As he celebrated his 61st birthday, Tom Cruise proclaimed there was nowhere else he’d rather be than in Sydney to premiere his latest action spectacle, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Returning as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, Cruise touched down on Australian soil to greet his fans alongside the film’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, and co-stars Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff.
Talking on the film’s red carpet, Peter Gray spoke with the iconic movie star about his personal love of cinema, and, for his cohorts, which Tom Cruise role is personally their favourite.
You’re someone who loves cinema. I’m a baby of the 80’s, a child of the 90’s…let’s bring that theatrical experience back. You are such a champion of that. I love that.
Tom Cruise: Man, I love that too.
With that love, do you have an earliest memory of going to the movies? Or if there was one particular film that started that passion for you?
Tom Cruise: There wasn’t one in particular. There was just so many. I would just absorb cinema as a kid. I remember being 4-years-old and wanting to make movies. There was just such a large range of pictures that I saw. Starting from the black-and-white movies on television, and then growing up I would just take jobs… you know, cutting grass or delivering newspapers, since I was 8-years-old, just so I had the money to go to the movies. That’s what I did. That was my life. I just wanted to know who was making them (too), so when I was 18, and I didn’t have the money to go to acting class or film school, I just started auditioning. I used to write characters and create stories, and I was creating my own stunts and action from when I was a kid. Jumping off roofs, climbing trees…
It seems to have worked out for you.
Tom Cruise: (Laughs) Man, thank you so much.
Christopher McQuarrie: It’s interesting you ask that, because I always hear filmmakers talk about that vivid, formative moment. I don’t have one. Movies exist before my earliest memory. I don’t remember the first thing I wrote. I don’t remember the first movie I saw. I remember the moment I wanted to be a writer, but I never thought about writing film. I love movies and I love writing, but I never had related the two.
It all came about organically through friends that I grew up with who were all so into film. I went to school with Ethan Hawke and a lot of creative people. James Murphy from the LCD Soundsystem was a high-school buddy… I was very lucky to be raised around a core of extremely creative people who believed it was real. No one ever thought about it as “that was someone else’s dream”, to them it was all extremely possible. And having that kind of friendship and kind of support never (made it seem) like a daunting thing.
When I’m introduced to people or I see people online who say that they are an aspiring filmmaker, I say “Take aspiring out of your title!” You’re a filmmaker. You’re a writer. You’re doing it. It’s just the level at which you’re doing it. I never expected to be a director. I never expected to direct action movies. I never expected to direct four Mission: Impossible movies. I just went through the door that opened, and I learned, probably too late in my career, that you have to focus on execution and not on result. Focus on your swing and not where the ball is going. And here I am talking to you.
Simon Pegg: Mine would probably be going to see Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger at the Gloucester ABC, and then my first time seeing Star Wars, obviously, which I saw in the same theatre, like two years later. That was life-changing.
Hayley Atwell: Gosh, the first thing that comes to mind is E.T. It was so transportative and magical and moving… and it didn’t occur to me that you could do that. I was just lost in this world. I also remember my best friend had not seen a movie before, and my mum was like, “That’s a form of abuse!” (laughs). We had to take her to the cinema, so we took her to see Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. So watching her experience cinema for the first time, and seeing her eyes just become like saucers… that really set me off on a path to watch many different genres.
Pom Klementieff: I remember the first movie I saw that made me want to work in the industry was Oldboy by Park Chan-wook. Kill Bill by Tarantino was another one. I think it might’ve been my age at the time too, but I was just blown away by the images and the characters, and how these movies can move you and change your vision of the world.
And before you collaborated with Tom, was there a Tom Cruise movie or role that stood out for you?
Christopher McQuarrie: Oh man, Tom Cruise moments or performances? I mean, Collateral was such an extraordinary performance. I’m a child of the Cold War so I remember seeing Top Gun in the theatre. I remember seeing The Colour of Money, and after that all you wanted to do was play pool like Tom Cruise. But, I gotta say, probably my most vivid, indelible one is Risky Business. I very distinctly remember seeing that movie in the theatre. I grew up just outside of Princeton where (his character) ends up going to school, in that type of suburbia. So I very much identified with that movie. What I never expected was to be working with him.
Simon Pegg: The first Tom Cruise movie I saw was probably Ridley Scott’s Legend. But I think my favourite Tom Cruise performance is Jerry Maguire. I think it’s just amazing.
Hayley Atwell: I mean, I loved him in Tropic Thunder. And Magnolia. Talk about range! What (he) does in that? He’s the real thing. Born on the Fourth of July? Come on! I remember my mum watching Cocktail on VHS, and I was supposed to be in bed and having a little peak like…
Pom Klementieff: I love Tropic Thunder (laughs). I asked (Tom) to do the dance a few times on set, the one he does in that (laughs). He’s so cute (laughs).
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is screening exclusively in Australian theatres from July 8th, 2023.
