's not, there's a skill to that.

And there's a skill to performing in the various, and, and stage is different than movies.

Movies are different than television.

And, but you could see Nicholson.

He understood it so well, the stillness and what he knew, the power of that character.

And when you see him, he, he just started to grip that hat and he was looking for a center and you could feel his voice start to relax and his face start to relax.

And you could feel the energy that he was going.

And it just, he just centered it like, and just throwing like just lasers as, as the film went on.

And it was, he knew what he was doing and he was absolutely correct.

And every actor, you know, when you're working with them, that they understand their art form to that degree.

You know, you spend time, I always tell actors, spend time in the editing room, you know, produce a movie and really understand and study movies, study old movies, study new movies, recognize what the composition is giving you, you know, from comedy to drama, know what those lenses are and know how to use it to your benefit and understand the lighting.

You know, you look at guys like Brando and the Godfather, he knew what Gordon Willis was doing.

He absolutely understood the lighting and the lenses, you know, he, and all the greats, they understand it.

So that's what he did.

And, and you could just feel him as I'm going off camera and I'm coming at him and he just, you could feel that him centering himself and just delivering that.

It was awesome.

It was really very exciting.

And infectious for you playing opposite that as well in terms of the energy you take.

Oh my gosh.

And the whole courtroom, you know, everyone and all those actors.

I mean, what a, what a cast, you know, we had on that.

And that's, that's, and that's why Nicholson's there off camera.

You know, I, I'm always there off camera and I'm there my, you know, I do my own inserts.

You know, when you see a hand there in those things or the foot, it's like, it's me.

I, I want to be on the movie set.

I love it.

I love, I love seeing the actors and being part of that and contributing to that.

It's,

you know, I see old Holly.

One of the things that they would do is the H.C.

and actor and artists and they go, they had a good sense of, Oh, there's a light.

You can see it.

And they would nurture and when in the best of it, they would nurture it and then develop the films for them.

You know, Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, all those guys.

And they start out in vaudeville and they, they tested their, their performances and their skills in front of a live audience.

So they would develop the material for themselves and test it.

And now,

you know, those skills, I realized early on that I have to train myself in these skills.

There's not that system.

And I tell actors, you train, get fine interest, be whatever it is, music instruments.

So you see in my career, whether it's an underwater sequence that you saw me doing legend.

It was the first time I did an underwater sequence.

I was like, wow, look at this.

What's that camera?

What are you doing?

Who, you know, and, and I, I'm very curious.

So I was like, okay, now I, I stored that.

Then I became a master diver and now I'm going to go like do another underwater sequence.

And then another, another, another, and same with Ariel or same, you know, I'll, I'll study music and then do a musical or I'll think of a character.

Then I'll find a script and I'll put that character into the script.

Okay.

Yeah.

I just want to ask you about Magnolia because I, I read about when you, Paul had given you a script and you kind of went talking about the character and it's, it's all good.

It's not the best for me to talk about the character.

So I need to show you the character.

Yeah.

I mean, some things you go, it was that character, you know, the whole monologue wasn't there at the beginning.

That wasn't there.

There was a couple of sentences and I was like, and I remember I was, I was working on somebody's telling like, Oh, I want you to wear this.

I said, okay, Paul, I got it, got it, got it.

I said, look, just come over to my place.

Let's do the wardrobe fitting.

And I remember there, he, he wanted me in like eyes odd shirts and cacky.

I was like, I don't think that's this guy.

Let me just show you my instincts on this.

So I created that whole character.

I was in my screening room.

I had him.

I said, just sit down right here in my screening room.

And I lit it, you know, and I, I had the whole music and I basically wrote the opening monologue, you know, my, my version.

And I was like, let me just show you what I'm going to do.

And he was like, literally right here sitting.

And I had a stage and I had lit, you know what I mean?

And I had the big speakers.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

And I just, as I was doing it, I could just see his face.

He's like,

what the fuck?

I was like, I don't know.

This is Mackie to me.

You know what I mean?

It's like it, boom, you know?

So, and then what's nice is, you know, you show them and then it evolves from there.

And then every day, like we were, we were writing those monologues.

And I, I just had a list of things that there's stuff that look, I, I don't, I, I do research on things.

I do it, but yeah, I just like, I create characters like that.

You know, you just go, I can do it.

And you just, you work on it.

And I don't, you know, Les Grossman, I knew what to do.

It was like, I'm going to play this character, but I'm going to have fat hands and I'm going to dance.

What was the fat hands thing?

I don't know.

I don't know.

I just needed fat hands.

I don't know.

It's like instincts that you have and you just know it's going to be funny.

And you know, and it's in a logic.

Comedy is in a logic.

We laugh at it in a logic.

Okay.

So there's certain things that you just, you get an instinct and it's, you know, when you're, when you're shooting a film, it's like you prepare, you prepare and believe me, I prepare everything and we're going through it.

And there's a lot of communication and dialogue about character and story.

And,

but then it's just, it's just, we're in the moment.

The camera's rolling.

And for me, I'm rehearsing.

I'm just, it's there.

Every take, it's like, it's now, it's now, it's now.

And I just can be the character.

You know, you just be it.

And then, you know, there's times that I've worked on, I was shooting three films at once at some point or McHugh.

What was it like?

What do we do?

12.

Like three films.

You were there.

It's like, was it three or three films at the same time?

So I was doing pickups, shooting a film and doing it and playing three different characters.

And that's the kind of skill where you want to be able to go in and out of that.

And, and that's what I, what I like.

And I work on.

And born on the 4th of July.

Yeah.

The range.

The, I mean, I watched that over the weekend again, and it's just that as an actor and as an opportunity to play a character that goes kind of, I mean, the opportunity for you to play that one man, but that goes through so much.

Yeah.

What an opportunity and what a performance.

You know, what a, what a beautiful man.

First off, he was born on the 3rd, 4th of July.

I was born on the 3rd of July.

And, um, I had a tremendous affinity for that character and, and going from rain man to that, it was a moment, like every time I'm going, here's the crucible.

Here's the, you know, here's the Rubicon.

Can I cross it?

Is it, can I, is this, this is the moment where I'm testing my abilities.

I'm testing, you know, I'm testing like my dream.

Am I, you know, I'm working with Paul Newman and Scorsese, you know, and these, I'd met them beforehand.

And you're, every time I'm going,

it's like,

where's this going to take me?

Like, is this is the moment.

And every step, I was just trying to constantly push myself and learn as much as I could.

And very different films, you know, being there on the set with Scorsese and Newman and their points of view and different points of view of cinema.

And storytelling and then learning all from them.

And then, then the time that I spent with Hoffman, two years with Hoffman, you know, we went through several directors, but still be, to be able to develop that structurally.

And every day, like, you know, we'd go to set and we were writing the movies or going along, you know, we would ad lib it and write it.

I mean, my, my, my skill and my work, even since I was a kid was creating characters instantly and ad libbing and writing structurally, understanding on smaller scale and then a larger scale.

And, you know, it's to be able to do that and then go to born on the 4th of July.

I spent my, my mornings, I was working on born on the 4th of July in the afternoons into the early evening.

I was working on, on born on the 4th of July.

I was rain man in the morning, then born on the 4th of July.

And to have him open that, that his life to me, to spend that time with Oliver, you know, it was, and the, that was very powerful experience.

And then to go from that, you know, to, I was, I remember I was even shooting cocktail.

While I was prepping born on the 4th of July, while I was shooting rain man, on Sundays I was, we were going and doing pickups on, on cocktail that was coming out in July.

So it was, and for me it was, how do I, how do I just, I wanted to, you know, just constantly learning about storytelling and focused on that and, and learning.

And it was amazing.

And I love Ron.

And to this day, we're always, our birthdays come around.

Yeah.

We send each other flowers and forever.

It's like,

again,

again, it's humanity.

That's, that's what interests me.

You know, when you're looking at life and history and geography and journeys and, um,

it's just real privilege.

Yeah.

I believe we have your sister to thank for rain man.

Ah, yeah.

Yes.

Yes.

We were, I was at, uh, my little sister who's here,

Cass.

Yes, Cass.

Yeah, Cass.

So I was, I was back.

I was, I visiting, I was shooting, uh, legend with Ridley Scott here.

Yeah.

Okay.

And I went back and there was, uh, we were at a, we were at a restaurant, you know, when I was, we was eating at a table and she goes, there's Dustin Hoffman.

I looked up and there he was with a hat and he was doing death of a salesman.

And he was ordering takeout.

She goes, you, you go over and you say hello to him.

I said,

what?

I'm not going to go say hello to him.

She goes, you love him and you know his career.

You could go over and say hello.

It's like,

and she doesn't do stuff like that.

Like she's not, and I don't walk up to people and introduce myself, but she was so pushy.

And she literally said, she goes, look, if you don't do it, I'm going to just go over and I'm going to tell him who you are and that you're over there.

I was like, he's not even going to know who I am.

This is like, we're going to be really humiliating.

I'm not doing it.

So finally she pestered me so much.

I said, okay, I'll go over and say hello.

And I went up and then he was obviously had his hat on and he was ordering takeout.

And I just stood next to him and I said, excuse me,

Mr.

Hoffman, I'm sorry.

And he looked at me and he went, Cruz.

And I went,

I was like, you know, because risky business, the graduate, it's one of the films that you've got to look at as, as an actor when you're looking at, you know, at a coming of age.

And,

and that's, that's how I met him.

And he was very, he's like, Oh, we're in town.

You've seen, it was like the, I think it was the last week of death, death of a salesman.

I said, no, sir.

I said, it was sold out standing room.

he says, well, come to see it.

And I said, what can I bring my sister?

You know, and he was so gracious.

And we, he had me there and brought me backstage and we were taking photos.

I met the whole cast.

And, you know, I remember seeing John Malkovich.

I was shooting risky business and there was, I saw John Malkovich in Chicago in true West, you know, he and Gary, and they were astonishing.

I mean, Oh my God, they were astonishing.

And now, you know, he's doing death of a salesman.

And that cast was amazing.

Performance was amazing.

So we were there.

And as I was leaving, he said, I'm, I want to make a movie with you.

And I was like, that'd be nice.

Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you, sir.

That'd be very nice.

I was, I was raised Southern.

It was yes, sir.

No, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

No, ma'am.

And people are like, it was really, they say, that's it.

Please stop saying that.

And,

but I was, and that's what happened.

And basically he sent me a year later, he sent Rain Man to me.

He sent Rain Man and the script was not the script.

You know, Rain Man, my character was like 57 years old, you know, real old guy.

I could say that.

So, and, and so I was like, and he goes, I want you to play my, this character and I'm going to play Raymond.

And so anyway, it was a tremendous journey because also part of my things, I would meet writers and screenwriters and now, and we're seeing how, how to develop it and the rhythm and us finding the tone of the rhythm.

We, we went on a really a two over two year journey, developing these characters, finding these characters, developing these characters, developing the journey and the visual journey of the movie and going through it was with, and every time like you learn something, you know, early on in, and the stuff that Orrin Roisman was saying to me when I was 18.

And as time went on, I can recall a very good memory.

And I recall everything they said and stuff started to just started to make sense.

And it started to kind of become more of my, my own.

And, um, that experience that led into born the 4th of July that, you know, like one, one experience informs the next and informs them all.

Yeah.

You talk about kind of, you know, meeting these people and you met some people on the way who really encourage you to step into producing, but you kind of been doing that anyway, really, you know, in terms of how involved you are and how interested you are in the makings of it.

But mission was the first official producer producing credit that you had.

Yeah.

And I went and Stanley Jaffe was a paramount and, and Sherry Lansing was there that I, a woman I knew since I was, both of them I've known since I was 18.

And they're like, listen, you know, I, I felt at that time I wanted to produce something.

And I, I looked at their library.

I was like, I want to produce mission impossible.

I want to, that'll be my first film that I'm going to produce.

Why?

What was it about it?

Um,

you know, it was, I love the theme music, you know,

Oh, the want to sing it.

I love the music.

It's unbelievable.

Bump, bump, bump, bump.

You know, I was like, that's really cool.

And I thought it'd be interesting to take a cold war TV series and turn it into, uh, action.

And it also, I wanted, I wanted action suspense and I wanted to, you know, with, with motion, a lot of people, you know, of course, you know, I've studied silent movies and Fantasia and musicals and how to utilize motion.

Um, and you see me even in taps.

I'm a, I'm a physical actor.

You know, I'm looking at behavior and kind of the effect of just behavior period on, and, you know, human behavior and how that reflects.

So even in the firm, when you throw yourself out the window,

you know, it's kind of like sprinting and,

and,

and looking at mission and kind of going, what can we do with action?

You know, and the stuff that I'd seen, I remember being on taps and I was like, oh my gosh, these guys actually like, there's, there's stunt people that do this.

And I was, I would study them and learn those things and kind of how can I evolve action and storytelling and, and imbue kind of that kind of story with, with greater amount of motion and develop that stuff.

And that's, that's, that's what happened.

And that, that is my interest.

So I'd studied, I'd studied stunts and different cameras.

I thought me doing it, you can put the cameras in closer and in different places.

And so I was constantly working and developing my abilities.

So I could, we could do stuff like that and, and develop, really develop technology, how we could do it because how to put the camera that close to me on the train.

And it was such early days that, you know,

the harnesses that I'm wearing were very new and the cables were very new and we were, we were all experimenting and testing.

And I was like, I'm going to wear this harness in the CIA room, but that's also a harness that I used under my wardrobe.

So I was developing, how do we handle the wardrobe with these harnesses and how many different wardrobe sizes do I need?

And, and also evaluating like where the camera now, I remember the camera was, I was on the train.

I got blown from the helicopter to the train and the camera was there and there's pipes, you know, the rigging pipes are out there.

And I was like, guys, I'm going to go, I might impale my skull on this pipe.

And no one had thought about stuff like that because,

and yeah,

hope does.

Yeah, I did.

I did when we were there.

I was like, so we're learning kind of how to, how to proceed when, when I'm doing it and the actor's that close to the camera and we're, we're doing it for the camera.

We're designing motion and action for the camera.

So,

how does motion define character, tone and story and what kind of behavior.

So a lot of these things, when you're seeing me do it, it's yeah,

we're acting or, you know, so I, I, then I would just, you know, I've dedicated my life to learning different skills and then applying those skills and then kind of going, everything is about movies.

And how can I turn this into a film?

What story can I tell with this?

What's the camera like?

How do we do it?

And so I was very closely following the evolution of the development of film and lenses, speed of film.

Um,

well with on collateral just quickly with, um, you know, Michael Mann working on that and, and kind of, that was a, an example of kind of really playing with digital.

Yeah, that was, that was a real, that was a first film when we're talking about LA and making LA a real character in the movie and what Michael had done with developing the digital for visual.

And he, he played with it in the alley.

And then with this, when we sat down, you know, even the lights that we're using, you know, it was very early days about those soft lights when I'm in back of the cab and the depth.

And the frame and how do we shoot night?

Obviously all of us, you know, you know how difficult that is and how much we have to light.

And now I'm able to have that kind of freedom at night, you know, and you're seeing it.

So we're, we're playing both with film and two different kinds of digital cameras and, and the effects of, you know, it was, it was great experience because we're looking at what's, what's being communicated there in terms of the character, uh, the clarity of the lenses.

And so that was, that was, and that was, that's where we first met during that time.

I nearly did get you back in the day.

You nearly didn't get you on the red carpet.

She tripped me, grabbed me and was like, pick me up and sit, stuck the mic in front of me.

I will.

I was like, okay, all you had to do was ask.

You had me at hello.

You had me at hello.

Um, I mean, the success of, of, of mission has been absolutely phenomenal.

I was lucky enough to see the new film, the latest film on Friday night.

I'm not going to say anything because the experience is.

It's phenomenal.

So physical.

and it wouldn't be that without the gentleman who's here.

My creative brother, Christopher McCoy.

Stand up, the cue.

Stand up,

brother.

Come on.

Give it to him.

Give it to him.

Give it to him.

Come on.

the cue.

Come on, brother.

And Eddie Hamilton.

Where are you?

The editor.

Okay.

Wow.

Eddie Hamilton.

Top Gun Maverick.

Without Eddie.

Top Gun Maverick as well.

Eddie with Top Gun.

Oh yeah.

Eddie, all these Top Gun Maverick.

Top Gun Maverick, He won the Eddie and the Hamilton.

He's our Eddie Hamilton.

And the whole team.

So that, that doesn't happen, uh, without him.

I, you know, he's uncredited in Ghost Protocol.

He really structured that movie and came in.

I'd shot three months on it and I, I knew I was like, ah, just different things.

Like I, I will shoot something and I'm kind of, I'm picturing it in the editing room, the story I'm going, I covered my bases and I can't tell you just how brilliant this man is.

I mean, truly people say that he's, he's very humble and he's a guy who,

an exceptional, an exceptional story.

Teller.

And the moment I met him, I remember he, he walked out and I was like, I'm going to work with this guy,

you know, for, for the rest of my life.

He's just, he's someone that I, I love working with him.

I enjoy the creative process with him and he could see stuff.

And when he came in and I was like, I knew I didn't have the story.

I was like, there's no story.

I had a lot of pieces in place and I called him and he came on set.

um, you might have to tell this quick story.

I'm just going to tell a quick story.

Do you guys want to hear about ghost protocol?

A little quick story?

Okay.

I'll tell you this quick story about it.

So I didn't tell anyone that McHugh was coming to the set.

You know, Brad was there and Simon Pegg.

And I was like, I, I know I need help with the script.

The story's not there.

And I called him over Christmas and I was like, where are you guys?

You know,

come, come, come on.

I need you to, you know, come and let's talk about story.

Come, come help me out with this.

And,

so he flew up to Vancouver and we're shooting the scene.

I'm shooting the glove scene.

You know, I'd already shot the action where I go on the wall and I, we'd shot to buy a shot.

The most of the action sequence, except the garage scene.

We hadn't shot yet.

And there I am.

And it was like, I didn't know why I was on the side of the burge.

I was like, we'll figure that out later.

You know, I'll figure it out later.

Problems for another day.

Problems for another day.

You know, information, information.

So I'm here with Simon Pegg and, you know, I'm holding up the gloves and I'm just waiting.

I was like, where are you McHugh?

You know, he's supposed to land.

And then I got the message.

He's on the plane.

He's coming here.

He's landed.

He's at the airport.

And I know we're shooting this scene.

I can't wait for McHugh to get here.

Like he and I, like we talk things over and it's just like lightning fast.

It's stunning to people.

I can't even express it.

So anyway, I shows up and through the crew, you know, oh, he's on set.

He's there.

My assistant said, and I looked across, there's McHugh.

And I'm standing here and we're trying to figure out the scene.

You know, Brad is where you are.

And Simon's standing in front of me and I'm holding the gloves up.

And I'm just like going, I know this, like what we're doing doesn't work.

And McHugh's standing over there.

I go, and he came over and Brad and Simon are sitting there and said, Hey McHugh, how are you?

But McHugh is Brad is Simon.

How are you?

And they're kind of looking at me confused.

Like what's this guy like we're trying to figure this scene out.

I said, so McHugh, you know, I need help at this scene.

And I'm trying to figure out like the gloves, you know, he goes, okay, well, what's the problem?

I said, well, he goes, well, how's it work?

And I said, well, what is it?

Red light means I'm, I'm, it won't stick anymore.

And blue means I'm, it sticks and I can go up the wall and climb the whole thing.

And he just, with, without even a breath, out of breath, he goes, oh, well, blue is glue, red is dead.

And proceeded to write the rest of the scene.

And I was like, thank you.

And they were like,

you know, bird, Simon were like, who is that guy?

I was like, oh yeah, it's McHugh.

He's going to write the rest of the movie.

You go, he's going to go see, go see the rushes.

And he went and saw the rushes while we're shooting the scene that he just wrote.

And he, I could see through the crowd.

I was like, what do you think?

He was like, thumbs up.

I got it.

And then he proceeded to write, you know, the film in the other room and he'd write it and we'd shoot it right there.

Wow.

So yeah, that's how movies are made.

That's how I learned how to make movies.

I don't know what to say.

She just keep going until it's, it's right.

And you never, ever give up.

You just keep going, keep going, keep going.

That doesn't mean that we're trying to get it right in the early stages, but things evolve and it's very complex.

So, and that's just a thing of one thing.

Thank you.

So one of many,

one of, one of many.

And so, yes,

you guys have got about another 64 films already.

Oh, we do.

Actually, actually, we do.

Very much looking forward to.

Yeah.

We're there's, there's, we got, we got a lot.

Our relationship is just endless stories.

We are never formally introduced, but, you know,

it's great for us.

His family's here too.

I love you ladies.

Heather, GG, W, Wilhelmina, all of them.

We all grown up together on the road.

It's a lot of fun.

You all left Seattle 19 years ago.

On the Tom Cruise tour bus.

I love it.

It's great.

I know we're kind of getting through time, so I can't not mention Top Gun.

What?

I can't not mention Top Gun.

What's that?

The original film.

It's a wee film.

It's a tiny wee film that a few people have seen that you finally gave us the sequel to, which McHugh was involved in as well, massively.

Yes.

But, I mean, just, oh, that must, what was it like?

That was amazing.

First of all, I just have to say, I'm just going to, I know we don't have a lot of time, but I'm going to say,

because we're here in England, this is BFI,

I remember I was offered legend, and here I am working with Ridley Scott, and I remember flying to London for the first time, getting off the plane, and I was in a car, and I was driving with the car, and I was, you know, and this, my driver was like, he was a studio driver in England, you know, and, and I was like, well, what, you know, I'm always like, what movie did you work on?

What did you do?

And he was like, he drove David Lean, and, you know, during Lawrence.

Wow.

Oh my gosh, he's just started telling me stories about David Lean, and, and eventually I made him take me to the parking place, where he would drop David Lean off in the editing room.

Okay, he's like just, yeah, I'm that kind of guy, you know, so, and we'd talk, he, he'd park there, and I'd make him tell me stories about it, and David Lean, as he's working on the film, and the times that he had with him, but anyway, he drove me to Pinewood Studios, and we went through that, that gate to Pinewood Studios, and there we were at lunch, and there's the production designer, the cinematographer, and Ridley Scott, and it's lunchtime, and, you know, there's the pub, there's a pub at the studio, okay,

yeah, really,

and these guys, and there we were, and they took me, we had lunch,

and they took me to the Bond stage, and here I am, like the Bond stage, and there's this gorgeous forest that's being built, and Ridley's talking about what he's going to do, so I'm at the Bond stage, now the places I grew up in, I'm in America, small towns and different places, and now here I am, you know, still, you know, with the dream, and then, anyway, I worked with Ridley, I learned a tremendous amount, you know, being on set with him, and seeing that, seeing a whole different kind of filmmaking process, and, and then he said, you know, you should go meet me brother,

yeah,

go meet me brother, I was like, okay, and they wanted me to make Top Gun for about a year, and I was, I was, you know, and then I, Tony came on, and I went and I met, you know, with Jerry Bruckheimer, and Don Simpson, two brilliant producers, and Tony Scott, and I went and I met them, and there's, you know, they took me through it at that time, and, and,

yeah, I remember, and I remember going in, and, and they really wanted me to do it, and I really wanted to work with them, and have that opportunity, kind of the next step, what I felt for my education, having gone through, you know, everything that I'd, I'd done, and so I got in the car, and, and I was my, my agent at the time, was like taking me to the airport, I said, look, I'm going to make this movie, okay, I said, but don't tell them that, I said, and I negotiated a deal, where they had to allow me into every production meeting,

every aspect, and like behind the scenes, and see how Don and Jerry produce movies, every aspect of it, and also, you know, this is when I started getting like, more creative controls, and stuff like that, so, and that's what happened basically, and, and then it was just an amazing experience, and another level, learning from them, and, and having lifelong friends with them, and it was an extraordinary experience, to be able to see Tony Scott, Tony Scott,

what he accomplished with those jets, was extraordinary, and also in Days of Thunder, I worked with him, he, he,

changed aerial photography, he changed motor sports, the way that you see these, these sports being filmed today, is because of Tony Scott, and, I, I want everyone to know that, what an artist, he, he is, and, you know, I, I love him, and I love Ridley, and I'm very grateful to them, and the time that we spent together, and amazing artists, and it was an exceptional experience, making that movie, I, you know, the, the actors that we got to work with, and Val coming on board,

I remember Val, he was like, we basically begged him to do it, and, Anthony Edwards, and Kelly, you know, all of them came in, and, it was very, very special for all of us.

How was it to, to replay, not replay a character, but revisit a character, it's the first time you've, Yeah,

you know, it was, apart from Mission, and I did one with Reacher, but it was,

look, it was, Top Gun, they wanted me to make Top Gun, immediately, they were talking about the sequels, and actually, some of the early, that, what we ended up with, was an early idea that we had, that Jerry, Don and I had spoken of, and, if we ever do it, what would that be?

And actually, McHugh came on, very early on, the story process, like 10 years before we were talking about it, and McHugh would constantly, like, as I said, like,

Oh yeah, more than that, wasn't it McHugh?

Was it 10 years?

Bloody hell.

11 years before, and he and I, like, we're just talking, we talk about movies, like, we'll look at something, we'll create a story based on it, so we'd visit, kind of Top Gun, and it was extraordinary doing it, the studio wanted me to make Top Gun, over and over, and I was like, I said, look, I'm not, as a young artist, I really felt, I wasn't, I wanted to develop my talent, and I, in different areas, and I wanted to understand more, and challenge myself more, with, with different kinds of movies, I know they're wrapping you up, we're good,

hang on, let me, let me finish,

we're good, hang on, hang on, let me finish this, so, anyway,

we know you loved it, it's good, anyway, it was great,

it was great,

a couple of quick things,

when are we getting the Len Grossman film?

I beg your pardon?

When are we getting the Les Grossman film?

We're talking about, McHugh?

Tomorrow,

tomorrow, thank you, love it, thank you, I'd love to work with Ben again, we're big fans of Ben Stiller, I think he's just so talented, and, you know, you look at the, what he's doing as a director, and the things that he's created, he's enormous, I'm really, he's a good friend, and we're big fans of his, very talented man.

What's on the dreams list, still?

Oh, still, there's, there's like, what is it?

It's, Musical?

Oh, I have many, definitely musical, absolutely, definitely musicals, you know, dramas, action, adventures, it's endless, my goals are endless, they're wrapping it up.

They're wrapping,

yes,

shut up, that's to me, not you.

no,

no,

mission, the new mission is out on the 21st of this, month, and the one thing I will say about it is that it's like this, this gorgeous meal with ingredients from every film prior to it, it's just, it's so delicious and brilliant and fun, and you all need to go and see it on the biggest screen possible.

It's phenomenal.

Way to go, guys.

Tom Cruise.

That's Eddie and McHugh, these guys, what they did.

Beautiful.

Amazing.

Amazingly, I've got to say about Eddie,

how privileged it is to work with you on so many different kinds of movies and what you do, it's like you are really exceptional, and as a human being, and someone to work with always, it's like, you know, it's fun, it's fun doing it, it's like under tremendous pressure, and it's always, yeah, it's a lot, a lot of fun.

Don't stop doing it.

Thank you, I won't.

Thank you so much for being here tonight.

I'll never stop.

For being so generous, so lovely, you're an absolute legend, the one and only Tom Cruise.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.